Bedtime Stories (2008)--2/5

With "Bedtime Stories," Adam Sandler has now entered the "Jumanji" phase of his career. It's a lazy, crassly designed Disney film. The stories within are broad, barely diverting genre sketches featuring, say, Sandler's evil boss as an evil space emperor or an evil medieval king. They're all the same; the only thing that changes is the obvious window-dressing.

Yes, "Bedtime Stories" needs to be tidy in order to serve the Triumphing Underdog plot, but there's not even a hint of the wonder and surprise of something like "The Fall." Or "Labyrinth," or "Return to Oz," or most other movies about kids' imaginations.

Russell Brand tries and fails to rise above the middlebrow-ness. This suggests the First Law of Russell Brand: The more groomed his hair, the less entertaining he is.


Normal Russell Brand.


"Bedtime Stories" Russell Brand.