| That's My Boy | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Sean Anders |
| Written by | David Caspe |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Brandon Trost |
| Edited by | Tom Costain |
| Music by | Rupert Gregson-Williams |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 114 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $57.5-70 million[2][1] |
| Box office | $57.7 million[1] |
That's My Boy is a 2012 American satirical comedy film, directed by Sean Anders and starring Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg. The film follows Donny (Sandler), a middle-aged alcoholic who once enjoyed celebrity status for being at the center of a teacher-student statutory rape case, as he tries to rekindle his relationship with his adult son, Todd (Samberg), born as the result of that illicit relationship, in hopes that their televised reunion will earn him enough money to avoid going to prison for tax evasion.
The film was released on June 15, 2012, by Columbia Pictures. It was both a critical and financial failure, grossing just $57 million against a $57-70 million budget. Some critics consider it to be one of the worst films ever made.
Plot[]
Donny Berger is an alcoholic and broke slacker who owes $43,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in back-taxes. To avoid going to jail, he places a $20 bet on an 8000:1 runner in an upcoming race, but decides to make a back-up plan should the runner lose. Meanwhile, he has also been estranged from his 28-year-old son he conceived as a middle school student with teacher Mary McGarricle, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for statutory rape. This relationship led to a scandal that made Donny famous. To avoid contact with his parents and others discovering the family connection, their son changed his name from Han Solo Berger to Todd Peterson and tells others that his parents died in an explosion. Now a successful businessman, Todd has recently arrived at the Cape Cod house of his boss, Steve Spirou, where he is to marry his fiancée, Jamie.
Randall Morgan, a TV producer who worked with Donny during his time as a celebrity, offers him $50,000 if he can organize a reunion with Todd and Mary. Informed of his son's upcoming wedding in a newspaper, Donny arrives at Cape Cod. Todd, who did not expect the visit, pretends Donny is an old friend, and his father's popularity with the guests annoys him. He initially refuses to see his mother, but after Donny convinces Jamie's family to have the wedding rehearsal away from churches and Todd's friends to have the bachelor party at a strip club, Todd reconciles with him and agrees to the prison meeting. However, as a TV crew arrives to film in the middle of Todd and Mary's encounter, Todd leaves in disgust without signing a release form.
Donny then finds out Jamie is having affairs with Steve and her brother, Chad, which she hides by giving Todd a cover story and paying Donny $50,000 to not tell anyone. However, Donny feels guilty for withholding the truth, and he disrupts the wedding to reveal his blood line relation to Todd and Jamie's infidelity and incest. Todd breaks up with her, accepts Donny as his father and reclaims his birth name Han Solo. Han later begins dating strip worker Brie and offers Donny the money, but Donny declines, insisting on taking responsibility for his actions. While preparing to go to prison to rekindle his relationship with Mary after his sentence is over, the bet he placed on the marathon wins him $160,000, satisfying the IRS.
Cast[]
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- Adam Sandler as Donny Berger
- Andy Samberg as Han Solo Berger/Todd Peterson, Donny and Mary's son
- Leighton Meester as Jamie, Todd's fiancée
- Vanilla Ice as himself, Donny's best friend
- James Caan as Father McNally
- Milo Ventimiglia as Chad, Jamie's younger brother
- Blake Clark as Gerald, Jamie and Chad's father
- Meagen Fay as Helen, Jamie and Chad's mother
- Tony Orlando as Steve Spirou, Todd's boss
- Will Forte as Phil
- Rachel Dratch as Phil's wife
- Nick Swardson as Kenny
- Peggy Stewart as Grandma Delores, Steve's mother
- Luenell as Champale, a stripper and Brie's mother
- Ciara as Brie, a bartender and Donny's friend, Todd's secondary love interest
- Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Ravensdale
- Eva Amurri Martino as Mary McGarricle
- Justin Weaver as Young Donny
- Susan Sarandon as Mary McGarricle (present day), Donny's middle school teacher/lover and Todd's mother
- Todd Bridges as Himself
- Dan Patrick as Randall Morgan
- Rex Ryan as Jim Nance
- Jackie Sandler as Masseuse
- Erin Andrews as Randall Morgan's receptionist
- Peter Dante as Dante Spirou, Steve's son
- Alan Thicke as TV version Donny's dad
- Ian Ziering as TV version Donny
- Colin Quinn as Strip club DJ
- Baron Davis as Gym coach
- Dennis Dugan as School janitor
Credits adapted from TV Guide.[3]
Production[]
The film was originally titled I Hate You, Dad, and then changed to Donny's Boy before the producers finally settled on That's My Boy.[4][5] Filming began on May 2, 2011, and ended on July 15, 2011.[citation needed]
Filming took place in Massachusetts, with studio filming at Columbia Pictures in Culver City, California.[6]
Release[]
Box office[]
The film opened on June 15, 2012, grossing $13,453,714 in its opening weekend, ranking #4 behind the second weekends of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Prometheus, and the opening of Rock of Ages.
The film grossed $36,931,089 domestically and $57,719,093 worldwide, failing to recoup its $57-70 million budget, making it a financial failure.[2][1][7]
Critical response[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20% based on 115 reviews, with an average rating of 3.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "While it does represent a new foray into raunch for the normally PG-13 Sandler, That's My Boy finds him repeating himself to diminishing effect – and dragging Andy Samberg down with him."[8] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100, based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A to F scale.[10]
Film critic Richard Roeper gave the film an F, calling it "an ugly, tasteless, deadly and mean-spirited piece of filmmaking," and would later call it the worst film of 2012.[11][12] Justin Chang of Variety called it "a shameless celebration of degenerate behavior, a work of relentless vulgarity and staggering moral idiocy."[13] Half in the Bag called the film "pathetic" and "painful", and went on to criticize Sandler as a comic, suggesting he was unable to create humor that was not based on childish jokes.[14]
Not all critics were as dismissive. Jake McGowan, writing for The Daily Targum, took a different approach. He evaluated the film as a "postmodern, absurdist deconstruction of irony and its impact on critical issues," further stating that Sandler's work "was an artistic reminder that we cannot tackle our traumas or prevent future despair without confronting society's dirty underbelly head-on. We cannot move forward with quips and irony. Critics felt sick after watching the movie because Sandler wanted them to."[15]
The film was criticized for making light of child neglect.[16][17][18]
Home media[]
The film was released to DVD and Blu-ray on October 16, 2012 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. [19]
Accolades[]
| Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Film Critics Society[20] | Worst Film | Won | |
| 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards[21] | Worst Picture | Nominated | |
| Worst Actor | Adam Sandler | Won | |
| Worst Supporting Actor | Nick Swardson | Nominated | |
| Vanilla Ice (as himself) | |||
| Worst Director | Sean Anders | ||
| Worst Screenplay | written by David Caspe, uncredited rewrites by Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, Robert Smigel, David Wain, and Ken Marino | Won | |
| Worst Screen Couple | Adam Sandler and either Leighton Meester, Andy Samberg, or Susan Sarandon | Nominated | |
| Worst Ensemble | The entire cast | ||
| Teen Choice Awards[22] | Choice Summer Movie: Comedy/Music | Nominated | |
| Choice Summer Movie Star: Male | Adam Sandler | ||
| Choice Summer Movie Star: Female | Leighton Meester |
See also[]
- Mary Kay Letourneau
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 That's My Boy at Box Office Mojo
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "That's My Boy (2012) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "That's My Boy - Full Cast & Crew". TV Guide. https://www.tvguide.com/movies/thats-my-boy/cast/2000150828/. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ↑ Ngo, Binh (February 3, 2012). "Adam Sandler's Upcoming Comedy 'Donny's Boy' Changed to 'That's My Boy'". Movies with Butter. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Eisenberg, Eric (January 16, 2011). "Adam Sandler Comedy I Hate You, Dad Retitled Donny's Boy, First Image Arrives Online". Cinema Blend. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Shanahan, Mark; Goldstein, Meredith (March 2, 2012). "Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg's local movie gets a new name and a NSFW trailer". The Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2012/03/01/adam-sandler-and-andy-samberg-local-movie-gets-new-name-and-nsfw-trailer/TBVsv4vF0oXlBleJP8UqEL/story.html.
- ↑ Rosen, Christopher (June 16, 2012). "'That's My Boy' Box Office: Adam Sandler Comedy Bombs, Tom Cruise's 'Rock Of Ages' Disappoints". Huffington Post. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "That's My Boy (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ That's My Boy at Metacritic
- ↑ Pamela McClintock (June 17, 2012). "Box Office Analysis: 'That's My Boy' Marks Second Disappointment in a Row for Adam Sandler". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-analysis-thats-my-boy-adam-sandler-fathers-day-338552.
- ↑ "That's My Boy | RichardRoeper.com". www.richardroeper.com. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Worst Movies of 2012 - Richard Roeper's Reviews (1/9/2013). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a_T09H690g.
- ↑ Chang, Justin (June 14, 2012). "Review: That's My Boy". Variety. https://variety.com/2012/film/reviews/that-s-my-boy-1117947751/.
- ↑ Half in the Bag: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER and THAT'S MY BOY redlettermedia.com (July 28, 2012). Retrieved on August 26, 2012.
- ↑ Genius behind madness: Real critique of Adam Sandler's 'That's My Boy' dailytargum.com (November 17, 2020). Retrieved on November, 18. 2020.
- ↑ Rabin, Nathan (November 28, 2012). "Stooping To Stumble Case File #29: That's My Boy". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/article/stooping-to-stumble-case-file-29-ithats-my-boyi-89167.
- ↑ Patterson, John (September 1, 2012). "Adam Sandler's That's My Boy - giving gross-out a bad name". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/sep/01/adam-sandler-thats-my-boy.
- ↑ Ablow, Keith (May 2, 2012). "There's nothing funny about rape and Adam Sandler's new movie 'That's My Boy' | Fox News". FoxNews.com. FOX News Network, LLC. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "That's My Boy: Releases". AllMovie. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "2012 Houston Film Critics Nominees - Winners". Texasartfilm.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "Dawn Breaks for TWILIGHT, Sandler and Rihanna at 33rd RAZZIE® AWARDS". Razzies.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "Breaking Dawn leads the way at Teen Choice Awards nominations". Winnipeg Free Press. June 15, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
{{cite web}}:
External links[]
Template:Sean Anders Template:Happy Madison Productions
| Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay | ||
|---|---|---|
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