Movie Review - Hubie Halloween

Director: Steve Brill
Genre: Comedy/ Horror
Runtime: 102 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Kevin James, Rob Scheider, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, June Squibb, Noah Schnapp, Maya Rudolph, Tim Meadows, Michael Chiklis, Kenan Thompson, Shaquille O’Neill, Ben Stiller, Jackie Sandler, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler

Description: Despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem, Hubie Dubois (Adam Sandler) is a figure of mockery for kids and adults alike. But this year, something is going bump in the night, and it’s up to Hubie to save Halloween.  

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2020 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 43: A HORROR COMEDY

Review: Adam Sandler joked that if he didn’t get an Oscar for “Uncut Gems” he would intentionally make a bad comedy. He kept his word, because here is “Hubie Halloween”.
Every now and then Adam Sandler makes a serious movie and shows everyone what a good actor he can be. With movies like “Punch-Drunk Love”, “Funny People” and “The Meyerowitz Stories” he won the hearts of the critics. With “Uncut Gems”, which is probably his best performance and movie to date, he even had a chance to win an Oscar. On Howard Stern’s radio show, Sandler joked that he would take revenge with a really bad movie, if he didn’t win. Sandler never even got a nomination, which is a damn shame. So out of ‘vengeance’, he made “Hubie Halloween”.
It is a typical Adam Sandler comedy. Weird mouth, funny voice, poop jokes and all of his actor friends.
In terms of story, “Hubie Halloween” isn’t much either. Sandler plays adult child Hubie Dubois, the village idiot. He is seen as annoying and a loser and hated by the entire town, when he is actually one of the nicest people out there. Hubie doesn’t care about what others think and always wants to help people. And with his favorite holiday Halloween coming up, he’s got his eyes open. Because things will get freaky this year, but no one believes Hubie.
An old acquaintance of Hubie has escaped from the madhouse, his new neighbor has a dark secret and several residents of Salem are kidnapped. Hubie alerts the police, but no one takes him seriously. So Hubie has to solve it himself.
“Hubie Halloween” is a wink to some of Sandler’s other movies. Ben Stiller is in the opening scene, as the mean nurse from “Happy Gilmore” and his former co-star Julie Bowen from that same movie is also in it. There is a reference to Canteen Boy, a character he played on “Saturday Night Live”, and the film is filled with many of Sandler’s friends: Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, Kevin James. Even his wife and kids have roles.
Don’t take it all to seriously, then “Hubie Halloween” might be more enjoyable. It has some funny details, like the running gag of Hubie’s mother’s obscene shirts and women dressing up as Harley Quinn. But apart from that, the humor never exceeds the level of a screaming Adam Sandler.
It's not one of his worst movies, but Adam Sandler sure as hell made a lot better comedies. “Hubie Halloween” just feels effortless. I think, with a better script and jokes it could have been a lot funnier.

Rating: 2 / 5