Nealon, Kevin

Grandma's Boy (Unrated Edition)

Gamers, grannies and stoners unite! From Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions comes a raucously funny, "fish-out-of bongwater comedy" (Playboy) that'll have you rolling with laughter! Life is sweet for 35-year-old video game tester Alex (Allen Covert), until he's forced to move in with his overbearing grandmother Lilly (Doris Roberts) and her two roommates: oversexed Grace (Shirley Jones) and overmedicated Bea (Shirley Knight). To save face with his much younger co-workers and super-sexy new boss (Linda Cardellini), Alex brags about the "three hot babes" living with him, but soon that cat's out of the bag?and the real party at Grandma's house has just begun! If you love footie pajamas, techno-talk and karate-chopping chimps (and who doesn't?), grab your buds and watch Grandma's Boy!

The Wedding Singer

You're better off having been born after, say, 1965, if you really want to enjoy this corny romantic comedy and its abundant references to the MTV culture of the mid-1980s--and even then the odds are only 50-50 that you'll have a shamelessly good time. But a lot of people beat those odds, because The Wedding Singer was a surprise box-office hit when released in early 1998, and it resulted in Saturday Night Live graduate Adam Sandler's salary going ridiculously sky-high. It's a schizophrenic film about a seemingly schizophrenic wedding singer (Sandler) who's charmingly sweet to some people but a tongue-lashing maniac to others, probably out of frustration over his fading ambition as a wannabe rock star (not to mention Sandler's penchant for loud-mouthed lunacy). When he meets an admiring young waitress (delightfully played by Drew Barrymore), it's love at first sight, complicated by their pending marriages to much less appealing fiancés. The plot then contorts itself to accommodate this contrived will-they-or-won't-they? scenario, so you're better off ignoring the love story and focusing on the comedy, which is sporadic but occasionally hilarious. This is also a lighter, friendlier Sandler than moviegoers had seen before, which probably accounts for the movie's success. Toss in a fine supporting cast--including a show-stopping drunk act by indie-movie stalwart Steve Buscemi--and you've got the ingredients for a no-brainer that's ultimately more fun than it is annoying. --Jeff Shannon

It's 1985 and Adam Sandler is the ultimate master of ceremonies...until he is left at the altar at his own wedding. He starts to pick up the pieces of his heart after meeting Drew Barrymore but she's about to have a wedding of her own.

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Production Notes

Roxanne

In 1987, almost a hundred years after its first production, the romantic story of Cyrano de Bergerac found new life in a winsome film written by Steve Martin. Roxanne updates the tale with a smart '80s spin, yet writer-star Martin stays close to the old-fashioned heart of the matter. He plays a small-town firefighter named C.D. Bales, whose otherwise unremarkable existence is crowned by an amazingly long nose. He falls for the world's most beautiful astronomer (Daryl Hannah), but he is embarrassed by the size of his proboscis and prefers to stay on the sidelines. Like Cyrano, the shy C.D. instead helps a handsome friend (Rick Rossovich) woo the fair lady by providing flowery sentiments and soulful poetry. Not only does the story still work, but Australian director Fred Schepisi captures a dreamy grace in his visual design for the film (some of which will be lost without the widescreen format). Set in Washington State, but filmed in the hilly ski resort of Nelson, British Columbia, the location seems like a fairy-tale town, nearly as unreal as Steve Martin's nose. --Robert Horton

Happy Gilmore (Widescreen Special Edition)

Adam Sandler fans are sure to enjoy this no-brainer comedy, but everyone else is strongly advised to proceed with caution. Before scoring a more enjoyable hit with his 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer, the former Saturday Night Live goofball played Happy Gilmore, a hot-tempered guy whose dreams of hockey stardom elude him. But when he discovers his gift for driving golf balls hundreds of yards, he joins a pro tour to win the prize money needed to rescue his beloved grandma's home from IRS repossession. The trouble is, Happy's not so happy. He's got a temper that frequently flares on the golf course (he even dukes it out with celebrity golfer Bob Barker), but a retired golf pro (Carl Weathers) and a compassionate publicist (Julie Bowen) help him to perfect his putting game and adjust his confrontational attitude. How much you enjoy this lunacy depends on your tolerance for Sandler's loudmouthed schtick and a shocking number of blatant product-placement endorsements, but if you're looking for broad comedy you've come to the right teeoff spot. --Jeff Shannon

Little Nicky (New Line Platinum Series)

In Little Nicky, Adam Sandler plays the sweetest of three sons of Satan (Harvey Keitel), who's got to go to Earth and retrieve his nasty, power-hungry brothers lest they take over Hell and make it a thoroughly evil place. As with Sandler's other films, this weird premise (based oh-so-loosely on King Lear) is just an excuse to trot out a hodgepodge of comic bits and cameo performances. Admittedly, a lot of the jokes don't work (there was no need to repeat the one about shoving a pineapple up Hitler's ass), but the ones that do tend to be more memorable than the ones that don't, making for a pretty funny movie, when all is said and done. Sure, it's hard to overcome Sandler's speech impediment du jour, not to mention that romantic subplot with Patricia Arquette, but it can be done by focusing on the brilliant cameos by Regis Philbin, Reese Witherspoon, Ozzy Osbourne, and Henry Winkler (especially when he's covered with bees), as well as one of the funniest uses of a scene from De Palma's Scarface in years. Supporting Sandler throughout are two very funny heavy metal disciples and a bulldog named Beefy (voiced by Robert Smigel, the man behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog). And, in an almost unrecognizable cameo, that's Clint Howard as the cross-dressing fetishist named "Nipples." --Andy Spletzer

Adam Sandler is Little Nicky, a shy and awkward guy with a penchant for heavy metal music and two bullies for older brothers. And another thing .... Little Nicky is the son of the Devil and lives in Hell. Also stars Patricia Arquette and Harvey Keitel.

The Aristocrats

"A man walks into a talent agent's office with his family and says Have I got an act for you! The talent agent replies So what do you do?" So begins "The Aristocrats" a joke that has been handed down from comedian to comedian for decades but is rarely told on stage. The next part of the joke varies allowing for improvisation and the only requirement in telling the joke is that it be as offensive as possible.Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette spent two years documenting as many versions of this infamous joke as possible cornering comedians like Drew Carey Whoopi Goldberg Susie Essman and Paul Reiser whenever and wherever possible. The results are surprising and often take their humor to places that may make sensitive viewers uncomfortable. While comic legends such as Don Rickles The Smothers Brothers and Phyllis Diller admit their familiarity with the joke they shy away from telling their own versions. Some may be surprised however to see performers who are normally associated with family-friendly material including Bob Saget and Jason Alexander describing scatological and incestuous acts with deadpan glee. Ultimately though THE ARISTOCRATS is more than just many versions of the same dirty joke--it is an exploration of the workings of the unrestricted comic mind.System Requirements:Running Time 86 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: UNRATED UPC: 821575540759 Manufacturer No: TF-54075

Released without a rating and billed as "the most vile, disgusting, and vulgar" film of all time, The Aristocrats is also funny enough to qualify as a minor comedy classic. We say "minor" only because hearing the same foul joke told by 100 celebrated comedians is inevitably exhausting, even though the shaggy-dog gag (a vintage in-joke among comedians, allowing outrageously obscene improvisation, and always ending with the same titular punchline) is also a fascinating litmus test for each comedian's irreverent style. As codirectors and show-biz insiders, veteran comedians Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette (from the comedy duo Penn & Teller) corralled an unprecedented parade of stand-up celebrities (George Carlin, Robin Williams, Drew Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, the South Park kids and many, many more), each telling "the dirtiest joke of all time" in their own inimitable fashion. The sheer volume of vaudevillian vulgarity takes on a life of its own, more fascinating than funny, until Gilbert Gottfried (at a celebrity roast for Hugh Hefner, shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01) tells what is unanimously hailed as the definitive version of the joke. It's a matter of context, style, and bawdy bravado, and for better or worse, The Aristocrats will endure as a testament to a joke so bad--so uproariously bad--that no comedian worthy of the profession can resist the temptation to tell it. --Jeff Shannon

Daddy Day Care (Special Edition)

There are some good laughs to be found in Daddy Day Care, especially if you're a preschooler with energy to burn. This romper-room comedy shamelessly exploits its high concept idea--dropping Eddie Murphy into a seething den of rugrats--but kids will have plenty of vicarious fun as Murphy and his fellow laid-off colleague (Jeff Garlin) battle unemployment by opening a day-care center in Eddie's home. In partial Witches mode, Anjelica Huston hams it up as a day-care competitor bent on closing Eddie down, while doofus extraordinaire Steve Zahn is recruited as a third partner in "Daddy Day Care," trying his best to entertain a pack of hyperactive kids who've stopped taking their Ritalin. Zahn makes a funny Star Trek fan (even when the script contains bogus Trekkie trivia), and Murphy deserves credit for giving his all in a comedy that mostly squanders his talent. Indeed, is Daddy Day Care a comedy or every parent's nightmare? Daring viewers can decide for themselves. --Jeff Shannon

Anger Management (Widescreen Edition)

The irresistible pairing of Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler is the best reason to see Anger Management, a comedy that might loosely be called The Funny and the Furious. Nicholson and especially Sandler have screen personas that partially rely on pent-up anxieties, so there's definite potential in teaming them as a mild-mannered designer of pet clothing for chubby cats (Sandler) who's been ordered to undergo anger-management therapy with a zany counselor (Nicholson) prone to occasional tantrums and devious manipulation. Surely this meandering comedy looked better on the page; director Peter Segal scores a few lucky scenes (particularly Sandler's encounter with a Buddhist monk, played by John C. Reilly), but a flood of cameos (Heather Graham, Woody Harrelson, Rudolph Giuliani, and others) can't match the number of laughs that fall flat. As Sandler's understanding girlfriend, Marisa Tomei plays a pivotal role in a happy ending that leaves everyone smiling, with the possible exception of the audience. --Jeff Shannon

Crank Yankers Uncensored - Season One

Perhaps the guiltiest of guilty pleasures, Crank Yankers has a way of overcoming one's ethical conflicts about prank phone calls with some very funny examples of the practice. Comic talents Wanda Sykes, Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan, Dave Chappelle, and others join the Touchstone Terrorists and musical duo Tenacious D in tormenting innocent people with ridiculous communications. Among the 10 episodes of season 1 is Sykes's outrageous call to an auto mechanic, claiming that someone at the guy's shop defecated in her car. Unlike many of the innocent recipients of Crank Yankers's harassment, the bemused mechanic turns the tables on the crazed woman and goads her into making more ridiculous claims. Elsewhere, a pet shop owner takes a call from an "old woman" (Susie Essman) complaining about her obscene parrot while the bird can be heard calling her "whore" in the background. Other choice moments include an apparently slow-witted comic-book fan (Jordan Rubin) pestering directory assistance for Batman's phone number, a "blind woman" (Lisa Kushell) applying for a job as a stripper (requiring her seeing-eye dog in the act), and a great bit in which a fellow (Denis Leary) convinces a sex-supply store salesman to pretend to be a pizza-delivery man in order to fool Leary's mom. Okay, some of the material in this set is downright cruel, but most of it is relatively harmless, addictive, and occasionally hilarious. --Tom Keogh

CRANK YANKERS - SEASON 1 - UNCENSORED features outrageous crank calls from well-known comedians to real people and delivered to viewers through puppets called the "Crank Yankers" who live in the make-believe world called Yankerville. Special guest star voices include Dave Chappelle, Jack Black, Wanda Sykes, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Kimmel and more.

Comedian

If you see Comedian expecting a concert film with Jerry Seinfeld, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for an incisive--almost surgical--examination of the psyche of a stand-up comedian, this is your movie. Comedian zigzags back and forth between the hugely successful Seinfeld, who's trying to get back to his stand-up roots by developing an entirely new act, and an unknown comic named Orny Adams, whose naked craving for success is almost painful to behold. Adams lays bare his ego to an embarrassing degree; Seinfeld is more subtle but just as revealing about the fears and anxieties that drive him to go back on stage. By following these two through comedy clubs, festivals, and spots on David Letterman's talk show, the documentary cunningly explores how jokes are put together, the in-the-trenches camaraderie (tinged with competition) of stand-ups, and the sheer existential terror of trying to make people laugh. --Bret Fetzer

Jerry Seinfeld is a working stand-up comic again. COMEDIAN is a candidly revealing, intimately observed, and often very funny look at what it takes to be a comedian. On-stage, Jerry delivers his hilarious brand of observational humor. Off-stage, he struggles with difficult material, confronts self-doubt, revels in small successes, and accepts help and support from friends and colleagues, including Colin Quinn, Ray Romano, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling, Jay Leno, and Bill Cosby. COMEDIAN also discovers the sharp wit of rising young comic Orny Adams -- outspoken, insecure, and fanatical about becoming the "next big thing." What emerge are two fascinating journeys by two contrasting personalities who have some surprising parallels.