2.5 out of 5

Donny: Holy cow, that's my boy.

I can remember the first time I saw the red band trailer for That's My Boy once it hit the Internet about six months ago. I remember how terribly unfunny this movie looked judging by that trailer. It reminded me how much Adam Sandler's movies have fallen downhill. Now after actually seeing That's My Boy I have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked, even though I didn't like it overall, damn what a relief. It seems like after Jack and Jill, Sandler can't go anywhere but up.

This time, Sandler plays the 40-something year old Donny Burger with a son 13 or so, years younger than him, because when Donny was in Jr. High School he unregrettably knocked up his teacher. Cut to 28 years later, Donny is childish and immature, hasn't paid taxes for 18 years, and therefore must be sent to prison. His son (Andy Samberg) born Han Solo, moved out from Donny's care when he turned 18, and has changed his name to Todd something. He has become rich and of course, Donny goes to catch up with his son, get a loan from him, and have some wild fun!

Todd: You let me eat cake and lollipops for breakfast everyday!
Donny: That's what you asked for.

What sort of interested me in this was the fact that Adam Sandler has gone back to his older raunchy humor from the 90s, only he has also added in a bunch of R rated material in there too, to create a more fresh combination. The problem I had when I first saw the trailer was that it looked like Sandler was just going to throw in the word "f***" for no reason what so ever, every 5 seconds, solely for every person in the theater who snuck in some booze, or anyone under the age of 10 who snuck into that theater and paid to see something else, to get some giggles. And that is not 100% wrong. There is a lot of that mindless s*** present in this movie, but I also did find myself chuckling throughout a lot of better jokes, ridiculous jokes, but not mindless. At times the R rating is used to generate some great over the top, complete gross out gags that work. At the same time it generates some of the same kind of "miss" jokes I mentioned earlier.

This is also just a really uneven script. Believe it or not, That's My Boy has got a heart. There are some brief, genuinely sweet moments between the Donny and Han that I actually bought. Mix that with too much mindless s*** and you've got a mess.

Donny: BAHA! New Kids on the Block! Their heads are all WARPED now!
Todd: Because I got it when I was in THIRD GRADE. My body grew!
Donny: Haha!
Todd: You suck.

As for the acting, I didn't like Andy Samberg here. I feel like he could have been played by anybody who can react to things. But to my surprise Sandler did alright. Instead of annoying me, he actually made me laugh a little bit. I think what I'm trying to say here is "Nice try Adam. You've improved, better luck next time."

Jamie: Ever since you showed up Todd's been acting like a different person.