Comedy Icon’s Worst Movie Is The Best Of Its Kind, And We Have Proof
Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill currently holds the record for most Golden Raspberry awards ever won by a single film — a record that has gone undefeated since its 2011 release. Not only did Jack and Jill clean sweep the entire ceremony in every single category, it’s crawling through the trenches on Rotten Tomatoes with a three percent critical score that it will never recover from. But am I here to dunk on Jack and Jill for being so bad that it’s not even offered through any of the dozens of streaming services that we have access to, but rather an on-demand endeavor?
Surprisingly, no.
Don’t get me wrong … this movie is objectively terrible. But Adam Sandler somehow makes what I know is terrible still kind of enjoyable for reasons I can’t fully articulate, but will try to break down here.
Like Brother Like Sister
First, let’s get the plot to Jack and Jill out of the way so we can unpack what’s really going on here.
Adam Sandler plays Jack Sadelstein, an immensely talented and exceedingly wealthy advertising executive who has it all. His loving wife, Erin (Katie Holmes), biological daughter, Sofia (Elodie Tougne), and adoptive Hindu son, Gary (Rohan Chand), are all he could ever ask for, and he counts his blessings every day.
When Jack’s fraternal twin sister, Jill (also Adam Sandler), shows up for the holidays, his perfect life is thrown off balance as she wears out her welcome.
Jill Is Unappealing To All Senses
Jack and Jill has great fun pointing out just how different the titular Sandler characters are; Jack is wealthy, successful, and surrounded by his loving family, while Jill is unemployed, living in the house she inherited from their recently deceased mother, and incredibly lonely.
Jill has a way about her that’s inherently grating, as she always says the loud part quiet, and the quiet part loud. Jill is also flatulent and aggressively (but not intentionally) annoying, and it’s easy for anybody to see how easy it is for her to get on everybody’s nerves.
While Jack is most concerned with trying to send his sister home after the Thanksgiving holiday, her stay keeps getting extended for various reasons, but mostly because Erin, Sofia, and Gary encourage Jack to reconnect with his estranged sister.
Al Pacino Loves Adam Sandler
One more crucial plot point that needs to be addressed is that Al Pacino plays himself in Jack and Jill, Jack’s company is trying to get him to shoot a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, and the actor just so happens to fall head-over-heels in love with Jill. To complicate matters, Pacino refuses to do Jack’s commercial if he can’t be romantically involved with his twin sister.
It’s all so incredibly stupid, but for some reason I didn’t totally hate it.
Going Through The Motions?
Let me explain.
At some point in time, everybody gets tired of their career and just goes through the motions for a while while trying to reclaim their footing. After banging out movies for years, I feel like Happy Madison Productions films like Grown Ups and Just Go with It, which came out within a year of Jack and Jill, are a sign of Sandler getting a little tired of his own shtick. But that very shtick creates jobs, keeps Sandler’s name in the spotlight, and allows him to work with his friends and heroes.
The end result is a very low-stakes, by-the-numbers comedy that honestly feels like Sandler boldly saying, “If this is what I’ve got to do for work, I might as well have some fun.”
All In The Name Of Fun
As a result, Jack and Jill gives us Jack’s colleague, Todd (Nick Swardson), making tasteless jokes about how homely Jill is, a homeless man named Otto (Allen Covert) showing up for holiday dinners at Jack’s house for the sole purpose of being somebody to make fun of, and an online dater who goes by the name of “Funbucket” (Norm Macdonald) showing up for a blind date with Jill before sneaking out of the restaurant’s bathroom window.
Most importantly, we get an incredibly unhinged Al Pacino trying to make a name for himself as a stage actor, committing to the bit by dressing like Don Quixote and refusing to break character, all while attempting to seduce Jill, who may or may not be Jack dressed in drag because he desperately needs the A-lister to star in his Dunkaccino commercial.
Watch Jack and Jill For Al Pacino Alone
GFR SCORE
If I saw Jack and Jill when it first came out, not only would I have absolutely hated it, I’d have to aggressively let everybody know how much I hated it. After watching it for the first time this week, I’ve got to admit that not only did I chuckle more than I’d care to admit, I also came to the realization that there’s a place in the world for movies like this because at the end of the day they’re totally harmless.
You’re more than welcome to disagree with me, but Jack and Jill is the perfect movie to throw on in the background if you want to see some of the familiar faces you grew up with while watching other (and better) Adam Sandler movies without getting too invested in the storytelling.
As of this writing, you can rent or purchase Jack and Jill through Apple TV+ or Amazon Prime Video. It’s not high art … it’s not even that good, but for some reason it hits way more than I ever thought it would.
