That’s My Boy (Blu-Ray) Review

Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg team up in this Happy Madison production, titled “That’s My Boy” which is the story of a man who fathered a son in his teens and has to live with the repercussions of having been a terrible single father. Todd (Andy Samberg, the son) excommunicates his father (Donny) from his life but when Todd gets married, Donny decides he is going to do everything he can to reconnect with his much more mature son. It’s a role-reversal comedy that plays off of audacious back-story and wild events that offers a barely satisfactory level of entertainment.

Entertainment Value

At this point moviegoers are officially wary of Adam Sandler who has yet to produce or star in a decent comedy in years. There was some hope that by teaming up with SNL star Andy Samberg he could recapture his magic, but frankly, the movie fell short when it came to laughs. It’s not to say the movie was uninteresting or failed to entertain at any level, certainly there were moments of laughter and some decent jokes along the way. Samberg, however, failed in his accompanying role to deliver any sort of dead-pan comedy and looked like he was the absolute wrong choice for this kind of role. He simply isn’t funny like this and never has been … and probably won’t ever be.

Speaking to the whole of the movie, if you’re the type that enjoys cliché after cliché slapping you in the face, then you’re in for a real treat, especially if you like seeing things come at you from a mile away. The most painful of these moments came from the obvious and tired fish-out-of-water comedic moments of a drunk slob (Donny) hob-nobbing with Todd’s in-laws.

Extra Features

There’s some decent extras included in the Blu-ray edition of That’s My Boy, including a gag reel, deleted scenes, a celebrity cameo clip reel, a look at filming on Cape Cod and a featurette look at the Strip Club scene. The gag reels offers some decent laughs and you might privately wonder why that kind of magic wasn’t capture in the film. The rest are standard fare and if you found the movie interesting, you’ll find the same of the extras included.

Audio & Video Quality

The audio was rendered in Dolby Digital and DTS-HD for a wonderful 5.1 surround sound experience. While this isn’t an action blockbuster flick, the audio was well done and comes off nicely for your home theater. The 1080p video looks crisp and clean giving an overall positive audio and video experience on this Blu-ray.

Overall Impression

That’s My Boy is a comedy that had zero expectations going for it given Sandler’s lack of success lately at the box office. In that light, it did better than expected and had some moments of genuine jocularity. However, looking at it holistically and within the scope of comedies that have been released in recent years it fails to distinguish itself as anything other than a one or two time watch. Sandler had some genuinely funny moments while Samberg was just an epic fail as a supporting straight-man comedic actor. The extras were satisfactory and the audio/video quality delivered the goods. Overall, if you’re a huge Sandler fan or just want to watch something decently funny, you can give That’s My Boy a shot.