| Eight Crazy Nights | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Seth Kearsley |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Narrated by | Rob Schneider |
| Edited by | Amy Budden |
| Music by |
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Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 76 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $34 million |
| Box office | $23.8 million |
Eight Crazy Nights (also known asAdam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights) is a 2002 Americanadult animatedmusicalcomedy film, directed by Seth Kearsley, and written byAdam Sandler,Allen Covert, Brooks Arthur and Brad Issacs. It stars Sandler alongside future wife Jackie Titone, Austin Stout,Rob Schneider,Kevin Nealon,Norm Crosby andJon Lovitz. The film centers onJewish characters alongsideHanukkah.
The title is taken from a line in Sandler's "The Chanukah Song" that compares the gift-giving traditions ofChristmas and Hanukkah: "Instead of one day of presents, we get eight crazy nights!" A new version of the song plays over the film's closing credits.
Eight Crazy Nights was released in the United States on November 27, 2002, byColumbia Pictures. The film was abox-office failure, grossing $24 million against a $34M budget, and received negative reviews from critics.
Davey Stone is a Jewishalcoholic with a criminal record that has earned him animosity in his hometown of Dukesberry,New Hampshire. Taken tocourt forDine And Dash,Public Intoxication, andVandalism on the first night ofHanukkah, Whitey Duvall, an aging volunteerreferee from Davey's former basketball league, convinces the judge to have him docommunity service as a referee-in-training for his Youth Basketball League, but on one condition – if Davey commits another crime before his tenure at the league concludes, he will be sentenced to ten years inprison.
As Davey harasses the players at his first game, Whitey has aseizure and the game is abruptly halted with Davey forfeiting it to the opposing team. Attempting to calm Davey down, Whitey takes him to the mall, where they meet Davey's childhood crush Jennifer Friedman, now a divorced single mother who has moved back to Dukesberry and taken a job at the local mall, and her pre-teen son Benjamin. Davey still secretly harbors feelings for Jennifer, but Whitey reminds Davey that he lost his chances with Jennifer years ago.
As time progresses, Whitey's various attempts to encourage Davey are met with humiliation and assault. Later, Davey bonds with Benjamin while playing basketball at the community center, but the latter's unsportsman-like behavior, encouraged by Davey, earns him the ire of his mother. On their respective rides home, they reminisce about their happy childhood together and how much things have changed. When Davey gets home, his trailer is being burned down by one of the men who lost the basketball match to him, though Davey runs inside to rescue a Hanukkah card from his late parents. Whitey invites Davey to live with him and his diabetic twin sister Eleanore; Davey reluctantly accepts. To keep Davey in line, Whitey and Eleanore explain the complex rules of the household, stating that Davey will be evicted if he does not abide.
Davey slowly starts to turn his life around, until one day at a skating rink, Whitey recalls Davey's past—en route to one of Davey's basketball games, Davey's parents died in a car accident and he learned of the tragedy shortly after winning the game. He spent the next 21 years in and out of foster facilities and state homes, followed by numbing his pain with alcohol andpetty crime during hisadolescence and ostracizing himself from Jennifer and his other friends. Enraged after being reminded of his trauma, Davey insults Whitey and Eleanore, resulting in a heartbroken Whitey evicting him from his house.
Davey spends the rest of the day binge-drinking. That night, he breaks into the closed mall and hallucinates the logos and mascots of various stores coming to life and confronting him about his inability to grieve. He finally opens his parents' Hanukkah card, which contains a heartfelt message asking him not to change who he is, and Davey finally allows himself to mourn his parents. When the police arrive to arrest him, Davey escapes and boards a bus toNew York City, but the bus is forced to stop when a thumbtack in the road punctures all rear tires. Reminded of the Miracle of Hanukkah, Davey sets out to find and make amends with Whitey.
Davey finds Whitey at the All-Star Banquet, an annual town celebration in which one member of the community is recognized for positive contributions with the "Dukesberry All-Star Patch", which Whitey has sought after for thirty-five years. When Whitey is passed over again, he resolves to move toFlorida to live the remainder of his life in anonymity. Davey reminds the townspeople of the abuse they, and he himself, have subjected Whitey to throughout his life and the selfless contributions he has made to the community in spite of that. Davey leads them to Whitey, who has gone to the mall with Eleanore. The townspeople thank Whitey for his service over the years and the mayor officially grants him the Patch Award, with previous recipients giving him theirs as well. As Davey and Jennifer reconcile, Whitey goes into another seizure that he enjoys.
The rest of the cast are listed under this section in the end credits:
Eight Crazy Nights was animated by several studios, including Anvil Studios,A. Film A/S,Bardel Entertainment, Goldenbell Animation, Marina Motion Animation, Spaff Animation, Tama Production, Time Lapse Pictures, Y. R. Studio andYowza! Animation. It was the only animated film that Adam Sandler worked on untilHotel Transylvania in 2012, and remains the only traditionally-animated film with his involvement. This also ended up being the only film produced by Meatball Productions, the animation division ofHappy Madison Productions.
Kearsley revealed in an email toDoug Walker that certain elements of the film that were notorious, specifically the feces-eating deer scene and even Whitey's voice (which was originally more high-pitched and annoying), were intended to be cut, but were kept due to "focus groups" who had seen the film (who lowered Whitey's voice), as well as the fact that the product placements were used without permission.[3]
The soundtrack was released on November 27, 2002, byColumbia/Sony Music Soundtrax.[4][5] The soundtrack contains every song in the film, including the new installment of "The Chanukah Song" and a deleted song, called "At the Mall", sung by Whitey as he strolls through the mall in an alternate opening, included on the DVD release. The soundtrack was pressed onto vinyl in 2021 for theVinyl Me, Please record club.[6]
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Davey's Song" | Sandler | |
| 2. | "At the Mall" | Sandler & Kevin Grady | |
| 3. | "Patch Song" | Sandler | |
| 4. | "Long Ago" | Sandler, Alison Krauss & Eight Crazy Nights Cast | |
| 5. | "Technical Foul" | Sandler | |
| 6. | "Intervention Song" | Sandler & Eight Crazy Nights Cast | |
| 7. | "Bum Biddy" | Sandler & Eight Crazy Nights Cast | |
| 8. | "The Chanukah Song, Part 3" | Sandler |
Eight Crazy Nights came in at fifth place on its opening weekend among U.S. box office, making $14 million since its Wednesday launch.[7] It grossed a total of $23.6 million in North America and negligible foreign box office receipts, for a total of $23.8 million worldwide.[8]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 13% of 109 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sandler returns to his roots in this nauseating concoction filled with potty humor and product placements."[9]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 23 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[10] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[11]
Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four possible stars and criticized the film's dour tone, saying that "The holidays aren't very cheerful in Sandlerville."[12]
Matthew Rozsa ofSalon called it the best knownHanukkah film despite its poor quality.[13]
William Thomas ofEmpire gave the film a one out of five stars, saying, "File under 'What the hell were they thinking?'. With this, andMr. Deeds, Sandler's pulled off quite the combo. Avoid like the plague."[14]
Sandler won a2003Kids' Choice Award for "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie".[15] He was also nominated twice for the 2002Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performances in bothEight Crazy Nights andMr. Deeds.[16]
Eight Crazy Nights was released onVHS and single and two-disc editionDVD on November 4, 2003, byColumbia TriStar Home Entertainment. The two-disc "special edition" featuresdeleted scenes, several audio commentaries, and Sandler'sshort filmA Day with the Meatball, among other bonus features.[17] ABlu-ray was issued on December 13, 2016.
Han, K. Hubie Halloween is one of Adam Sandler's sweeter gross-out comedies. Polygon. October 7, 2020.https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/2020/10/7/21504777/hubie-halloween-review-adam-sandler-netflix-kevin-james.
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