Bedtime Stories (2008)

"A comedy the entire family can enjoy.  Ben Lyons, At the Movies
"A fun bit of escapism that's even tender in spots.  Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
"...Sandler has delivered on his promise to make a movie his kids can enjoy...[and] managed to do so without alienating his core audience.  Lael Loewenstein, Variety
"This sweet-natured family comedy makes for great entertainment, balancing adventure thrills with a hefty dose of laughter.  Mark Adams, Daily Mirror
"Part live action, part animation, Bedtime Stories is relentlessly silly, kept buoyant by Sandler's zany cheer.  Victor Olliver, Teletext

Editor's Note Having promised to make a film his own kids could enjoy, Adam Sandler (YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN) delivers the goods in the charming fairy tale BEDTIME STORIES. As the film opens we meet Marty Bronson, running the family motel along with his children, Wendy and Skeeter. Marty's ruinous business sense forces him to sell the motel to ambitious developer Barry Nottingham. Marty hopes Skeeter will run the business someday, but years later we find Skeeter (Sandler) working only as the new hotel's maintenance man. So when Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks Skeeter to babysit her kids, Bobbi and Patrick, Skeeter--a master storyteller--wins them over by crafting bedtime stories that reflect his frustrations. From ancient Rome to outer space, Skeeter is the heroic underdog defeating his hotel rival, Kendall (Guy Pearce), and winning the hand of Nottingham's daughter. But when the kids' creative additions cross over into true life, Skeeter is convinced that they're the key to his sudden success. The price of that success, though, is the destruction of the kids' school. To save the school, his relationship with Wendy's kids, and the affections of love interest Jill (Keri Russell), Skeeter must bring his storytime heroics into the real world. Sandler puts his trademark man-child antics to good use as the disheartened handyman who fulfills his dreams by staying true to the people who matter most. Filled with plenty of humor and a heartfelt message, BEDTIME STORIES is an uplifting family fable that can be appreciated by parents and children alike.

	Adam Sandler
	Richard Griffiths
	Guy Pearce
	Teresa Palmer
	Aisha Tyler
	Courteney Cox
	Russell Brand
	Keri Russell
	Lucy Lawless
	Jonathan Pryce
	Matt Lopez - Screenwriter
	Michael Barrett - Director of Photography
	Ann Marie Sanderlin - Executive Producer
	Andrew Gunn - Producer
	Adam Sandler - Producer
	Garrett Grant - Executive Producer
	Matt Lopez - Story
	Tim Herlihy - Screenwriter
	Adam Shankman - Executive Producer
	Jack Giarraputo - Producer
	Jennifer Gibgot - Executive Producer
	Rupert Gregson-Williams - Composer
	Adam Shankman - Director

Los Angeles Times
"Hostility and pathos make for a very popular combination in comedy. It worked for Chaplin, and it works for Sandler..." 12/25/2008

Hollywood Reporter
"In a modern-day fairy tale about hopes, aspirations and family, Sandler displays a winning form under the light and mischievous direction of BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE's Adam Shankman." 12/22/2008

ReelViews 6 of 10
For Adam Sandler, who has lived most of his on-screen life in the realm of PG-13, Bedtime Stories represents a new direction: family friendliness. With his characteristic sarcasm dialed down and his profanity and sexual humor nearly absent, Sandler half-stumbles his way through this unfamiliar terrain. In the end, however, it's less the lead actor than the writers and director Adam Shankman who make Bedtime Stories forgettable. The premise - that of children's fables coming true - provides the kind of rich tapestry into which a great family film could be woven. Unfortunately, the makers of Bedtime Stories are interested only in cheap humor, surface sentimentality, and quick payoffs. This is a rare time when young ones will get more out of a Sandler movie than their parents, who may have grown up with him when he was on Saturday Night Live...On some level, I suppose Bedtime Stories is attempting to say something about the importance of imagination in real life endeavors but, if that was the goal, the filmmakers might have been advised to take a cue from The Princess Bride. In that movie, a grandfather tells a bedtime story to his grandson and what results is a modern fantasy/comedy classic. But, despite paying lip service to the sort of thing The Princess Bride achieved, Bedtime Stories isn't interested in being creative; it wants to be familiar. It wants to be a PG, Disney-fied Adam Sandler feature, and that's what results. Perhaps there are potential viewers who possess a perverse curiosity to find out what kind of unholy offspring could result from a Sandler/Disney collaboration...The filmmakers likely set out to make a family film for the ages. To a degree, they succeeded - assuming that the "ages" in question are under ten. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
"Bedtime Stories" is not my cup of tea. Even the saucer. Fairness requires me to report, however, that it may appeal to, as they say, "kids of all ages." I am not a kid of any age and do not qualify, but this is a harmless and pleasant Disney comedy...Sandler plays a hotel handyman named Skeeter, which is a name even more unwise than Hussein if you want your child to run for president. His dear old dad ran a family motel at the corner of Sunset and La Cienega, an unlikely story, and was bought out by Nottingham the hotel tycoon (Richard Griffiths), who erected a towering heap of rooms on the site and put Skeeter in charge of changing the light bulbs. Now Skeeter is also in charge of the overnight maintenance work on his niece and nephew while his sister (Courteney Cox) looks for work in Arizona...There are some nice sight gags. One involves a misunderstanding about fire-retardant spray. Another involves Skeeter being bitten on the tongue by a bee. He cannot utter one intelligible word during a crucial presentation to Nottingham and is funny in his desperate attempts. His scruffy friend Mickey (Russell Brand) leaps to the rescue and translates. Mickey is also an employee at the hotel, although anyone looking like him would be barred from any prudent hotel and might excite the curiosity of city health inspectors...And that's about it. The first PG family comedy starring Adam Sandler. Just what you're looking for. Sandler reprises once again his clueless, well-meaning nebbish who wants to be liked. Once again the character relates best to kids, perhaps because there is so much he can learn from them. Once again, the message is that you have to believe. Apparently it doesn't matter so much what you believe. Just the act of believing is sufficient. - Roger Ebert