Jack and Jill (2011 film)

Jack and Jill

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Dennis Dugan
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by Ben Zook
Starring
Music by
Cinematography Dean Cundey
Edited by Tom Costain
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • November 11, 2011
Running time
 91 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $79 million[2]
Box office $149.7 million[3]

Jack and Jill is a 2011 American comedy film co-written, produced by, and starring Adam Sandler and directed by Dennis Dugan, who has collaborated with Sandler on many of his films. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released on November 11, 2011.[4]

The film was a commercial success at the box office[5] with a worldwide gross over $149 million, but was widely panned; it holds a score of 3% on Rotten Tomatoes and became the first film to win in every category at the Golden Raspberry Awards.[6] It broke the record held by Battlefield Earth for the most Razzie awards for a single film. It is considered by some to be one of the worst films of all time.[7][8]

Plot

The film opens with homemade videos of fraternal twins Jack and Jill Sadelstein growing up. As the videos progress, it seems that Jack is the more gifted twin, with Jill constantly trying to get his attention by hitting him, hurting girls around him, etc. The story shifts to the present, where an adult Jack (Adam Sandler) is a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife, Erin (Katie Holmes), and two kids, Sofie (Elodie Tougne) and Gary (Rohan Chand), while Jill (Sandler) never left the working-class neighborhood they grew up in. Jill recently inherited her childhood home, having lived with their mother until her death one year ago.

Jack is incredibly irritated about the Thanksgiving visit of his "identical"[9] twin sister Jill, as he has to pick her up at 4:00am. Jack's patience is soon stretched increasingly thin. Jill ruins Thanksgiving dinner by talking loudly, calling one guest homeless, then running away into the woods with her pet cockatoo. Jill has a list of things she wants to do—be on a game show, go horseback riding, and do a studio tour. She has an open-ended plane ticket and decides to stay until the end of Hanukkah.

Jack's agency client, meanwhile, wants him to somehow get actor Al Pacino to appear in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial. Jack isn't sure how he's supposed to make that happen. Jill tries online dating, but doesn't get much of a response until Jack poses as Jill and alters her profile, leading to more than 100 responses. When her date, "Funbucket" (Norm Macdonald), meets her, however, he hides in the restaurant bathroom.

Feeling guilty, Jack takes her to a Lakers game where Pacino is supposed to be. Pacino pays little attention to Jack, but is surprisingly taken with Jill. He gives her his phone number on a hot dog, written in mustard and ketchup. Jack is hoping Jill would leave by New Year's Eve, since the family is going on a cruise. Friends throw him a birthday party and extend it to Jill as well, having never known that he even had a sister. Pacino invites Jill to his home but she resists his advances and abruptly leaves. The next day, Jack's Mexican gardener, Felipe (Eugenio Derbez), takes Jill to a family get-together to have fun. Jack doesn't want Jill to be alone on New Year's, so he invites her on the cruise, and she gladly accepts.

A proposition is made by Pacino that he will do the commercial if Jack gets him a date with Jill. Jack disguises himself as Jill and goes on the date in her place. Jill starts to suspect that the only reason Jack invited her on the cruise is to persuade Pacino to do the Dunkin' Donuts commercial. When she phones Jack, he answers as Jill, and then she hears Pacino, confirming her suspicions. Jack realizes how much he loves his sister and races back to the ship, but learns that Jill has gone back home to The Bronx. At a restaurant on New Year's Eve, there with a picture of the twins' dead mother, she comes across a group of old classmates that used to make fun of her, led by Monica (David Spade). They belittle her until Jack and his family show up. Jack and Jill speak in their made-up twin language, then Monica gets Erin in a headlock, but Jill saves her. Pacino also turns up at the party, dressed as the Man of La Mancha, to proclaim his love for Jill. She turns him down and goes home, where Felipe declares his love. She is overjoyed and embraces him.

The television commercial is made, with Pacino starring and singing as he promotes a new coffee -- "Dunkaccino"—with a rap song. But when Jack shows it to him, Pacino hates it and tells him to destroy every copy of this film and threaten death on all those who have seen it.

Cast

Cameo

Reception

Box office

The film opened in 3,438 theaters at #2 with $25,003,575, behind Immortals, which debuted in the top spot with $32,206,425.[12] The film closed on February 26, 2012 with a total gross of $74,158,157 in the North America. It also made $75,515,631 in other territories, for worldwide gross of $149,673,788 against its $79 million budget.[3]

Critical reception

Jack and Jill was heavily panned by critics, with some citing it as one of the worst films of all time. Salon stated that Jack and Jill "received some of the worst reviews of any movie ever" upon its release.[13] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 3%, based on 105 reviews, with a rating average of 2.6 out of 10. The site's consensus reads: "Although it features an inexplicably committed performance from Al Pacino, Jack and Jill is impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever."[14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 23 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[15]

Mary Pols of Time magazine ranked the film #1 on the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011.[16] The A.V. Club ranked it #1 on "The Worst Films of 2011" list (along with Just Go with It).[17] TV Guide included the film on its "The Worst of 2011" list.[18] Andrew Barker of Variety said that the film's "general stupidity, careless direction and reliance on a single-joke premise that was never really funny to begin with are only the most obvious of its problems."[19] Internet review show Half in the Bag criticized Jack and Jill for recycling gags from Sandler's previous films, incessant product placement, and laziness in terms of both writing and production quality.[20] They would later call it "the worst thing in the world".[20] The film won a total of 10 Razzies in 2012, setting a record and displacing 2000's Battlefield Earth which had garnered 9 awards.[21]

Despite generally scathing reviews, the film did receive some positive reception. However much of this was seen as a 'one-off' or a surprise in comparison to the rest of the film. Critic Armond White of CityArts/New York Press caused a storm of controversy when praising Jack and Jill, having stated that "Adam Sandler's movies are not 'dumb fun'; maybe that's why they're not in critics favor."[22] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that while he found the character Jill herself annoying, that "...almost everything else in this comedy succeeds. The central situation...has comic energy...(the film has) successful bits and big moments of satisfying comedy."[23] Tom Russo of the Boston Globe gave the film two and a half stars, writing "What's more genuinely wacky is what a kick this movie can sometimes be, completely in spite of its big, flat stunt."[24]

Accolades

In the Razzie Awards, Jack and Jill was nominated for every single category, and twice for Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, and won all 10 awards.

List of awards and nominations
Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result
Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actor Adam Sandler Won
Razzie Awards Worst Actor Won
Worst Actress Won
Worst Supporting Actor Nick Swardson Nominated
Al Pacino Won
Worst Supporting Actress David Spade (in drag) Won
Katie Holmes Nominated
Worst Picture Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, and Todd Garner Won
Worst Director Dennis Dugan Won
Worst Screenplay Adam Sandler, Ben Zook, and Steve Koren Won
Worst Screen Couple Adam Sandler and either Al Pacino, Katie Holmes or Adam Sandler Won
Worst Ensemble Won
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel Ripoff of Glen or Glenda Won

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Jack and Jill on DVD and Blu-ray on March 6, 2012.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "JACK AND JILL (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  2. ↑ Kaufman, Amy (November 10, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Immortals' poised to conquer box office". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved November 10, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Jack and Jill (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ Pearson, Anthony (July 9, 2011). "New trailer for Adam Sandler comedy 'Jack and Jill'". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/jack-and-jill-analyzing-its-box-office-revenue/2011/11/14/gIQA9JH8KN_blog.html
  6. ↑ "Adam Sandler movie Jack and Jill sweeps Razzie awards". BBC News. April 2, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  7. ↑ Carbone, Nick (February 25, 2012). "And the Worst Film of the Year Is Officially …". TIME. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  8. ↑ Germain, David (April 2, 2012). "Adam Sandler sets worst-movie record as Jack and Jill wins awards in every category at Razzies". The Independent (London). Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Adam Sandler is Jack and Jill". Sony Pictures. 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
  10. ↑ Al Pacino, Katie Holmes Join ‘Jack and Jill’. News in Film. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Dana Carvey to Make His Comeback in Jack and Jill?". ComingSoon.net. October 4, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  12. ↑ "'Immortals' #1 With So-So $32M Domestic But $36M Foreign, 'Jack And Jill' $26M". Deadline.com. PMC. November 13, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  13. ↑ "The tragedy of Adam Sandler". Salon. 2011-11-14. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  14. ↑ "Jack and Jill (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Jack and Jill Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  16. ↑ Pols, Mary (December 7, 2011). "The Top 10 Everything of 2011 - Jack and Jill". Time. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  17. ↑ "The worst films of 2011". The A.V. Club. 2011-12-15.
  18. ↑ "The Worst of 2011 - Jack & Jill". TV Guide. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  19. ↑ Barker, Andrew (November 10, 2011). "New U.S. Release: Jack and Jill". Variety. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Half in the Bag: Jack and Jill, RedLetterMedia
  21. ↑ "Adam Sandler's 'Jack and Jill' Sweeps The Razzies". Hollywood.com. 2012-04-02. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  22. ↑ White, Armond (November 11, 2011). "Plumbing Ethnicity: Sandler’s Jack, Jill and Tyler Perry". CityArts. New York Press. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
  23. ↑ LaSalle, Mick (November 11, 2011). "'Jack and Jill' review: Jack's funny, Jill's a drag". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Jack and Jill: Critic Reviews". Metacritic. 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2012.

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