A little more about the Halloween movie everyone is watching this year.
Hubie Halloween is the new slapstick comedy from Netflix starring Adam Sandler, who plays a character called Hubie Dubois. He is Salem, Massachusetts’ unconventional, devoted community volunteer who is mocked and ridiculed by the adults and kids of the town. Hubie is also the self-anointed Halloween monitor for Salem, but this year things took a turn as he found himself in the middle of a real investigation. Despite the escape of a mental patient, a strange new neighbor, and all the usual pranks from the town residents, Hubie manages to keep going in order to protect his town, regardless of them not treating him well.
There have been a lot of criticisms for this Halloween comedy. First off, for someone as comically talented as Sandler, it was surprising how the comedic timing was off in so many of the jokes, and how a lot of them didn’t land. Many critics also say that this is also a regressive role for Sandler, and that after such good reviews in his last couple of films, this is a step back for him. Richard Roeper, a top critic from the Chicago Sun-Times, reviewed the movie and said, “Sandler surely knew this mildly offensive, juvenile celebration of cheap scares, slapstick gags and bodily function "jokes" was sure to land near the bottom of the large pile of terrible movies starring [himself].” Many other critics have similar views on this film, and some claim that the only reason Sandler does movies like such is because of the big paycheck.
Not everything about Hubie Halloween is terrible though. Lots of people and other critics who’ve watched the movie think it's a feel-good Halloween movie, and despite not being very original, it has some good moments. However, some do say that if you're not a fan of Adam Sandler's kind of comedy, you probably won’t enjoy it that much. If you do like or have watched Sandler’s work though, then you might enjoy the references to Sandler’s 1995 comedy Billy Madison, or how many actors he has worked with before are in the movie, like Kevin James, Tim Meadows, and Julie Bowen.
Hubie Halloween has overall done great on Netflix, despite the criticisms. This movie is definitely a hit for kids, teenagers, and nostalgic Sandler fans, and it has been on Netflix’s Daily Top 10 charts in places from all around the world, including the U.S., Canada, U.K., Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, and many others. The movie was released on October 7, 2020 and managed to still stay on this list for several weeks in many countries, including Honduras.
Another reason why Hubie Halloween has been watched by so many people is because the movie pays a special tribute to Cameron Boyce, who passed away in July 2019 in his sleep due to SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy). Boyce was known for his roles in the Disney film franchise Descendants and Disney Channel's Jessie. Cameron Boyce had also previously acted with Adam Sandler as he played his son Keith in Grown-Ups and Grown-Ups 2. Sandler even guest starred on Jessie in 2013. Cameron was actually supposed to be in Hubie Halloween, as he was going to play one of Hubie’s bullies. Sandler talked about this in an interview with Yahoo! and said, “He was supposed to come to do the movie maybe two days after [he died]. He was getting on a plane to come shoot our movie. That was devastating news for his family and for all of us. He was just a nice kid. When he was in Grown-Ups as a kid, he was just carefree, happy, funny, all the other kids loved him. All the comedians would walk away like, 'Man, that kid said a funny line earlier.' He was just sharp.” Cameron’s role in Hubie Halloween ended up being played by Karan Brar, who starred alongside Boyce as his brother in Jessie, and who was his best friend outside of the show. This movie was just very special for fans of Cameron Boyce, and when the small eulogy card appears towards the end of the movie, it really made many people tear up.
Overall, Hubie Halloween is not the best movie, but if you just want to watch a Halloween movie, or if you’re an Adam Sandler fan, then you might enjoy it. You also might just want to watch it to honor the memory of Cameron Boyce, since the film is dedicated to him (if you want to learn more about Cameron Boyce or support some of the causes he stood for, check out The Cameron Boyce Foundation). If you’d like to watch the movie, it is currently available to all Netflix users worldwide. Let us know what you think about Hubie Halloween in the comments, and have a Happy Halloween!
Rating: 2.5/5 stars