Sandler's 'Jack and Jill' runs up funny hill
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Adam Sandler (as "Jill") and Katie Holmes in "Jack and Jill."
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Most amazing thing about "Jack and Jill," the delicious new Adam Sandler comedy, is not that he plays the dual role of twins. Nor is it that a great actor named "Al Pacino" falls in love with Jill. It's the casting of the Al Pacino character. Lots of people (like the Brits Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon) do terrific Al Pacino impersonations. But Mr. Sandler has bypassed them and, instead, hired -- Al Pacino.
In the yarn at hand, LA ad executive Jack Sadelstein is desperate to land the big Dunkin Donuts commercial, kicking off its bold new product-challenge to cappuccino: Dunkaccino. But Jack is equally desperate -- and much distracted -- by a need to survive his dreaded annual torture: the four-day Thanksgiving visit of twin sister Jill.
How needy and passive-aggressive is Jill? She makes Blanche DuBois look like Lady Gaga. She can't get a date (let alone a husband), and she keeps extending her stay with Jack, first through Hanukkah, then New Year's, now maybe Halloween.
- Starring: Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes, Al Pacino.
- Rating: PG for crude material including suggestive references, language and comic violence.
Meanwhile, back at the commercial ranch, who better to promote DD's Dunkaccino than Al Pacino? DD insists on him, but he's fully booked these days playing Shakespearean stage roles and having a post-midlife nervous breakdown. (What the great actor really wants to do is sing "The Impossible Dream" in "Man of la Mancha.")
How can Jack get him for the Dunkin commercial? Taking sister Jill to a Lakers game provides the accidental answer. Pacino happens to be there (with Johnny Depp), spots Jill in the crowd, and sends over a complimentary foot-long hot dog with the words "Call Me" written in mustard and his phone number in ketchup.
First Published November 11, 2011 12:00 am
