Oh yeah? Well my dad's friends with Vanilla Ice. Oh, never mind (photo by Tracy Bennett)
He’s got it bad, got it bad, got it bad. He’s hot for teacher. That should be the theme song for Donny Berger, Adam Sandler‘s latest lovable loser, who father’s a child with his hot junior high school teacher (Eva Amurri) in That’s My Boy. But even though the soundtrack has at least three Van Halen songs (including “Cradle Will Rock,” which is equally appropriate), “Hot For Teacher” isn’t one of them. But with all the other jackassery that follows Donny’s endearingly dimwitted adventures, most people probably won’t even notice.
After Miss McGarricle is sent to prison for having sex with her student, a media frenzy makes Donny a pseudo-celebrity before he’s even out of high school. The 30-something Donny, however, finds himself guzzling beer, owing thousands of dollars in taxes and estranged from his son Han Solo Berger (Andy Samberg), who has changed his name to Todd Peterson and created an entirely new life for himself. But when Donny is propositioned with an offer that will eliminate his tax debts if he can arrange a reunion between his son at the women’s prison where McGarricle has been serving her sentence, he’s unable to refuse.
What better place for father/son bonding than an all-night strip club/omelette bar? (photo by Tracy Bennett)
Though money is his initial motivation, once Donny arrives unannounced (and uninvited) in a run-down Fiero with a Rush logo on the hood just days before Todd’s wedding, he and Todd gradually develop an odd bond that forces Donny to reconsider exploiting his son’s anonymity on a reality show. And although his son and bride-to-be Christina (Leighton Meester) are appalled at Donny’s immature and slovenly behavior, he has a charm that wins over the rest of their family and friends.
Before you know it, Donny’s showing Todd how to have a real bachelor party as he and his friends go to an all-night strip club/omelette bar (yep) where the featured dancer is that overweight black hooker from Borat (Luenell). Then they go ice skating with Vanilla Ice and Todd Bridges. Then Donny finds out Christina’s been engaging in acts that make his whole student/teacher thing look downright wholesome. This all, of course, ruins the wedding, which turns out to be a good thing for Todd.
White trash family reunion (photo by Tracy Bennett)
There’s a whole bunch of Sandler and Samberg’s Saturday Night Live buddies in this movie (Colin Quinn, Will Forte, Ana Gasteyer, Rachel Dratch), as well as plenty of inane comedy, toilet humor and the kind of sophomoric laughs you’d expect from a movie about a teenager living out every boy’s fantasy starring Adam Sandler. The moral of the story (if there is one) is that age ain’t nothing but a number when it comes to true love. And when Todd and Donny pay a visit to the present-day Miss McGarricle (Susan Sarandon, who flashes a vintage Hulk Hogan shirt from under her orange jumpsuit), the connection she and Donny have is still apparent with the fingering gestures they give each other against the prison’s glass partition.
That’s My Boy is retarded and inappropriate on just about every level. I happen to think that makes it pretty hilarious.
That’s My Boy. Directed by Sean Anders. Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Leighton Meester. Rated R. www.thatsmyboy-movie.com.