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Jack and Jill is a comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Steve Koren and Adam Sandler, and starring Sandler in a dual role, alongside Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, and Eugenio Derbez. The film was released on November 11, 2011, by Columbia Pictures.
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Plot
Thanksgiving is usually a happy time, but ad executive Jack (Adam Sandler) dreads the holiday because his twin sister, Jill (also Sandler), makes her annual visit. When Jack and his sister get off on the wrong foot, the only way to make it right is to invite her to stay through Hanukkah. But, when actor Al Pacino (himself), whom Jack desperately needs to star in a commercial, takes a shine to Jill, Jack may be forced to extend his sister's visit even longer.
Why Pacino Destroys Them
- The way Adam Sandler plays the two titular characters is poorly done as unlike Eddie Murphy's roles as the Klumps in The Nutty Professor (1996), the twins here are pretty much the same as Jill is just a fat Adam Sandler with a girly voice.
- The film gets the "identical twin" fact completely wrong. Identical twins must be identical. If they are two different genders, then they are fraternal twins, two completely different babies who happen to be born at the same time from the same mom.
- Ridiculous and laughable concept about an obnoxious sibling reuniting with the other one and hilarious events occur as a result.
- Product placement everywhere, with them even being the focus of the story (e.g. Jack trying to get Al Pacino to advertise Dunkin' Donuts).
- Horrendous jokes, such as the part where Jill dresses herself up and the infamous part where an old woman gets hit with an object and when both Jack and Jill both act the same way in the movie theater.
- Both Jack and Jill themselves unlikable in their own different ways, especially Jill because she can be quite selfish and rather whiny sometimes. For example, she complained and sulked all because there was just one birthday cake.
- Also, Jill's appearance is very ugly, and all you can see is Adam Sandler in drag. Worse for worse, at the Mexican party, his drag is hinted to the characters as one person literally looks under her skirt to make sure Jill was a female! If she was actually gorgeous then maybe everybody would believe she was a woman.
- Terrible acting, save for Al Pacino, who is considered to be one of the best parts of the film.
- Lots of pointless celebrity cameos featuring Drew Carey, Johnny Depp, Christie Brinkley, Vince Offer, etc. It also features a cameo from Jared Fogle, which did not age well because of the you-know-what.
- Jill's voice is ear-piercing and annoying. Sandler previously used that voice for a 1996 audio sketch called “Do It for Momma”, which works better that way.
- Cringeworthy dialogue. In fact, the most infamous quote is when Jill said she needed to make "chocolate squirties", and the worst thing of all is that Jack and Erin were eating chocolate pudding or soup, well whatever it was, it's still chocolate! THANKS FOR GROSSING EVERYONE OUT!
- The Dunkaccino isn't a product made up for the movie, by the way. It's an actual product you can buy. Also, if Al Pacino changed his first name from "Al" to "Dunk", his full name would be "Dunk Pacino" not "Dunkaccino" since it uses the Pacino and removes the first two letters of it.
- False advertising: In the different trailers, promotions, posters, and marketing that were distributed in Latin America and Europe for the film, the character of Eugenio Derbez, Felipe, appears as if he were the protagonist or co-protagonist of the film, however Felipe, has an extremely minor role in the film, in fact, only appears in a maximum of about 5 or 6 minutes.
- Predictable and nonexistent story. You can just replace the characters with even more generic ones, and you can still guess the plot easily.
- Poor editing where a lot of scenes come out of nowhere, such as the Dunkaccino scene.
- The Thanksgiving dinner scene would make sense if it took place at the end of the film instead since it felt like it was added at the last minute.
- Felipe's grandmother Juangelina, who was also played by Eugenio Derbez, looks way too horrible. Her voice is out of place, and she's shown too much which makes her downright terrifying and nightmare-inducing.
- So much unneeded padding.
- The scene where the dog named Poopsie goes into the chocolate fountain caused internet-wide controversy since in reality, chocolate is bad for dogs and would give them a huge problem.
- Pop culture references in every single scene such as Cats and Dogs 2, which is somewhat better than this film.
- The Mexican stereotypes are offensive, perhaps even more so than the chi news stereotype in Hop.
- Jack's wife, Erin, is unlikable and bland, as she scolded Jack for yelling at Jill in the theater, even though Jill was in the wrong for answering her phone loudly.
Redeeming Qualities
- The film is bookended by interviews with real-life sets of twins, which feels pretty genuine and fitting since this film is based on twin siblings.
- Al Pacino's performance is the one part that movie critics agreed was good since he does give off a pretty funny moment in the entire film.
- Also, Pacino pretending to go as somebody else at the Lakers game only for his identity to be revealed and was embarrassed was a bit funny.
- The rap in the Dunkin' Donuts commercial at the end is meant to be bad, but for the viewers, it's actually pretty funny. It helps that the whole commercial became an internet meme in the late 2010s and is considered one of the best scenes in the whole movie.
- When Jill is shown in her teenage years, she was played by a young boy instead of a girl, so there is a hint of consistency.
- At the end of the film, after he's seen himself in the Dunkin' Donuts commercial, Al Pacino tells Jack to "burn this", which has led viewers to believe that he may have actually been talking about this film.
- The score of Rupert Gregson-Williams and Waddy Wachtel isn't that bad, thanks to the latter being involved in Shrek and Wonder Woman (2017).
- Poopsie is a funny and likeable comic relief character.
- Otto, the caddy from Happy Gilmore, makes a cameo in the Thanksgiving dinner scene.
- The scene where Jack, dressed as Jill, gets hit by a chair is funny and satisfying.
Reception
Jack and Jill was universally panned by critics and audiences alike and is often considered to be one of the worst movies of all time. The film currently holds a 3% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 2.64 out of 10 and a critic consensus that reads "Although it features an inexplicably committed performance from Al Pacino, Jack and Jill is impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever." Film critic Brett Michell of The Boston Phoenix awarded the film zero out of five stars and described the film as "Unpleasant even by Sandler's usual standards, it's easily the star's worst film. And it co-stars Al Pacino. (It's his worst film, too.)" Ellen E. Jones of Total Film stated in her review "Sandler's brash, unpretentious and unsubtle family comedy might be more enjoyable if it wasn't so mean." Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News stated, "It feels a little lazy like Dugan and Sandler didn't work hard enough to iron out the premise." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times noted the irony of Pacino's presence, as the actor is best known for playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather, which is widely considered one of the best films ever made, in this film, which he called "one of the worst movies in the history of cinema!" Ramin Setoodeh of The Daily Beast and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone reviewed it together in an article entitled "Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill Is the Worst Movie Ever Made". After an hour-long critique, RedLetterMedia claimed that it was "so egregious that it ceased to be a film", and the site also later called it "the worst thing in the world". Mike McGranaghan wrote, on his website The Aisle Seat: "Howard the Duck, Gigli, Showgirls, From Justin to Kelly. What do they all have in common? They're all widely considered among the worst big studio movies ever made. Do you know what else they have in common? They're all better than Jack and Jill." Jack and Jill was featured in the top ten worst films of all time poll conducted by RiffTrax.
Box Office
The film opened up at #2 on its opening weekend grossing $25,003,575. It would later make a total domestic gross of $74,158,157. In foreign markets, the film made $75,515,631. Overall, the film grossed $149,673,788 worldwide. The film was a box office disappointment.
Awards and Nominations
Jack and Jill was nominated for twelve Golden Raspberry Awards and won all ten Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Actor, Screenplay and was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for David Spade in drag. It became the first movie to sweep all the Razzies at the time, beating the record of the Razzies for I Know Who Killed Me, Battlefield Earth, and Showgirls.
Videos
Trailer
Reviews and Top 10s
Trivia
- David Spade is the only actor in the movie to not play a male character.
- Three of the actors, Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Eugenio Derbez played female characters while Sandler and Derbez still played both male and female characters.
- South Park poked fun of the movie's negative reputation before its release in the episode "You're Getting Old"; and Robot Chicken eventually made a skit out of this film.
- This movie was the first movie ever in the Razzie history to win in every category: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Dennis Dugan), Worst Actor (Adam Sandler as Jack), Worst Actress (Adam Sandler as Jill), Worst Supporting Actor (Al Pacino), Worst Supporting Actress (David Spade as Monica), Worst Screen Couple (Adam Sandler and Katie Holmes or Pacino and Sandler), Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel (Remake/Rip-off of Glen or Glenda (1953)), Worst Screenplay, and Worst Screen Ensemble as well. It broke the record previously held by I Know Who Killed Me, which won eight awards out of nine nominations, including the Worst Movie of 2007. This movie, I Know Who Killed Me, and Battlefield Earth have won the most Razzies among all the movies which were nominated for or won at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
External Links
Comments
- 2010s films
- Comedy films
- Happy Madison films
- Razzie Awards Worst Picture winners
- Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel winners
- Worst Screenplay winners
- Columbia Pictures
- Aware of how bad they are
- Sony films
- Box office disappointments
- Live-action films
- Controversial films
- Internet memes
- Films featured on Wikipedia's Films Considered the Worst page
- Movies with obvious product placement
- Featured on TV Tropes' So Bad, It's Horrible