Movie Review: Bedtime Stories

Here is something you don't see very often--an Adam Sandler movie you can watch with your kids. Adam plays "Skeeter", a guy who works at a hotel his father started and has always dreamed of running someday. He agrees to watch his niece and nephew while his sister goes out of town for a job interview. In an effort to entertain the kids, Skeeter starts telling them bedtime stories the way his father always did. The kids, of course, have to add their 2 cents worth and the stories are played out on screen. The next day, events from the stories start really happening. Skeeter, of course, tries to find a way to manipulate the stories so he can eventually win the girl and his dream hotel.

Guy Pearce and Lucy Lawless are Skeeter's foils--Guy is Skeeter's competition for control of the hotel and Lucy is a mean hotel employee who is helping Guy. Lucy will always be Xena, warrior princess to me so it was odd seeing her in a concierge uniform. And seeing Guy Pearce, all I could think of was, "it's been a really long time since L.A. Confidential and Memento". If you've seen other Adam Sandler movies, you'll see some of the usual faces as well as Courtney Cox as his sis and Keri Russell as the other babysitter for the week.

Over the course of the week, Skeeter gets to know his niece and nephew and discovers he really enjoys them (How could he not? They're all on the same maturity level.), and he becomes friends with Keri Russell's character. Things work out pretty much as you expect them to but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is a fun movie that I was able to watch with all 3 of my kids without any embarrassment. That's getting harder and harder to find. (****)