By Anju
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Julie Bowen, June Squibb, Ray Liotta, Maya Rudolph, Rob Schneider, Steve Buscemi
Language: English
Platform: Netflix
October is a season for many things in North America – fall, orange – the color in all it’s hues, colored leaves strewn all over, pumpkins and of course the spooky Halloween. Hubie Halloween themed around the same, has perfectly landed in the fall season of October.
Adam Sandler, who has also written and produced the film, stars as Hubie Dubois – the title character, in Hubie Halloween. Adam Sandler’s last outing was Uncut Gems which is a far departure from what he usually does best – comedy. Here he returns to his comfort zone of tickling our funny bones in his typical way.
Steven Brill directed film Hubie Halloween is a light hearted spookily entertaining film rightly needed given the pandemic we are in. The film opens with a night at Westford State Mental Hospital where attendant Hal (Ben Stiller in a cameo)comes to check on Richie Hartman (Rob Schneider) but finds him missing. Richie escapes from the hospital. Cut to a small town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is getting ready for Halloween. There’s Halloween fervor and spookiness everywhere in town.
Adam Sandler’s Hubie Dubois is a goofball having a weirdly funny voice, who works at a deli along with a teenage coworker Mike(Karan Brar). Mike often teams up with a visitor, Pete Landolfa (Ray Liotta) to bully Hubie. Hubie’s timid nature is an object of ridicule by everyone in town. He keeps getting thrown all kinds of objects by the town kids whenever he’s out on his bicycle. He has an all-in-one thermos flask kind of a thing which comes handy whenever he wants to dodge the kids or to have his beverage. He lives with his mama(June Squibb) who treats him as if he were still a school kid. His house is filled with Halloween decor. A peculiar new neighbor Walter Lambert (Steve Buscemi) moves in next to him who is part werewolf.
Hubie is always helpful to the town people, kind of a person who thinks about others first even when they reciprocate in harmful ways. When he goes to report some misgivings to the cops particularly the town police sergeant(Kevin James) they don’t take him seriously and is shoved away. He secretly has a crush on his town girl Violet Valentine (Julie Bowen) since his second grade. She was married previously to the sergeant and is divorced now. She has adopted children and has taken them under her wing. (Two of the foster daughters are Adam Sandler’s own kids) She keeps throwing hints at Hubie every now and then.
On Halloween day when everyone is out with their costumes and kids trick or treating, Hubie like a self appointed monitor is on his bicycle monitoring the activities making sure everyone’s safe. He has some sort of a premonition that something untoward is going to happen. People start getting kidnapped what with the mental convict Richie Hartman on the loose. We see other bullies (Maya Rudolph, Tim Meadows – making a cameo) during this time. Hubie is suspected to be the one behind this. He runs away and seeks help from a local radio station. Eventually there’s the final reveal, with it Hubie wins the town over.
Adam Sandler is tolerable most of the times for the given narrative though at places he sticks to his antics, garnering some laughs too. His expressions are earnest as that of a good natured guy. The plot is built on an absurd premise but many parts are conceived in an imaginative way, especially the tension leading upto the climax. That’s what keeps us hooked for what it offers without boring us. Production design is spookily boisterous. Just as Hubie, the film is harmless and warms us up for the season.
Stars: **.5
My thoughts 