This week’s film review: That’s My Boy

FILM

That’s My Boy cert - 15

2/5 stars

Donny becomes an overnight 80’s teen sensation when an affair with his eighth grade teacher goes public, but while his first love languishes in federal prison and Donny lives it up with Vanilla Ice and Corey Haim, their love-child, Todd, is neglected, eventually cutting himself off completely from his birth-parents to forge a ‘normal’ life.

Now a successful hedge-fund manager, Todd’s wedding is splashed across the society pages and subsequently crashed by a drunk, desolate Donny, who has ulterior motives after being forced into a reality TV deal that would see him reunited with his incarcerated mistress and free from a twenty year tax bill.

Sandler has noticed his fan-base growing tired of his tried and tested formula of toilet humour that treads the line between a 12A and 15 certification, so he’s gone all out with That’s My Boy, addressing drugs, profanity and even incest.

This artistic push was no doubt inspired by Sandler’s on-screen son, Andy Samberg, who is best known for his Saturday Night Live music video parodies about male appendages and their functions.

Writer, David Caspe, is responsible for pleasantly mature TV comedy, Happy Endings, and director, Sean Anders, brought us the undeniably lovely Mr Poppers Penguins, so it would appear they made That’s My Boy in an attempt to out-gross each other and impress Sandler and his prot�g�, Samberg.

There are several stand-out moments of humour but nothing compared to the consistently funny, well-observed characters and storylines we’ve come to expect from the Judd Apatow-ruled world of guy-comedy.

Ashley Whittaker