Jack and Jill (2011 film)

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Jack and Jill
Jack and jill film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Dennis Dugan
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by Ben Zook
Starring
Music by
Cinematography Dean Cundey
Edited by Tom Costain
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • November 11, 2011 (2011-11-11)
Running time
 91 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $79 million
Box office $149.7 million

Jack and Jill is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Steve Koren and Adam Sandler, and starring Sandler, Katie Holmes, and Al Pacino. The film was released on November 11, 2011 by Columbia Pictures.

The film was panned by critics, and has since been considered to be one of the worst films ever made. Jack and Jill won 10 Razzie Awards, breaking Battlefield Earth's record for the most Razzie wins for a single film.

Plot[edit]

The film opens with homemade videos of fraternal twins Jack and Jill Sadelstein growing up in New York City. As the videos progress, they reveal Jack as the gifted twin, while Jill constantly tries—and fails miserably—to get his attention by injuring him and/or driving others away from him.

In present day Los Angeles, Jack (Adam Sandler) is a successful advertising executive who lives with his beautiful wife Erin (Katie Holmes) and their two kids: Sofie (Elodie Tougne); Gary (Rohan Chand), a Hindu child they adopted at birth. Jill (also played by Sandler) never left the working-class neighborhood they grew up in; she recently inherited the Sadelstein home, having lived with their mother until her death one year ago.

As always, Jack is irritated by the upcoming Thanksgiving visit of his sister. Jill ruins Thanksgiving dinner by loudly embarrassing a homeless guest. Jack finally calls her out for making a fool of herself, of him, and of everybody else at the table. Stung, Jill runs off into the woods with her pet cockatoo Poopsie. Erin demands that Jack apologize to his sister, which he very unwillingly does. Jill has a list of things she wants to do while in Los Angeles: be on a game show (The Price is Right, which—despite her horrendous performance—gives Jill a carload of prizes simply to be rid of her); go horseback riding (she proves too big and heavy for the pony, which collapses under her); and do a studio tour. Since Jill has an open-ended plane ticket, she decides to stay until the end of Hanukkah - much to Jack's horror.

Jack's agency client, meanwhile, wants him to somehow get actor Al Pacino to appear in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial. Jack isn't sure how he's supposed to make that happen.

Jill tries online dating. She has no success until Jack poses as Jill and alters her profile, leading to more than 100 responses. Yet when Jill's date - "Funbucket" (Norm Macdonald) - meets her, he sneaks out of the restaurant through the men's room.

Jack takes Jill to a Lakers game where Pacino is supposed to be. Pacino blows off Jack but is taken with Jill and gives her his phone number. Jack was hoping Jill would go back home by New Year's Eve, since the family is going on a cruise. Jack's friends and colleagues throw him a birthday party, extending the invite to Jill. Again Jill loudly disgraces herself, Jack, and the various celebrities in attendance. Pacino invites Jill to his home, where she accidentally destroys his Oscar statuette. Abruptly, she becomes bored with him and leaves. Jack's Mexican gardener Felipe (Eugenio Derbez), who is also taken with Jill, invites her to meet his family at their annual fiesta. There she hits it off with everybody, and tries Mexican food for the first time, thus acquiring a horrible case of diarrhea which makes her even tougher to live with than usual.

Pacino refuses to do the Dunkin' Doughnuts commercial unless Jack gets him a date with Jill; to that end, Jack invites Jill on the cruise with his family. At sea, while Jill continues making a fool of herself and everyone around her, Jack disguises himself as his own sister and goes on her date with Pacino. Jill suspects that Jack invited her on the cruise just so Pacino would do the commercial; such is confirmed when she phones Jack, he answers as Jill, and then she hears Pacino in the background. Pacino, still believing Jack to be Jill, spells out that he (Pacino) sees much more in her than just a pathetic half-wit...which is what Jack always took her for. Feeling unspeakably guilty, Jack returns to the ship, only to learn that Jill has gone back home to The Bronx. At a restaurant on New Year's Eve, toting a picture of her and Jack's late mother, Jill comes across a group of former classmates who always made fun of her; these classmates, led by Monica (David Spade), pick up directly where they left off...until Jack, his wife and their kids show up. Jack and Jill converse in their made-up twin language (which even Jack finds incomprehensible). Monica attacks Erin and is cold cocked by Jill. Pacino also turns up at the party, dressed as the Man of La Mancha, and tells Jill that while he may have feelings for her, there is another man more worthy of her than himself. She then goes home, where Felipe (the other suitor Pacino was referring to) and his children await her arrival. Felipe professes his love for Jill, and the two begin a relationship.

The television commercial is made, with Pacino starring and singing as he promotes a new coffee—"Dunkaccino"—with a rap song. But when Jack shows it to him, Pacino hates it and tells him to destroy every copy of this film.

Cast[edit]

Cameos

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

The film opened in 3,438 theaters at #2 with $25,003,575, behind Immortals, which debuted in the top spot with $32,206,425.[3] The film closed on February 26, 2012 with a total gross of $74,158,157 in North America. It also made $75,515,631 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $149,673,788 against its $79 million budget.[4]

Critical reception[edit]

Jack and Jill was overwhelmingly panned by critics, with many citing it as one of the worst films of all time. Salon stated that Jack and Jill "received some of the worst reviews of any movie ever" upon its release.[5] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 3%, based on 105 reviews, with a rating average of 2.6 out of 10. The site's consensus reads: "Although it features an inexplicably committed performance from Al Pacino, Jack and Jill is impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 23 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7]

Mary Pols of Time magazine ranked the film #1 on the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011.[8] The A.V. Club ranked it #1 on "The Worst Films of 2011" list (along with Just Go with It).[9] TV Guide included the film on its "The Worst of 2011" list.[10] Andrew Barker of Variety said that the film's "general stupidity, careless direction and reliance on a single-joke premise that was never really funny to begin with are only the most obvious of its problems."[11] Internet review show Half in the Bag criticized Jack and Jill for recycling gags from Sandler's previous films, incessant product placement, and laziness in terms of both writing and production quality; going so far as to characterize the entire production as a sinister embezzlement scam.[12] They would later call it "the worst thing in the world".[13] The film won a total of 10 Razzies in 2012, setting a record and displacing 2000's Battlefield Earth which had garnered 9 awards.[14]

Despite generally scathing reviews, the film did receive some positive reception. However much of this was seen as a "one-off" or a surprise in comparison to the rest of the film. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that while he found the character Jill annoying, "almost everything else in this comedy succeeds. The central situation...has comic energy...[the film has] successful bits and big moments of satisfying comedy."[15] Tom Russo of the Boston Globe gave the film two and a half out of a possible four stars, writing "What's more genuinely wacky is what a kick this movie can sometimes be, completely in spite of its big, flat stunt."[16]

Accolades[edit]

In the Razzie Awards, Jack and Jill was nominated for every single category, and twice for Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, and won all 10 awards.

List of awards and nominations
Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result
Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actor Adam Sandler Won
Razzie Awards Worst Actor Won
Worst Actress Won
Worst Supporting Actor Nick Swardson Nominated
Al Pacino Won
Worst Supporting Actress David Spade (in drag) Won
Katie Holmes Nominated
Worst Picture Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, and Todd Garner Won
Worst Director Dennis Dugan Won
Worst Screenplay Adam Sandler, Ben Zook, and Steve Koren Won
Worst Screen Couple Adam Sandler and either Al Pacino, Katie Holmes or Adam Sandler Won
Worst Ensemble Won
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel Ripoff of Glen or Glenda Won

Home media[edit]

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Jack and Jill on DVD and Blu-ray on March 6, 2012.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Al Pacino, Katie Holmes Join ‘Jack and Jill’. News in Film. Retrieved December 6, 2010.[dead link]
  2. ^ "Dana Carvey to Make His Comeback in Jack and Jill?". ComingSoon.net. October 4, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2012. 
  3. ^ "'Immortals' #1 With So-So $32M Domestic But $36M Foreign, 'Jack And Jill' $26M". Deadline.com. PMC. November 13, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011. 
  4. ^ "Jack and Jill (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved March 5, 2012. 
  5. ^ "The tragedy of Adam Sandler". Salon. November 14, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2014. 
  6. ^ "Jack and Jill (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 9, 2014. 
  7. ^ "Jack and Jill Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 18, 2011. 
  8. ^ Pols, Mary (December 7, 2011). "The Top 10 Everything of 2011 - Jack and Jill". Time. Retrieved December 13, 2011. 
  9. ^ "The worst films of 2011". The A.V. Club. December 15, 2011. 
  10. ^ "The Worst of 2011 - Jack & Jill". TV Guide. Retrieved December 17, 2011. 
  11. ^ Barker, Andrew (November 10, 2011). "New U.S. Release: Jack and Jill". Variety. Retrieved January 1, 2012. 
  12. ^ Half in the Bag: Jack and Jill, RedLetterMedia
  13. ^ "Half in the Bag: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and That's My Boy". RedLetterMedia. June 28, 2012. 
  14. ^ "Adam Sandler's 'Jack and Jill' Sweeps The Razzies". Hollywood.com. April 2, 2012. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2013. 
  15. ^ LaSalle, Mick (November 11, 2011). "'Jack and Jill' review: Jack's funny, Jill's a drag". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 1, 2012. 
  16. ^ "Jack and Jill: Critic Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 17, 2012. 

External links[edit]

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