as part of a sort of informal extremely casual pre-hanukkah hanukkah celebration with my friend banner, we were invited to watch eight crazy nights. (he was also going to make latkes, but college finals leave little time for such a treat! maybe next time.) i have a lot of words to say about this movie, and you're soon going to see why this has five question marks instead of five stars.

if you've heard of this movie lately, it's probably because this clip has been circulating around the internet for a while now. just so you know, it doesn't make any more sense in context, either. eight crazy nights has a really simple premise. in a way, it's sort of a 'christmas carol' type story, but instead of ebeneezer scrooge, we have davey stone, who hates christmas and hanukkah both - inclusive king. while the "miserly holiday-hater learns to be a better person" story is a tried and true classic, it's also been done hundreds of times before, and by more well-regarded names. (like jim henson and the muppets. how can you compete with kermit the frog?) so, that being said, if you want your movie to stick out, you need to do something interesting to shake up that formula. adam sandler's solution to this problem was to fill up the movie with as much shocking and offensive humor as he possibly could.

i feel like this movie was written by adam sandler in one sitting, and he put every single stray thought he had into the script. it really does feel like watching someone's stream of consciousness animated in shockingly good quality. this movie is a musical, and characters will interrupt their own songs just to say something bizarre, shocking, and probably offensive. the actual plot and story of the movie quite frankly takes a backseat to the concussion-inducing rapidfire stream of jokes they keep throwing at you before you can even blink. the movie has very little boundaries it won't cross -- every "-ist" joke it could make, it probably does, and there are several jokes involving the consumption of... bodily waste. you probably won't be surprised to hear that this movie was a box office BOMB. overall, it sounds kind of horrible and obnoxious, right?

well, it is, and it's so terrible it circles back around to being great. i'm a terrible person for laughing at this movie and you will be too. i feel like the movie has such a rapidfire stream of jokes that, eventually, something has to hit. if it keeps trying, something will be funny. the writing of this movie is very much a "so-bad-it's-good" type of deal but i do need to point out that there are aspects of the movie that are, shockingly, genuinely good. first of all, the animation is way smoother and nicer looking than it needs to be. this movie is also a musical, and a lot of the songs are kind of... good? almost? certainly not revolutionary, but i've had bum biddy stuck in my head for far too long. this movie is the kind of thing you need to gather a group of friends for so you can share in the joy and in the pain. it's the perfect balance of 'entertaining' and 'truly horrible' that makes it an excellent hanukkah/party/other social gathering movie.

this is a bad movie. i highly recommend watching it. fair warning - it's an adam sandler movie from 2002, and it's offensive in multiple ways that have aged extremely poorly, so be aware of that going in - but it's an entertaining watch. we laughed. we're going to hell. merry christmas and happy hanukkah.