Jack and Jill Blu-ray delivers stunning video and great audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
Jack Sadelstein, a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, who dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his identical twin sister Jill. Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down.
Jack and Jill is so bad that Jack and Jill actually managed to fall uphill just to get away from it. Jack and Jill is so bad that they
fetched
a pail
in which to vomit. Jack and Jill is so bad that Jack broke himself rather than watch the movie. Jack and Jill is so bad that Jill's
brains came
tumbling from her eye sockets after she ripped out her peepers so as to never have to gaze upon the movie again. Seriously, what in the world was
Adam Sandler thinking? How could the man who once
made movies like Happy Gilmore and Mr. Deeds be reduced to this? It's not like Sandler's movies have ever
been high art, but they've been steady and funny Comedies that maintained a level of respect for the genre and at least made an effort to carry on
the
torch from the heyday of John Candy and Bill Murray. Jack and Jill, however, really scrapes the very bottom of the barrel and is a Bucky Larson-sized insult to the Comedy genre (and poor Nick
Swardson
now has the distinction of appearing in the two worst movies of 2011). Jack and Jill is incredibly annoying, so annoying that whatever it is
that it's trying to accomplish -- make the audience laugh? -- becomes lost under the avalanche of inept scriptwriting, lazy directing, awful character
development, irritating acting, and general stupidity. The good news is that Sandler's next movie has nowhere to go but back up -- hopefully.
Jill and Jack.
Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler) works in the highly competitive world of advertising. He's wrapping up a promo for Pepto Bismol when he receives
word that his company's biggest client, Dunkin' Donuts, wants Al Pacino to star in its next commercial, and if Jack's firm can't land the superstar,
the donut conglomerate will find another firm that can. Jack's already stressed to the max, and to make matters worse, his twin sister Jill (also
Sandler) is flying in for Thanksgiving. They don't exactly have the best relationship. Jack can't stand her, and she's too dense to realize when she's
not welcome. She arrives, with enough luggage for a large family in tow, and proceeds to annoy her brother while the rest of Jack's family -- wife
Erin (Katie Holmes), daughter Sofia (Elodie Tougne), and adopted son Gary (Rohan Chand) -- try to figure out what to make of a creature such as
Jill. As Jill tries to fit in and lure a boyfriend, she slowly becomes a part of the family, whether she's welcome or not. When Jack takes sympathy on
her after a bad blind date and treats her to a Lakers basketball game, she catches the eye of none other than Al Pacino, who will stop at nothing to
land the woman of his dreams.
Jack and Jill is the sort of movie that's either going to see the majority of its audience give up before the 20-minute mark, or see them stay
on
as a sign of inner strength and bragging rights. For those who choose to sit through it, perhaps this passage delivered by Steve Martin from Planes, Trains & Automobiles might seem suddenly fitting
(substituting
Jack and Jill for Del
Griffith): "Honey, I'd like you to watch 'Jack and Jill,' it's got some amusing anecodotes for you. Oh and here's a gun so you can blow your brains
out. You'll thank me for it." I could tolerate any insurance seminar. For days I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my
face. They'd say, "How can you stand it?" I'd say, "'Cause I've seen 'Jack and Jill.' I can take anything." You know what they'd say? They'd say, "I
know what you mean. The Adam Sandler movie. Woah." So perhaps that's the reason this was made, so when life's truly horrible moments,
those incessantly long stretches of butt-numbing awfulness, those times when it seems hell itself has spewed forth from the Earth, when the sun
will never again come out, when the universe seems to be collapsing, one can stand tall and take it like a man, unafraid to face what's coming,
having previously withstood the ultimate assault on human dignity and man's ability to tolerate immense pain. For the man who's seen Jack
and Jill and lived to tell about it, every day is like a new beginning, a gift, an assurance that nothing could ever be worse. But for the love of all
that is good, don't test that theory by watching The Love Guru.
Give Jack and Jill a smidgen (see that one-half "blue B" up there? Yeah, that smidgen) of credit for coming up with a
concept with potential. Identical twins who aren't exactly identical seems ripe for all sorts of humorous possibilities. Adam Sandler,
Director Dennis Dugan (Just Go With It), and the remainder of the folks responsible for the
movie took the worst possibility -- or at least the most annoying -- and ran with it. Jack and Jill assumes that making its lead character as
annoying as humanly possible will result in someone audiences will adore. They assume that making a movie about the mother of all annoying
characters, whom the other characters can't stand, will win over audiences. Sometimes, people like Jill work in small doses, but not as a focal point.
The movie's very premise is flawed; who wants to go to a movie to watch the world's most obnoxious person? In fact, the only time the movie
generates a genuine laugh is when Jill knocks herself unconscious, which results in several moments of glorious freedom from her incredibly
obnoxious voice. The rest of the laughs come pretty much at the movie and not with the movie; any spurts of laughter come not
at a humorous moment but as a futile effort at reprieve from what is, at best, tedium, at worst, apocalyptically bad storytelling. Worse, those
obligatory moments where the movie aims for some heart are completely lost because the audience would rather the character take a nosedive off
the cruise ship than give her any sympathy. Indeed, the characters are atrociously conceived and developed, and the performances aim for shrill
and
maddening rather than funny and endearing. It's horribly paced, oddly cast, and a dud for the ages that truly shows just how low even mainstream
moviemaking can go.
It should be old news now that Sony never cuts corners, even when the movie in question stinks. Jack and Jill looks great on Blu-ray, if anyone
dares to sit through it. This is another sparkling HD video transfer. As with the best of its kind, it never looks either glossy or flat, instead displaying
brilliant clarity, infinite detailing, and gorgeous colors. The movie is vivid and bright, awash in a wide assortment of balanced and accurate colors that
never go warm and never go dull. Whether the rainbow of colors on the cruise ship, the myriad of shades on "The Price is Right," balanced flesh tones,
warm wooden accents, or bright blue ocean water, every shade is perfectly captured and displayed. Even black levels are nothing short of exemplary.
Fine detail is equally mesmerizing. Facial textures are naturally complex, clothing textures are superb right down to the smallest crease and stitch, and
every object both large and small, significant and insignificant, appears with the utmost clarity and accuracy. The image is naturally razor-sharp in every
single frame. The only drawback is light banding that pops up in a handful of scenes, but otherwise, Jack and Jill represents the peak of Blu-ray
brilliance.
Jack and Jill lacks the dynamics of big Action movies, but Sony's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is certainly competent and smooth. This is
a
dialogue-intensive film, and the track handles the spoken word like a champ, which only enhances Jill's voice and thereby lessens the movie further.
Otherwise, the track is sparse but nevertheless highly effective in its delivery of any extracurricular sonic elements. Nighttime ambience is delivered with
a baseline effectiveness. The
basketball sequence features superb crowd atmospherics, and public address announcements come through clearly and with great realism; this sequence
does a fine job of transporting the listener to Staples Center. Music enjoys very good presence and spacing, whether as heard during some of the
smoother tracks or the more energized ones alike. A whirling helicopter rotor as heard in chapter thirteen represents the track's single-most effective
sonic element; the blades slice through the listening area with precision, nicely replicating the sensation of standing beneath the vehicle. Otherwise,
this one is all about the spoken word. The track is efficient and plays all it has available in its arsenal with great clarity and ease.
Jack and Jill fortunately spares audiences (and reviewers) from having to endure too many supplements.
Deleted Scenes (1080p, 19:07): Here Comes Jill, Driving Miss Jill, Otto the War Veteran, Jill: Exposed, Making Ham Fun Again,
Ordering Chaos, "...Or So I've Been Told," "Wham, Bam Eggs and Ham," A Wish Come True, Sorry Grandma, Pool Side Peepshow, Jill Stays In,
and "An Al Pacheese Cake!". Just imagine: the movie could have approached two hours with all of this left in.
Laughing is Contagious (1080p, 3:44): Wasn't the entire movie a blooper reel?
Look Who Stopped By (1080p, 8:33): A look at some of the many cameo appearances in the film.
Boys Will Be Girls (1080p, 3:44): For those who care about the Sandler boy-to-girl transformation and the actor's total immersion into
the world of womanhood.
Stomach Ache (1080p, 4:20): Regis Philbin takes audiences around the set of his scene.
Don't Call it a Boat-Royal Caribbean (1080p, 2:34): A real look around the Allure of the Seas cruise ship.
Jack and Jill is a terrible movie no matter how one looks at it. Annoying, unfunny, absent a heart, lacking a soul, missing a purpose, they all
apply. Adam Sandler's movies have nosedived recently, and when Grown Ups is the best the actor has done of late, it's clear that there are
major problems along the assembly line. Yet no matter how awful the movie may be, Sony's Blu-ray will please. Indeed, Jack and Jill features
tip-top audio and video along with a few extras. Brilliant though the Blu-ray presentation may be, the movie is too awful to watch. Skip it.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release Jack and Jill on Blu-ray next March. The latest comedy from Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company, this farce stars Sandler (Funny People) as squabbling twin siblings Jack and Jill Sadelstein. Jack and Jill ...
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