Imagination is a wonderful thing. It’s the creative and inspirational spark without which all the best things in life – art, music, literature (and yes, movies, television, and video games) – could never exist. While I was growing up, my mother encouraged me to develop a healthy imagination almost as much as she sought to cultivate the virtues of honesty, kindness and hard work.
I suppose that’s why I find it so ironic that Bedtime Stories, a film that extols the power and value of imagination, should be found so lacking in genuine creativity or solid effort. There are moments in the movie that work, but on the whole this is a listless cinematic exercise that touches all the right bases, but does so with little thought or enthusiasm.
Bedtime Stories opens in 1970s Los Angeles, where Marty Bronsan (Jonathan Pryce) is struggling to turn a profit managing a dusty motel on the outskirts of town. With the help of his idealistic and enthusiastic son, Skeeter and his glum and practical daughter, Wendy, he makes a valiant effort, but eventually, the motel fails and Marty is forced to sell the land to Barry Nottingham, a wealthy investor who builds a first class hotel on the existing site. In order to persuade the reluctant Marty, Nottingham promises that if Skeeter is bright and works hard, he will eventually put him in charge of the hotel.
Twenty-five years later, Skeeter (Adam Sandler) is still serving as a maintenance worker at Nottingham’s high-rise hotel. Skeeter is goofy, but he’s earnest and hardworking. Unfortunately, Nottingham seems to have forgotten all about his promise, and names the haughty and sycophantic Kendall (Guy Pierce), as the manager of his planned mega-hotel. Disappointed and disillusioned, Skeeter begins to give way to the sense of discouragement that he has managed to hold at bay through the long years of waiting for his chance.
Meanwhile, his sister, Wendy (Courtney Cox) is planning a week-long trip to Arizona and asks Skeeter to stay with his young niece and nephew, Bobbi and Patrick, while she is away. At first, Skeeter is uncomfortable and unsure of what to do to entertain his somewhat aloof charges, but he quickly gains traction by regaling them with an impromptu bedtime story like the ones his father used to tell him.
The following day, Skeeter is shocked and frightened when the bizarre details of the previous night’s story start to come true. Sensing an opportunity, Skeeter begins to try, often unsuccessfully, to guide the bedtime stories down a path that will ultimately make all his dreams come true.
This isn’t a particularly novel plot device, but the story’s hook has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, that potential is dashed against the rocks of lazy plotting. For instance, while an audience is willing to suspend disbelief long enough to accept that the bedtime stories are somehow coming to life, they demand some sort of explanation. It doesn’t have to be a grand or even a particularly plausible explanation (not that there could be a plausible explanation anyway), but we need to be given some reason for the fact that events have deviated from the norm.
The script gives us none. And while I’m a sucker for a happy ending, when that ending is dependent upon ridiculously convenient plot contrivances and delivered without question, against only the perfunctory suggestion of conflict and struggle, then I can’t help but feel the filmmakers have not entertained, but rather, pandered to the audience.
There’s little apparent effort to pull the proceedings above the mediocre. Each of the bedtime stories told and presented in the film are little more than unimaginative plays on the standard medieval, western, ancient Roman, and outer space settings. While it is certainly acceptable (and indeed, expected) for the stories to make use of these archetypical settings and their iconic narratives, the filmmakers didn’t infuse these sequences with enough originality to distinguish them or enough clever humor to make them effective parodies.
Finally, the lack of effort is also apparent in the film’s weak attempts at humor. I realize that I’m probably in the minority, but I like Adam Sandler. I can’t help it, really – I grew up watching his sophomoric comedies and his classic SNL routines. Unfortunately, his patented “angry man-child” only makes the briefest of appearances here.
During the most of the running time, he and the rest of the talented cast are imprisoned behind the uninspired script. Most of the humor never gains any traction and the film defaults to easy and unimaginative gags.
Kids may like the stupid CGI-enhanced guinea pig, Bugsy, but adults will be checking their watches; and the occasional gross-out bit may force you to look away. The script also seems to have a bit of a mean streak. Roy Schneider, a regular Sandler cohort, returns to embody yet another offensive stereotype. One scene seems to introduce dwarves into the story simply for the purpose of exploiting them and another makes light of adult illiteracy.
On the whole, this is an unsuccessful and forgettable movie. Parents who decide to brave the banal waters will want to watch out for frequent instances of sexually suggestive banter, abundant toilet humor and occasional slapstick violence. One character, a Paris Hilton-type, is portrayed as promiscuous and is dresses provocatively. In one scene, she encourages Skeeter’s young nephew to pursue an older girl at school.
On the other hand, the film is not without its brighter moments. I enjoyed seeing how the outlandish details of the bedtime stories materialized in rational ways in the real world, and I appreciated the humorous jabs at our cultural obsession with ultra-environmentalism and political correctness. The film encourages viewers to see and appreciate the true, inner beauty of those around them. The children in the film are obedient, well-behaved and pleasant; and the script takes great pains to show how their bright optimism softens Skeeter’s growing callousness.
Finally, Bedtime Stories teaches children that “their fun is only limited by [their] imagination.” Unfortunately, this worthy message is delivered in a decidedly unimaginative way, getting lost in the translation. Imagination is a wonderful thing, but it is not enough to simply praise its virtues while treading a path that has been well worn by better, funnier films.
Caution Rating: 4.5
