GRANDMA’S BOY
* (one star)
Dazed, confused.
Running time: 83 minutes. Rated R (nudity, drugs, crude language). At the Empire, the Union Square, the East 86th St., others.
THE year’s first major studio mistake foisted onto unsuspecting ticket buyers without opening-day reviews is “Grandma’s Boy,” a pathetic stoner comedy from Adam Sandler’s production company.
Alan Covert, who has effectively appeared in many of Sandler’s films in character roles – often, as in “The Longest Yard,” under heavy makeup – doesn’t have much presence as the lead character, a weed-loving, virginal 36-year-old video-game tester.
When he gets evicted after his roommate squanders the rent on Filipino hookers, Covert moves in with an even geekier co-worker Nick Swardson – whose mother catches Covert in an intimate moment with a female action figure.
That forces our hero to take up residence with his dotty grandma (Doris Roberts of “Everybody Loves Raymond”) and her horny (Shirley Jones) and senile (Shirley Knight) roommates – who inevitably find their way into his pot stash.
Title notwithstanding, most of what might generously be termed the action takes place at Covert’s workplace, where he and his fellow geeks – including robotic designer Joel David Moore – compete for the attention of the only female on the premises (Linda Cardellini, who no doubt wishes she were back on Brokeback Mountain).
Nicholaus Goossen, another Sandler protégé, makes an inauspicious directing debut with this limp collection of clichés larded with product plugs.
There are only two laughs in all of “Grandma’s Boy” – Shirley Jones’ character describing sex acts she performed with Charlie Chaplin and Don Knotts.
Who says Hollywood doesn’t provide opportunities for older performers?