Although it has an ignominious reputation, Adam Sandler’s holiday movie Eight Crazy Nights is nowhere near as bad as critics claimed. In 2002, it truly seemed as if Adam Sandler could do no wrong. After a successful star-making run on Saturday Night Live, Sandler starred in a string of hit ‘90s comedies that elevated him the Hollywood A-list. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, and Big Daddy were all huge hits, while 1998’s The Wedding Singer proved that Sandler could also anchor a sweet rom-com. This era featured some of Sandler’s best characters and made his box office gold.

However, the failure of 2000’s Little Nicky should have been a sign for Sandler. This ambitiously weird fantasy comedy saw Sandler bring his brand of lowbrow comedy into a risky new genre and the resulting mashup was hated by critics and ignored by cinema-goers. It didn't help that the titular misfit was one of Sandler’s worst characters, but the actor would soon be hit by another flop that dimmed his star power further. 2002’s animated holiday musical Eight Crazy Nights was a major failure for Sandler, although the movie isn’t as bad as its reputation suggests.

Eight Crazy Nights Is A Throwback In More Ways Than One

Adam Sandler’s Animated Flop Blends Early ‘00s Comedy and ‘90s Animation

With a Rotten Tomatoes critical rating of only 13%, it is fair to call Eight Crazy Nights one of Sandler’s biggest failures. On a budget of $34 million, Eight Crazy Nights earned only $23 million upon release and few reviewers found anything to enjoy in the animated adult comedy. However, it is worth noting that Eight Crazy Nights has a far stronger Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 50%. While undeniably imperfect, Eight Crazy Nights does epitomize the waning light of a few memorable cinematic eras.

Essentially a Don Bluth movie crossed with an episode of Jackass, Eight Crazy Nights has a unique, quintessentially early ‘00s appeal.

With its story of an unrepentant, immature criminal sent to live with an elderly do-gooder, Eight Crazy Nights takes several subversive swings at holiday classics like It's A Wonderful Life. The movie is a broad parody of classic TV specials like Rankin/Bass efforts and A Charlie Brown Christmas, but Eight Crazy Nights doubles as a throwback to an era of earnest, gleefully tasteless comedy that can feel strange, dark, offensive, and occasionally pretty effective. Essentially a Don Bluth movie crossed with an episode of Jackass, Eight Crazy Nights has a unique, quintessentially early ‘00s appeal.

Eight Crazy Nights' Has A Sweet Moral Underneath Grimy Comedy

Sandler’s Holiday Movie Isn’t As Dark As It Seems

Like most of Sandler’s movies, Eight Crazy Nights follows an initially unlikable protagonist who the audience warms to over time as the antihero learns to take responsibility. However, where Sandler’s worse movies cynically reuse this format as an excuse for toilet humor and schmaltzy sentimentality, the sheer meanness of Eight Crazy Nights is surprisingly bracing. The purposefully harsh comedy eventually reveals a sweet moral core at the center of its narrative, highlighting the importance of community, growth, and emotional bonds. The long journey to get to this sweetness only makes it more effective.

Sandler’s Davey Stone is nastier and more mean-spirited than most of his live-action characters, but he also has a genuinely moving backstory that justifies his rage against the world. His elderly mentor Whitey, meanwhile, is constantly mistreated by a hateful small town that views him as a doormat and a figure of fun. However, this notable nastiness of Sandler’s animated movie is precisely what makes Eight Crazy Nights a holiday classic, as its eventually happy ending feels thoroughly earned after all the brutality the main characters have endured.

Eight Crazy Nights Was An Ambitious Swing That Deserves Respect

Sandler’s Bracingly Dark Weird Holiday Movie Earned Some Love

Adam Sandler’s animated holiday movie was a financial and critical failure, and it’s not hard to see why. Where most adult animation, from South Park to Fritz the Cat, leans into a crude, edgy visual style, Eight Crazy Nights looks like a children’s movie but feels like a precursor to Bad Santa in of its dark tone and bleak sense of humor. The movie never quite gets its own style right, which makes its largely negative reviews understandable. That said, Sandler taking a swing at an animated epic at the height of his career as a comedy star is still commendable.

Eight Crazy Nights is exactly as weird, uneven, and oddly charming as the promise of an Adam Sandler animated holiday special sounds.

Re-watching the movie now, Eight Crazy Nights is a time capsule back to a certain cynical brand of ‘00s humor that has lost a lot of cultural purchase and the lush traditional 2D animation that died out before the decade ended. It might not be Adam Sandler’s best animated movie, but Eight Crazy Nights is a fun reminder that the star isn’t as predictable as his critics suggested. For all of its flaws, Eight Crazy Nights is exactly as weird, uneven, and oddly charming as the promise of an Adam Sandler animated holiday special sounds.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes