Grandma's Boy (2006)

A 35 year old video game tester has to move in with his grandma and her two old lady roommates.

Director:

Nicholaus Goossen

Writers:

Barry Wernick, Allen Covert,

Stars:

Linda Cardellini, Allen Covert, Peter Dante

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Linda Cardellini	...	Samantha
Allen Covert	...	Alex
Peter Dante	...	Dante
Shirley Jones	...	Grace
Shirley Knight	...	Bea
Joel David Moore	...	J.P.
Kevin Nealon	...	Mr. Cheezle
Doris Roberts	...	Grandma Lilly
Nick Swardson	...	Jeff
Jonah Hill	...	Barry
Kelvin Yu	...	Kane
Chuck Church	...	Dan
Scott Halberstadt	...	Bobby, Co-Worker #1
Heidi Hawking	...	Milk Maid
Shana Hiatt	...	Pamela Mills

Storyline

When his roommate spends the rent money on Filipino hookers, Alex, a 35 year old video game tester has to find a new place to live. After an "encounter" with his friend's mom, Alex is forced to move in with his grandmother. Trying to save face with his younger co-workers, Alex says that "a really cute chick said I could sleep with her and her two crazy girlfriends" (meaning his grandmother and her two roommates).

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Plot Keywords:

roommate | game tester | co worker | eviction | older woman younger man relationship | 

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Taglines:

Sex. Drugs. Nakedness. Rude language... And proud of it!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug use and language throughout, strong crude and sexual humor, and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Cinema Blend [Joshua Tyler] Twentieth Century Fox [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nana's Boy

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Center Studios - 450 S. Bixel Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$3,009,341 (USA) (6 January 2006)

Gross:

$6,088,249 (USA) (17 February 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Level 1 Entertainment, Happy Madison Productions, Wilshire 1

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 90 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Alex comes out of Samantha's office J.P. is standing facing the wall and you can see a poster that says Gay Robot, a TV-series written by Nick Swardson (Jeff) and a character from a sketch of the same name from Adam Sandler's 2004 comedy album "Shh... Don't Tell". There is also a small poster for "Gay Robot" on the shelf behind the desk in Mr. Cheezel's office.

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Goofs

When Dante is talking to Alex about teaching his monkey Tae Kwon Do, the native Dr. says in French "On va lui apprendre du judo!" (which means "we will teach him judo!"). Judo and Tae Kwon Do are two completely different martial arts.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Josh: [playing video game] Fuck! Stop hitting me!

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Crazy Credits

The Opening and closing credits were based on the game "Galaga"

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Connections

References The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

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Soundtracks

"Anyone"
Written by Chris Hathwell, Johan Bogeli & Blake Miller
Performed by Moving Units
Courtesy of Palm Pictures

User Reviews

You'll love it if you like these kinds of films (like I do)

Well, obviously some viewers didn't like this one, and that's the case with all comedies that we could compare to Grandma's Boy. I still haven't quite gotten a handle on what those viewers aren't seeing in these films that they would like to see. The typical answers are that they want something funny, something not stupid, not clichéd, and so on, but of course that doesn't tell us much, because lots of us do find these movies funny, not stupid and not clichéd.

So how do you know whether you'd like Grandma's Boy if you haven't seen it yet? It's worth noting that Adam Sandler it, it features a lot of Sandler regulars, and it's the vein of Adam Sandler comedies like Happy Gilmore (1996), The Waterboy (1998) and Little Nicky (2000). Actors like Rob Schneider, David Spade and Kevin Nealon have cameos or small parts, and it's also not off base to compare Grandma's Boy to the Deuce Bigalow movies (1999 & 2005), or Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003). Chances are that if you like "those kinds" of movies, you'll find a lot to appreciate in Grandma's Boy, too, and if you don't like those kinds of movies, you should know (or should have known) to stay away from this one.

Of course Grandma's Boy is exaggerated and not realistic and even ridiculous and absurd at times. That's part of this subgenre of comedy, along with an ever-present irreverence and regular jabs of "crudeness" that work because at least in theory, they tend to appear when you least expect them. The idea at this point isn't to top the irreverence and crudeness of previous films, because to do that a filmmaker would basically have to resort to doing various illegal things in front of the camera. The name of the game is to give the false impression that maybe you're going to play things straighter this time around, so that the crazy stuff works in context. Director Nicholaus Goossen shows that he understands this well.

Grandma's Boy is about game designers, which by extension makes it about geeks and nerds. This may not be how most game designers (or most grandparents and their friends) really are, but this isn't a documentary, it's a very funny comedy, and this is at least about how those of us who aren't in the business imagine or want them to be. That's part of what makes comedy work--it has exaggerated, fantasy elements by way of caricatures/grotesques of (stereo)types that exist at least in popular, contemporary "mythology".

There are plenty of gags that people who like these sorts of comedies will remember for a very long time. They arrive about once every two or three minutes at least--just enough time to wipe away your laughter tears from the last gag. You can't get a much better recommendation than that. And if you know you don't like these kinds of films, please, do yourself a favor and just avoid this one, too.