Review: 'Hubie Halloween' a Fun Exercise in Nostalgia

Adam Sandler, now 54 years old, is light years away from his mid-twenties antics of the 1990s, where films like "Billy Madison" (1995), "Happy Gilmore" (1996), and "The Waterboy" (1998) piledrove laugh after laugh into the guts of juvenile kids, teens and young adults growing up at the time. I was one of them, and I can safely say that not much of Sandler's career has quite matched this era of his work. In fact, since then, his screaming man-child archetype displayed in these films was best put to use in dramatic work like Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002) or The Safdie Brothers' "Uncut Gems" (2019), rather than the immature comedies that seemed to grow less endearing as time went on and Sandler grew older.

Now, in 2020, we're given "Hubie Halloween," which is the first Sandler comedy in decades that manages to fully capture the vibe of his late twentieth-century oeuvre. But that isn't by chance, as the film is completely aware of what it's attempting to dig up from Sandler's comedic crypt. From a kid screaming "O'Doyle Rules!" from "Billy Madison" to Ben Stiller reprising his role as the nasty orderly from "Happy Gilmore," "Hubie Halloween" is filled with plenty of references to the aforementioned films and more. It goes right down to Sandler's ridiculous speech impediment, which sounds something like "The Waterboy's" Bobby Boucher but with a sinus infection. We even get Julie Bowen back as Sandler's love interest in the film (they previously co-starred in "Happy Gilmore").

"Hubie Halloween" knows full well what it's doing in terms of milking the nostalgia, but after all of that subsides, it manages to periodically stand on its own as a singular Sandler goof fest. Sandler plays Hubie Dubois, an easily-scared simpleton who absolutely loves protecting his neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts, during its annual Halloween festivities.

Hubie, along with his mother (June Squibb), adores the holiday, as evident by their massive front yard display, yet the townsfolk are relentlessly cruel to Hubie as he attempts to spread holiday cheer and safety throughout the area. People throw things at him while he rides his bike (a running gag), hurl insults at him, play pranks on him, etc. Anybody who has ever paid attention to a comedy like this knows that it's all going to add up to one big lesson by the finale, but even "Hubie Halloween" manages to pull a few rabbits out of its hat when it comes to what should have been a predictable conclusion.

Mean neighbors include Kevin James as the town police sergeant, Ray Liotta as a local bully, Maya Rudolph and Tim Meadows as a mean-spirited couple, and plenty of others rounding out the group of Happy Madison buddies that always seem to pop up in these things. Of course, you get Steve Buscemi, too, who is always among the funniest in a Sandler ensemble. Here, he's no exception.

The jokes are hit or miss, many of which I probably would've spit up water over when I was younger. As an adult, there are many amusing moments, for sure, and it's enough to make "Hubie Halloween" a moderately enjoyable watch. It's worth it alone for June Squibb's running shtick, which finds her wearing inappropriate T-shirts she bought for 50 cents at the flea market without understanding what they mean. By no means is this a masterpiece, but it does echo a time when Sandler's silly abandon rang true. The bell of brainless merrymaking is still audible here, albeit slightly softer than it was a quarter of a century ago.

"Hubie Halloween" is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.