HBO airing EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS on their "Family Channel"

Ernest Rister · 03-13-2004, 10:29 PM

Okay...I can only assume this is what happened.

Someone at HBO noticed the Adam Sandler box-office disaster, Eight Crazy Nights, was an animated film.

This same person then assumed that, because it was animated, it was a family film.

I kid you not, the HBO "Family Channel" is airing Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights this month. A film that begins with the Adam Sandler character simulating sex with a parked car. A film that shows Adam Sandler "excercising" by flipping someone the bird with both hands. Yeah -- real strong "family entertainment".

What is going on here? I can only assume someone saw that the fim was animated. Well, ALL animated films are family films, right? ALL animated films are children's films, right? Walt Disney may have shown bare-breasted demons and dinosaurs eating each other in Fantasia but we all know that was a kiddie film. Trey Parker and Matt Stone may have shown Charlie-Brown-esque children swearing like a Jersey sailor on shore leave, but we all know their movie was a kiddie film, right? Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights features a moment where a man is trapped in a portable toilet, which is then pushed down a hill, and the man emrges covered in human excrement.

Surely, this is a family film. It is animated after all.

Good call, HBO!

Nick Sievers · 03-13-2004, 10:42 PM

I saw this for the first time a few weeks ago. It is perhaps the worst animated feature I have ever seen, the voices of the two old characters (voiced by Sandler of course) are the most annoying and grating voices I have ever heard in a film. An obnoxious feature that should never have been made.

Ernest Rister · 03-13-2004, 10:52 PM

I agree, Nick. Eight Crazy Nights is the Manos of animated features...not only is it piss-poor in the writing and staging, it is downright mean and ugly and hateful. The fact HBO is showing it on their FAMILY channel is like some sort of sick joke...is Tyler Durden head of family programming at HBO now?

By the way, this thread is not intended to be an "Eight Crazy Nights" thread per se -- I'm hoping to show how prevalent the stereotypes against animation are today. SIXTY YEARS after Fantasia, more than THIRTY YEARS after Fritz the Cat and Yellow Submarine, an outrageously scatological animated film is still blindly considered a "family" film by HBO, by virtue of the fact that it was animated.

How far beyond South Park do animated films have to go before this family-film stereotype is shattered? HBO airing the outrageous Eight Crazy Nights on their "Family Channel" is one of the biggest, funniest examples of blind corporate ignorance I've seen since the Disney Channel screened "Jaws 2" in primetime back in the early 90's.

Andrew Priest · 03-14-2004, 06:17 AM

Quote:

How far beyond South Park do animated films have to go before this family-film stereotype is shattered?

Urotsukidoji perhaps?

I still remember when anime first came to my area thanks to our local video store. I rented a few out of curiosity and was eventually hooked. However, after picking up and watching everything from Akira and Ninja Scroll to Urotsukidoji I just knew sooner or later some parent was going to rent one of these and there would be a backlash. Sure enough it wasn't more than a few weeks and it happened.

Anyone who could watch Bambi and Fantasia and still think animation is for the little kiddies isn't likely to get any sudden flashes of insight. It's like it is breed in. Considering my father even had it, and he was old enough to remember Snow White the first time it came around, it must predate even those classics. And the same prejudice is present with comics.

Yet movies like Finding Nemo can’t be pulling in those kinds of grosses without lots of adults going to watch the film. I remember more than a couple adults by themselves at the local theater watching Finding Nemo. So perhaps all hope is not lost.

Erik.Ha · 03-14-2004, 10:57 AM

You mean "Heavy Metal" isn't a family film???

**HTF Ads**

Mark Walker · 03-14-2004, 11:27 AM

Urotsukidoji:

Is that the one where the guy's penis becomes multi-membered monster that destroys the city?

I know people are ignorant...When Spike and Mike's "Sick & Twisted" animation festival came to town with big text saying "Adults Only," my hairdresser complained that they would not admit her and and her 5 year old son.

"But, it's a cartoon...."

*sigh*

ChrisMatson · 03-14-2004, 12:50 PM

If one is upset by this, let HBO Family know:
http://www.hbo.com/apps/talktohbo/ta...amilyemail.jsp

Eight Crazy Nights is PG-13 (IMDB: Rated PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual humor, drinking and brief drug references)

According to HBO Family:

Safe and commercial free, HBO Family programming is suitable for all the children in the family, whatever their ages. In the spirit of HBO, HBO Family offers high-quality, original programming that can't be found anywhere else.

According to Roger Ebert:

Heaven help the unsuspecting families who wander into "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights" expecting a jolly animated holiday funfest. The holidays aren't very cheerful in Sandlerville, which is why the PG-13 rating mentions "frequent and crude sexual humor." The MPAA doesn't mention it, but there's also a lot of scatological humor in the film, in keeping with Sandler's inexplicable fascination with defecation, flatulence and bodily fluids.

If this is not a family film, what is it? Well, the audiences for "Jackass" may enjoy a scene where Davey, the hero, slams a sweet little old man into a Port-a-Potty and shoves it down a hill. When the geezer emerges at the bottom, he is still alive, but covered from head to toe with excrement. Then Davey sprays him with a garden hose, and he freezes solid. Ho, ho.

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_...11/112701.html

Now, what about the responsibility of the parents to know what their kids are watching, or should they trust HBO to dictate what is appropriate for their kids?

Matthew Chmiel · 03-14-2004, 06:17 PM

Hey, why not let watch the kids watch Eight Crazy Nights?

Parents take their young children/pre-teenagers to see Adam Sandler film all the time when in theaters (minus Bulletproof and Punch Drunk Love for obvious reasons), so why not let them watch Adam Sandler's animated PG-13 film on television? Nickelodeon is a great constant source of fart jokes, so let HBO up them (they are Pay TV of course) and throw in some shit jokes. Yeah. That's it.

In today's society, as conservitist as it is, you will not be able to go somewhere in public (minus say church) and hear swear words being thrown around along with people frankly discussing sex. Is a littly dirty PG-13 animated film really going to damage children? No.

Seriously. Who cares if HBO Family is showing it. They've shown numerous other PG-13 films before on that station (like Bebe's Kids, another PG-13 animated film), so why can't they show Eight Crazy Nights? It's not HBO's decision to decide what's okay for kids to watch, it's the responsilbilty of the parents. If they want their kids watching some shitty Adam Sandler film, they can go right damn well ahead. It's a free country, and they can do what they please. Do I think it's right? Maybe not, but it's not my position to judge.

Ernest Rister · 03-15-2004, 01:35 AM

Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights
80 minutes- PG-13, USA, 2002, (CC), Video, SS, Seas, Anim, In Stereo, Adult language, adult situations

starring
Adam Sandler, Jackie Titone, Austin Stout
Kevin Nealon, Rob Schneider, Norm Crosby
Jon Lovitz, Tyra Banks, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse

Animated. During Hanukkah, a temperamental lout drinks, gets in trouble with the law and performs community service.

Tue Mar 2 01:35A HBOF- HBO Family
Wed Mar 3 08:00P HBOE- Home Box Office
Sun Mar 7 09:45P HBOF- HBO Family
Tue Mar 9 02:30P HBOE- Home Box Office
Sun Mar 14 12:00P HBOE- Home Box Office
Sat Mar 20 12:15A HBOF- HBO Family
Sat Mar 20 04:30P HBOE- Home Box Office
Tue Mar 23 09:30P HBOF- HBO Family
Thu Mar 25 07:15A HBOE- Home Box Office
Sun Mar 28 01:50A HBOF- HBO Family
Mon Mar 29 06:30P HBOE- Home Box Office

Ernest Rister · 03-15-2004, 01:40 AM

"Seriously. Who cares if HBO Family is showing it. They've shown numerous other PG-13 films before on that station (like Bebe's Kids, another PG-13 animated film), so why can't they show Eight Crazy Nights? It's not HBO's decision to decide what's okay for kids to watch, it's the responsilbilty of the parents."

Eight Crazy Nights is not a family film. It's like showing South Park on the family channel.

"If they want their kids watching some shitty Adam Sandler film, they can go right damn well ahead. It's a free country, and they can do what they please. Do I think it's right? Maybe not, but it's not my position to judge."

I don't care what people watch. I just find it amusing that this film is considered a family film by HBO because it is animated. Peace.

Vickie_M · 03-15-2004, 02:14 AM

I noticed that HBO Family showed Paper Moon the other day. I *LOVE* that movie but it got me to thinking that it could never be made today. The 8-year old is smoking, cussing, conning/stealing and even pimping! It's hilarious (and Tatum was awesome, she deserved that Oscar) but I think nowadays there would be protests and boycotts if it were being released to theaters now. It's ok to show on HBO Fam though. I just thought that was funny too.

At our local mom'n'pop video store, they have the South Park movie in the kid's section. I chuckled and told the clerk he might want to consider moving it (this was a few years ago), but it's still there to this day.