HBO airing EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS on their "Family Channel" (1 Viewer)

[Ernest Rister]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Mark-W]

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]

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:

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]

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]

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]

"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]

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.

 

[Andrew Priest]

Doesn't suprise me - South Park in the kiddie section that is. I remember seeing South Park on video at the local video store and it had a 14A rating on it. IMDB says it's 18A in Canada, which is a little more reasonable, but I know I saw that 14A sticker on the video. Perhaps the Canadian rating board got too many complaints.

But hey, my brother-in-law let my nephew watch South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Said Nephew couldn't have been more than 12. I think that speaks volumes.


Interesting way to put it. But yeah, you've got the idea. It's been quite a long time since I watched the first films in the series. I never did watch #4. Probably got too old for that stuff.

But for the record Urotsukidoji makes South Park look positively sedate. I don't think I've ever seen as dark, twisted, violent, and sick a movie as Urotsukidoji. Especially the third movie (or OAV actually). They get worse in the sequels. The irony is that there's actually an interesting story in there, underneath all that other stuff. Provided one's stomach holds out.

 

[Sean*O]

Saw about 2/3 of it today in HD on HBO-HD. It looked great, and I enjoyed it. But then again, I was a fan of Sandler’s raunchier humor found on his older comedy CDs.

That old granny’s voice reminded me of his 'Cock N' Balls' sketch's granny voice.

It's not for everyone, but no one should be screaming BAN over it.. Not that anyone has on this thread.

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Oh bullshit. I've seen the film. It is an awful film, but it looks like Disney G-rated fare in comparison to South Park: BLU. South Park is geared to an older audience (I saw the film in theaters when I was 13, did it corrupt me? No.) while Eight Crazy Nights was geared towards Sandler's fans, which mostly are pre-teens/teenagers now, thus the PG-13 rating.

I was allowed to see Bebe's Kids, another crude animated PG-13 film when I was 7. Same with the movie Cool World. Did it corrupt me and make me an awful human being? No it did not.

 

[Romier S]

 

[WillG]

Doesn't Fox Family (one of the family channels) on basic cable frequently show R-Rated movies. I know that I always see "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" (R-Rated) on one of those channels. I think I have also seen "Office Space" there as well. Sure they are editied, but the adult content is still there. Very weird.