Bedtime Stories
Adam Shankman

The story: Hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) has to come up with the winning theme for a proposed new project so that he, instead of the brown-nosing manager Kendall (Guy Pearce), can run the place.
At the same time, he has to babysit his sister Wendy’s (Courteney Cox) children with the help of her friend Jill (Keri Russell). He tells the kids fantastical bedtime stories which start to come true.

Bedtime Stories will not quite lull you to sleep but it will not keep you on the edge of your seat either.
Clearly, they had money to spend on this film. The audience is transported to a mediaeval castle town, outer space and even ancient Rome, the settings of the various fantasies. But you end up feeling like you are watching an attention-deficit child and the gimmickry only displays a lack of trust in the material.
Which is not all that inspiring in the first place. When Skeeter realises that his nephew and niece’s pronouncements are coming true, he is chiefly concerned with his own needs, including getting a Ferrari, kissing the girl and winning the contest.
In another plot device, the bedtime stories come true, but not necessarily in the way one would expect. While this creates a little interest, it also means sitting through two versions of the same tale.
As for the cast, the hardworking Sandler is back on the big screen for the second time this year after the hairstylist comedy You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, but maybe he should take a break. He dials in a low-key performance, coasting by on what he imagines to be his goofy charm.
Russell, playing the love interest, looks miffed and is probably wondering: “What am I doing in this movie?” At least she has a bigger role than Cox, who recycles her uptight- but-actually-decent persona from the sitcom Friends.
British comedian Russell Brand seems to be the oddball sidekick du jour and pops up here after the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), while Australian actor Pearce is somewhat miscast as the toadying Kendall.
If you want a movie about fairy tales with actual charm and heart, do pick up a copy of romance classic Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride (1987) instead.
(ST)