Hubie Halloween – An Honest Review 5/10

Going back to the type of role he snapped up in the late 90s, early 00s, Adam Sandler stars as introvert Hubie Dubois. Hubie, like Little Nicky and Waterboy before him, has quite the peculiar voice (it’s annoying, let me tell you). He’s the target of all sorts of bullies – people he went to school with, neighbours, local kids, teachers from school, the police force… you might say he’s considered a loser. When Halloween comes around everybody loves to prank him! Nobody seems to have an ounce of respect for him; he’s the butt of all jokes. But he hasn’t really done anything to deserve this. Hubie loves his hometown, and tries to keep the peace and make sure everyone is safe in the neighbourhood. Well this year he has to go one step further, and go face to face with the forces of evil.

A pretty basic story of an unexpected hero, Hubie Halloween covers a few different topics across the movie, with potential werewolves, kidnappings, violence towards the citizens. But who is the enemy in all of this? You’ll have to watch to find out!

Hubie is lovable, and you just want him to be happy and be left alone. This feature does have a serious layer to it, and that’s about bullying, which I think is normally passed off as being funny in movies, and something people dismiss. Actually the way they sum up that segment is a little unexpected, but as a side note it does infer that we shouldn’t bully others, and I think that message is a good one to give! There’ll be people watching this movie who feel like they are/were the Hubie in their school or workplace, who can resonate and empathise with his situation.

I loved the sets in this movie. As with typical American Halloween movies there are plenty of different spaces covered, and the decorations on the houses always look great. In the UK it’s not something we go quite so OTT on – unlike Christmas. We have some great cameos from Steve Buscemi and Sandler movie regular Rob Schneider. These two lovable rogues are two escaped convicts who are on the loose, and Sergeant Downey; played by Kevin James, is terrified that one of these felons is gunning for him! I wasn’t sure if this was a totally necessary plotline, but there were some strange moments that added to the overall dynamic of the movie surrounding these characters.

The plot itself was as thin as the paper it was written on. Could have done with a bit more depth surrounding some of the key characters other than Hubie. I understand his name is in the title but we didn’t find out much about anyone really. The music was excellent! I could not get the Hubie Halloween tune out of my head. Love it. Acting wasn’t top notch, but then comedies can be hit and miss anyways. This movie is by no means scary, but it is kinda fun. And keep an eye out for the thermos with a million uses – absolutely a highlight of the movie. There’s always something in an Adam Sandler movie that’s a bit outlandish, and this time it was what I would describe as a utility flask!

Anyways, if you want a laugh it’s worth a watch, but don’t expect too much from it.

A review by CB