Sandler Scared Stupid: "Hubie Halloween" a silly, festive diversion for Spooky Season

Hubie Halloween (2020)

In the tradition of “Ernest Scared Stupid” and “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” “Hubie Halloween” is a cheerfully silly and mildly spooky Adam Sandler-led celebration of the spooky, witchy season. Written by Sandler and regular writer Tim Herlihy and directed by Steve Brill (2014’s “Walk of Shame”), the movie feels less slapped-together than most of the Sandman’s auto-pilot, "one-for-them" output on Netflix, and it just sneaks past your defenses with irrefutable sweetness. Either Sandler is gaslighting us, or this is actually more of an amusing treat than a miserable trick. 

As good-hearted, well-meaning dimwit Hubie Dubois, Sandler is playing a more-charming variation on his man-child shtick with an infantile voice not unlike Little Nicky or Bobby Boucher. Naïve but not a complete doormat, Hubie is a laughingstock in the community of Salem, Massachusetts—the adults even call him “Pubie”—but he truly puts everyone first. (A group of Ghostface-masked kids on their bikes throw anything and everything at him, but Hubie is good at dodging them like silver bullets.) Halloween is a big night for Hubie, as he monitors the neighborhood with his trusty Thermos full of soup, but especially this year with Richie Hartman (Rob Schneider) escaping the mental asylum, a werewolf on the loose, and someone kidnapping all of Hubie's bullies!

“Hubie Halloween” still plays the poop- and piss-joke card a few times (and “Billy Madison” fans will recognize a shout-out to O’Doyle), but none of the shtick ever gets mean or too crass. The cast is so amiable and engaged with the picture’s larky spirit that one doesn’t even mind the obligatory dips in baser humor. All committing to the light tone, the packed ensemble extends from Sandler’s friendly troupe—including Kevin James, as the heavily bearded, mulletted Sgt. Steve Downey; Steve Buscemi, as a mysterious neighbor with lycanthropic tendencies; and Shaquille O’Neal, in a rather show-stopping moment—to Ray Liotta, Kenan Thompson, Michael Chiklis, and Noah Schnapp (Will Byers on “Stranger Things”). It’s hard to defend that anyone in this town would hold a torch for Hubie since the first grade, but Julie Bowen is winning anyhow as his impossibly nice longtime crush, perfectly named Violet Valentine (could she be the twin sister to Bowen's Virginia Venit from "Happy Gilmore"?). Any bit with Tim Meadows and Maya Rudolph, as a couple who bullies and tricks Hubie, is a hoot, and the mere sight of innocent June Squibb, as Hubie’s mama, wearing a menagerie of inappropriate T-shirts is always good for a chuckle in spite of oneself. 

“Hubie Halloween” won’t make you want to rip your eyes out and stuff candy corn in your ears. Being palatable is not the only feat, though. A “hey, all you ghouls and goblins” Stevie Wayne-like voice deejays the whole thing—just wait until her identity is revealed—and it wouldn’t be a Halloween movie without Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt Kickers’ “Monster Mash” playing over the end credits. Also, in a tasteful touch, the film makes a lovely tribute in memory of late child actor Cameron Boyce (who played Sandler’s son in the “Grown Ups” movies). Just the right kind of festive diversion to get one in the mood for its namesake holiday, “Hubie Halloween” is as infectiously fun to watch as it was probably fun to make. 

Grade: B -

Netflix released “Hubie Halloween” (103 min.) for streaming on October 7, 2020.