Dennis Dugan gives comic actors room to carry on, especially Adam Sandler. We find that indulgence costly in Jack and Jill, where Al Pacino supplies welcome foolishness and the director does too little to curb the bullying.
Fi1m perspective
In Jack and Jill (2011), Jack's impatience is treated as reasonable and Jill's loudness as a joke in itself. Adam Sandler plays both siblings, but Dennis Dugan scarcely asks the premise to do more than bring them together for a holiday visit. We were worn down by the repeated assumption that Jill being difficult company was enough to make her funny. It is a poor family comedy, and an unflattering example of a director giving his star too little resistance.
Dugan began directing features with Problem Child (1990), but Happy Gilmore (1996) established the Sandler partnership that came to define much of his work. Big Daddy (1999) consolidated that association. The later Grown Ups (2010) and Grown Ups 2 (2013) continued it through ensembles of familiar comic performers. His working method gives those performers space to improvise, often letting ensemble scenes run in extended takes without heavy direction.
Production designer Perry Blake has worked with him on eight films, so the recurring collaborators are not confined to the cast. Dugan's ability to manage a large comic ensemble is a useful skill, and there is nothing wrong with giving actors time to find a laugh. But Jack and Jill needs someone to question the routine. Sandler has two parts and still too little fresh business to play. The holiday visit keeps the siblings together without giving the comedy much reason to continue, and Dugan does too little to make their encounters develop beyond the initial irritation.
Pacino provides the welcome exception, supplying most of the film's few laughs through his willingness to be foolish. Dugan deserves credit for allowing that silliness, even in a film we dislike this much. A few such moments cannot make up for the crude humour and persistent bullying elsewhere, but they do show that a performer can get something funny out of this material. Pacino is a reason to pause before dismissing Jack and Jill, though not enough of one for us to recommend it.
Biography
Dennis Dugan is an American film director, actor and comedian. Born on 5 September 1946 in Wheaton, Illinois, he began his acting career in the early 1970s with appearances in television films and series, including a role as Walter Bishop on Moonlighting.
Dugan is best known for his frequent collaborations with Adam Sandler, directing the comedies Happy Gilmore (1996), Big Daddy (1999), You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), Grown Ups (2010), Just Go with It (2011), Jack and Jill (2011) and Grown Ups 2 (2013). He often takes small acting roles in the films he directs. He has also directed episodes of television series including Moonlighting, Ally McBeal and NYPD Blue.
