New Netflix offerings: ‘Dick Johnson is Dead,’ ‘Hubie Halloween’
While most film distributors continue to bail on 2020, Netflix chugs along with a steady stream of new movies, including yet another original Adam Sandler project.
Most of Sandler’s efforts on the streaming giant have been mediocre-to-lousy, though nothing comes close to the awfulness of his first Netflix film, 2015’s “The Ridiculous 6.” This month’s “Hubie Halloween” doesn’t exactly raise his batting average, though it might pacify undemanding viewers in need of a Halloween-centric distraction.
Sandler plays another Momma’s Boy with a weird voice, this time a jumpy fella who serves as a “volunteer safety monitor” for the boisterous Halloween festivities in Salem, Mass. Everybody in town seems to hate Hubie, but his keen-eye for spooky-themed trouble leads him to investigate a series of strange abductions around town.
Basically a “weirdo hangout movie” for most of its runtime, “Hubie Halloween” doesn’t take any particular threat seriously, and the film purposely avoids violence, gore and traditional scares (it’d basically be a kids movie if not for the amusingly crude T-shirts worn by Hubie’s mother, played by June Squibb).
Take away the steady stream of Sandler pratfalls and “Hubie Halloween” is also somewhat light on jokes. It relies on numerous cameos and lazy callbacks to other Happy Madison productions to keep things moving, although, to be fair, it’s never not pleasant to see the likes of Steve Buscemi, Maya Rudolph, Shaquille O’Neal and Ray Liotta run across the screen in brief bursts.
Look, “Hubie Halloween” isn’t very good, but if you count “not terrible” as reason enough to watch the latest Sandler opus, then you probably won’t be disappointed.
“Dick Johnson is Dead”
This incredible documentary from filmmaker Kirsten Johnson begins with a macabre hook - Johnson recruits her own father to participate in a series of “staged death” stunts, afterlife fantasy sequences and even his own funeral in an attempt to cope with his declining health.
What sounds dreary and borderline cruel on paper serves as an opportunity for the father and daughter to laugh, connect and spend quality time together while they work with stuntmen to stage these somewhat-elaborate death sequences. As a retired psychiatrist, Dick seems comfortable exploring his mortality via make-believe, especially as he comes to realize dementia has already begun to strip away some of his memories.
If nothing else, Dick finally gets to be a part of his daughter’s filmmaking world. Kirsten Johnson’s 2016 documentary, “Cameraperson,” combined footage from her globetrotting career as a documentary cinematographer into an abstract autobiography of sorts. From a filmmaking perspective, it’s thrilling to see her take an entirely different-but-bold approach to the documentary form.
While the “accident” fantasy sequences are darkly humorous, the emotional thrust of the film plays out in quieter moments between father-and-daughter. In between playing pretend, the Johnsons reflect on the loss of their wife/mother (also to dementia), and they reflect on the insecurity that fueled the project in the first place. In essence, they fear losing each other.
Perhaps even despite its morbid gimmick, “Dick Johnson is Dead” is a piercing, sometimes-profound look at dementia and how we choose to express (and not express) our love for the important people in our lives. It’s hilarious, devastating, inspiring and definitely one of the best movies of 2020.
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Tyler Wilson has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000. He is also the co-host of Old Millennials Remember Movies, available everywhere you find podcasts. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com
