Hubie Dubois (Adam Sandler) is a man mocked and scorned by the entire town of Salem. But this year his love for Halloween will show them all how much of an asset he is to their hometown.

It is quite something that Adam Sandler is a man who can star in one of the best films this year in Uncut Gems and then bring us Hubie Halloween. I was initially quite upbeat with the prospects for Hubie based on the trailer and the films opening half an hour is fine but there is no getting away from the fact that this is Adam Sandler back on the safest ground that he knows. A man-child character whose idiocy is only surpassed by his naivety and sincerity placed into the most ridiculous situations with his usual acting company. The mileage that you get from Hubie will be directly related to your enjoyment of the typical Adam Sandler comedy.

Hubie is quite a character. A man who does not know what “an internet” is and has a severe case of arrested development. He lives with his mother, gamely played by June Squibb wearing thrift store t-shirts with double entendres on them whilst still having a crush on the best looking girl in High School Violet Valentine, played by Modern Family’s Julie Bowen. Sandler uses his best “dumb guy” voice and we even get treated to a close up of just his moustachioed mouth as he drones on in an early scene. He is obsessed with Halloween because as a Jewish person it is the best holiday left despite the fact that he is scared witless by the slightest thing. He is quintessentially an Adam Sandler character.

The jokes in the film rely on the puerile and the goofy. The best gags are the running jokes that they just continue to escalate throughout the film to the point of absolute absurdity. Whilst moving anywhere through town people will hurl things at Hubie, allowing for some great dodging both on foot and on a bicycle with the items getting increasingly more dangerous and violent. Hubie is scared witless by almost anything, screaming, shouting and lashing out to great effect. And then there is of course Hubie’s Swiss Army Thermos which he carries his soup in and can be used for almost any other function! Under all of this though there are quite a few references and callbacks. Big Adam Sandler fans will rejoice in references to his other films and the fact that he can get the likes of Ben Stiller, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Maya Rudolph, Shaquille O’Neal and of course his usual pals Steve James and Rob Schneider to appear alongside him. The plot also references the Halloween series, the Friday the 13th series and The Warriors with a fun radio DJ commentating on the goings on in Salem.

Ultimately I found it to be better than most of Sandler’s comedies but still a mediocre film. Give me his serious acting efforts over this any day of the week.