Hubie Dubois (Adam Sandler) rides around on his bike, listening to "Monster Mash", talks with a familiar Sandler-esq feeble-minded voice. Hubie is easily scared, but tries to thwart evil and it's Halloween, his busiest day of the year. Hubie is taking charge, even if others poke fun at him at every turn, his heart is in the right place.

This movie sports a huge cast of bit characters from Sandler's list of friends along with a new face or two. Kevin James as the police chief.. Shaq as a DJ that talks like a woman. Ray Liotta plays one of the meanest Hubie bullies. Steve Buscemi as Hubie's suspicious neighbor, Walter Lambert and the list goes on: Tim Meadows, Maya Ruldolph and of course Rob Schnieder. Julie Bowen plays Violet Valentine, Hubie's crush. That whole subplot is barely explored.

It's pretty much the same Sandler character we see in many of his comedies. It's like they use a comedy template to make new movies. There are bits and pieces here and there that are sprinkled in new with this having a very Halloween style, but it's not one of his better comedies.

The jokes are too often flat and land with a thud, there isn't any funny music either -- which are some of my favorite Sandler moments, those zany songs I look forward to hearing. This has almost a mashup of a mystery and some almost family friendly skits and jokes. It feels a little much like an extended SNL skit. One of those groaner skits where you are hoping it ends to get to a better one.

Is it terrible? No. Is it good? Also, no. Just kind of average to below fare for Sandler movies. I'm not in the camp who takes delight in slaying his work, because I genuinely go in hoping he'll make me laugh. I enjoyed some of this for the simple, stupid fun it provides, but it needs to make me laugh. This didn't make me laugh. For that reason alone, I can't recommend, but do appreciate the fun, campy Halloween vibe. It feels good watching Adam Sandler comedies, even if most are very juvenile, and not all of them are funny. He's becoming his own twisted Disney-like comedy factory. He puts out movies that you can almost watch with your family, but are just a little too crude in spots to make them more adult. Sandler and company can do better.