The draw of Grown Ups isn’t the story (this isn’t The Hangover, after all), but the stars. It’s a mini-reunion of SNL‘s glory days of the mid-90’s, with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider all taking major roles. There’s also Happy Madison veteran Kevin James filling out the roster, no doubt as the Chris Farley replacement. (Also on tap are Maya Rudolph, Colin Quinn, Steve Buscemi, and Tim Meadows, to further add to the SNL/Happy Madison favorites list.) Basically, you’re already on board with this movie, or you’re kind of resistant. The script of Grown Ups, from Adam Sandler and David Spade vehicle-writer Fred Wolf (Dickie Roberts, Joe Dirt, Black Sheep) is kind of like a combination of the standard work those two do. There’s lots of funny moments, some jokes that never work, and some outlandish stuff for Rob Schneider to do (he’s basically the straight man for this movie despite playing some kind of weird vaguely new-age guy). There are some dull moments, and there’s some tacked-on pseudo-growth for the main characters to undergo, but basically, this is a comedy about families, friendship, kids, and aging, respectively. The film moves along fairly nicely, thanks to direction from industry veteran Dennis Dugan. He’s not exactly an auteur, so there’s no sweeping camera movements or anything more drastic than what you’d see on standard television. However, the pacing is nice and, aside from a seemingly unnecessary little event at the end of the film (after the logical wrapping-up speech), the movie moves nicely, the visual jokes work, and the flick doesn’t ever get too bogged down in family melodrama stuff. It starts, you laugh, and it’s gone. You really can’t ask for much more than that from a big summer comedy sold on star power. US correspondent Ron Hogan is refreshed by the fact that Adam Sandler chose to do a comedy with no gimmicks, rather than his usual fare. Hooray for slight improvements! Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi, and at his blog, Subtle Bluntness.