The title is taken from a line in Sandler's "The Chanukah Song" that compares the gift-giving traditions of Christmas and Hanukkah: "Instead of one day of presents, we get eight crazy nights!" A new version of the song plays over the film's closing credits.
Eight Crazy Nights was released in the United States on November 27, 2002, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film was a box office bomb and acquired negative reviews from critics who lambasted the use of toilet humor.
Plot
Jewish alcoholic Davey Stone's criminal record has earned him animosity in his hometown of Dukesberry, New Hampshire. Taken to court for his recent activity on the first night of Hanukkah, Whitey Duvall, a diminutive and eccentric aging volunteer referee from Davey's former youth basketball league, convinces the judge to have him do community service as a referee-in-training for the league. The judge agrees, but warns that if Davey commits another crime before his tenure at the league concludes, he will be sentenced to ten years in prison.
As Davey harasses the players at his first game, Whitey has a seizure and the game is abruptly halted with Davey forfeiting it to the opposing team. Attempting to calm Davey down, Whitey takes him to the local mall, where they meet Davey's childhood crush Jennifer Friedman, now a divorcee who has moved back to Dukesberry and taken a job there, and her preadolescent son Benjamin. Davey still secretly harbors feelings for Jennifer, but Whitey reminds Davey that he blew his chance with her years ago.
Whitey's various attempts to encourage Davey are repeatedly met with humiliation and assault. Later, Davey bonds with Benjamin while playing basketball at the community center, but Benjamin's unsportsman-like behavior, encouraged by Davey, earns him the ire of Jennifer. On their respective rides home, Davey and Jennifer reminisce about their happy childhood together and how much things have changed. Davey returns home to find his trailer being burned down by one of the men whom he beat earlier in the basketball game. After retrieving a Hanukkah card from his late parents, Whitey invites Davey to stay with him and his diabetic twin sister Eleanore; Davey reluctantly accepts. the siblings explain the complex rules of their household, threatening to evict Davey if he does not abide.
Davey slowly starts to improve himself, until one day Whitey recalls Davey's past—en route to one of Davey's basketball games, Davey's parents died in a car accident, which he learned of shortly after winning the game. Davey spent the rest of his childhood in and out of foster facilities and state homes, numbing his pain with alcoholism and petty crime during his adolescence and ostracizing himself from Jennifer and his other friends. Enraged after being reminded of his trauma, Davey insults the Duvalls, resulting in a heartbroken Whitey evicting him.
Davey spends the rest of the day binge-drinking. That night, he breaks into the closed mall and hallucinates the mascots of various stores coming to life and confronting him about his inability to grieve. He finally opens the Hanukkah card, which contains a heartfelt message asking him not to change who he is, and allows himself to cry over the loss of his parents. When the police arrive to arrest him, Davey escapes and boards a bus to New York City, but the bus is forced to stop when a thumbtack in the road punctures all rear tires. Reminded of the Miracle of Hanukkah, Davey sets out to make amends with Whitey.
Davey finds Whitey at the All-Star Banquet, an annual town celebration in which one member of the community is recognized for positive contributions with the "Dukesberry All-Star Patch", which Whitey has wanted for thirty-five years. When Whitey is passed over again, he resolves to move to Florida to live the remainder of his life in anonymity. Davey arrives and reminds the townspeople of the abuse they have all heaped upon Whitey throughout his life and the selfless contributions he has made to the community in spite of that. Davey leads them to the mall, where Whitey is with Eleanore. The townspeople thank Whitey for his service over the years and the mayor officially grants him the Patch; previous recipients give him theirs as well. As Davey and Jennifer reconcile, Whitey has another seizure that he enjoys.
Eight Crazy Nights was animated primarily by Meatball Animation Studio.[3][4] Prior to production, during a transitional period from the focus of 2D to 3D animation in Hollywood, several traditional animation studios closed down, with many animators who were laid off being hired by Meatball; allegedly, employees at Meatball were largely those formerly employed at Fox Animation Studios and Warner Bros. Feature Animation.[4][5] Several studios, including Anvil Studios, A. Film A/S, Bardel Entertainment, Goldenbell Animation, Marina Motion Animation, Spaff Animation, Tama Production, Time Lapse Pictures, Y. R. Studio and Yowza! Animation, also did animation work.[citation needed] It was the only animated film that Adam Sandler worked on until Hotel Transylvania in 2012, and remains the only traditionally-animated film with his involvement.
Kearsley revealed in an email to Doug Walker that certain elements of the film that were notorious, specifically the feces-eating deer scene and even Whitey's voice (which was originally more high-pitched and annoying), were intended to be cut, but were kept due to "focus groups" who had seen the film (who lowered Whitey's voice), as well as the fact that the product placements were used without permission.[6]
Music
The soundtrack was released on November 27, 2002, by Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax.[7][8] The soundtrack contains every song in the film, including the new installment of "The Chanukah Song" and a deleted song, called "At the Mall", sung by Whitey as he strolls through the mall in an alternate opening, included on the DVD release. The soundtrack was pressed onto vinyl in 2021 for the Vinyl Me, Please record club.[9]
Eight Crazy Nights came in at fifth place on its opening weekend among U.S. box office, making $14 million since its Wednesday launch.[10] It grossed a total of $23.6 million in North America and negligible foreign box office receipts, for a total of $23.8 million worldwide.[11]
Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 13% of 109 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Sandler returns to his roots in this nauseating concoction filled with potty humor and product placements."[12]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 23 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[14]
Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four possible stars and criticized the film's dour tone, saying that "The holidays aren't very cheerful in Sandlerville."[15] Matthew Rozsa of Salon called it the best known Hanukkah film despite its poor quality.[16] William Thomas of Empire gave the film a one out of five stars, saying, "File under 'What the hell were they thinking?'. With this, and Mr. Deeds, Sandler's pulled off quite the combo. Avoid like the plague."[17]
Eight Crazy Nights was released on VHS and single and two-disc edition DVD on November 4, 2003, by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. The two-disc "special edition" features deleted scenes, several audio commentaries, and Sandler's short filmA Day with the Meatball, among other bonus features.[20] A Blu-ray was issued on December 13, 2016.
↑"Find CinemaScore"(Type "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights" in the search box). CinemaScore. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
↑Ebert, Roger (2002). "Eight Crazy Nights". Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
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