Bedtime Stories (film)

Bedtime Stories is a 2008 American family-magic realism-comedy film directed by Adam Shankman, written by Matt Lopez and Tim Herlihy and produced by Andrew Gunn and Jack Giarraputo. It stars Adam Sandler in his first appearance in a family-oriented film alongside Keri Russell, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Laura Ann Kesling, Guy Pearce, Aisha Tyler, Russell Brand, Richard Griffiths, Teresa Palmer, Lucy Lawless and Courteney Cox. Sandler's production company Happy Madison and Andrew Gunn's company Gunn Films co-produced the film with Walt Disney Pictures. The film was theatrically released on December 25, 2008 by Walt Disney Pictures. Despite receiving generally negative reviews from critics, it was a box office success after earning $212.9 million against an $80 million budget.

Plot
Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) is a hotel maintenance man who is promised as a child by his father Marty (Jonathan Pryce) to be the manager of the family hotel, but later it is bought by hotel chain Nottingham Hotels. 25 years later, the new manager Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths) plans to build a new hotel and appoints another man, the snotty Kendall Duncan (Guy Pearce) to become the manager, simply because he is dating his daughter, Violet (Teresa Palmer).

Skeeter's sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks him to watch her kids (who own a guinea pig with huge eyes named Bugsy), because the school at which she is the principal is being closed and she is looking for a job in Arizona. The first night, Skeeter tells a bedtime story taking place in medieval times (with him as the main character; in this case, an underdog peasant named Sir Fix-A-Lot), with some additions from her kids. The next day, the entire story miraculously comes true. Nottingham gives Skeeter a shot at the manager position when he says his new hotel theme was taken by Hard Rock Hotel and on his way home (though it actually came from a truck crash) it rains gumballs on top of him, all from the story.

The next night, at the hotel, he tells another story set in the Old West, and when he waits for it to come true, a man dressed in Indian attire steals his wallet. He saves Violet from an obnoxious paparazzi and gets kicked by a dwarf. He also spots a Ferrari car, and thought he was being offered it for free (like in the story) but Violet drives away with it (implying that it was actually her car).

The night after that, out on a campfire near the hotel, he tells them about a Greek chariot-riding stuntman, and he ends up falling for his sister's friend and fellow colleague Jill (Keri Russell).

On the last night with the kids, he tells them about a space fight in which he triumphs over Kendall. After he wins the gig of manager (despite his presentation being flawed due to a bee stinging his tongue), he makes the discovery from Kendall that the new Nottingham Hotel will be at the location of the closing school. After being dismissed by Nottingham (for inadvertently destroying his birthday cake), which turned out to be the connection to the ending of the space story (at which he originally thought he would combust), he gets the hotel moved to Santa Monica, and then with Jill is able to avert the demolition, saving the school and his nephew and niece, while getting his wallet and money back from the same man that stole it from him earlier.

Sometime later, he marries Jill and establishes a motel named after his late father. Kendall and his accomplice Aspen (Lucy Lawless) are demoted to the motel's waiting staff. Violet marries Skeeter's best friend Mickey (Russell Brand), giving him control of the Nottingham Empire, becoming the ninth richest man alive. In the meantime, Nottingham quits hotel management to become a school nurse and newlywed Skeeter and Jill have a baby, while Bugsy the guinea pig marries too, and has a bunch of babies.

Cast

 * Adam Sandler as Skeeter Bronson
 * Thomas Hoffman as Young Skeeter
 * Keri Russell as Jill Hastings
 * Guy Pearce as Kendall Duncan
 * Courteney Cox as Wendy Bronson
 * Abigail Droeger as Young Wendy
 * Russell Brand as Mickey
 * Richard Griffiths as Barry Nottingham
 * Teresa Palmer as Violet Nottingham
 * Lucy Lawless as Aspen
 * Jonathan Morgan Heit as Patrick
 * Laura Ann Kesling as Bobbi
 * Jonathan Pryce as Marty Bronson
 * Annalise Basso as Tricia Sparks
 * Nick Swardson as Engineer
 * Aisha Tyler as Donna Hynde
 * Allen Covert as Ferrari Guy
 * Blake Clark as Biker
 * Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. Dixon
 * Mikey Post as Angry Dwarf
 * Rob Schneider as Indian Chief/The Robber (Uncredited)
 * Arne Starr as Nottingham Employee/Senator/Cowboy/Spaceman (Uncredited)
 * Jonathan Loughran as Party Guest
 * Heather Morris as Cat Dancer
 * Horse as Red Horse

Production
Director Adam Shankman describes Adam Sandler's character as "a sort of 'Cinderfella' character" and adds that "'He's like Han Solo ...'"

Music
The score to Bedtime Stories was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox. The song "Don't Stop Believin'" is played during the film and during the end credits.

Theatrical release
The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2008, in Poland on January 23, 2009 and in Sweden on February 20, 2009.

Critical reception and box office
The film received generally negative reviews. As of September 28, 2011, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 25% of critics gave positive reviews based on 108 reviews. Metacritic gave the film a 33/100 approval rating based on 26 reviews. Slashfilm predicted that Bedtime Stories would open #1 during the December 25–28, 2008 Christmas weekend due to its family appeal and the box office draw of Adam Sandler, but it came at #3 grossing $38 million behind Marley &amp; Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. However, during the standard 3-day weekend, it jumped ahead of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ranking #2 behind Marley & Me with $27.5 million. As of February 2009, the film had grossed $110,101,975 in the United States and Canada and $102,772,467 in other countries, totaling $212,874,442 worldwide.

Home media release
The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on April 7, 2009. The DVD was released as a single disc or a two-disc edition including behind-the-scenes featurette. Commercials advertising the discs feature background music recycled from the film Back to the Future Part III. As of November 1, 2009 the DVD has sold 2,835,662 copies generating $49,409,944 in sales revenue.

Accolades

 * Australian Film Institute 2009


 * BMI Film & TV Awards 2009


 * Kids' Choice Awards, Australia 2009


 * Kids' Choice Awards, USA 2009


 * Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA 2009


 * Young Artist Awards 2009