Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a film critic more than pressing play on a new comedy and immediately seeing those ominous four words: “A Happy Madison Production”. Like a dead canary in a coal mine, they’re a warning sign. And they’re scarier still when followed by the name of a comedian who’s not Adam Sandler. Because whatever one thinks of the tropical vacations the Sandman takes on his own company dime, the true Happy Madison stinkers are the ones even he wouldn’t headline.
Paul Blart. Joe Dirt. Bucky Larson. To that D-list directory of pratfallers, one can now add Owen Browning, the squishy doofus Adam DeVine plays in The Out-Laws, courtesy of Happy Madison by way of Netflix. DeVine, from the cult sitcom Workaholics, is a bundle of nice-guy nerves, a cartoon beta. He’s loudly meek, somehow. If Jim Carrey had a younger cousin who transferred from Bible college to law school, this would be his energy.
