I really should hate this with all my heart. It’s yet another 2-hour comedy, like we needed more of those (to those who say negative reviews of movies like this are “missing the point” – one question: since when did points like this need 2 hours to make?!), and even though it’s Adam Sandler and I’ve fully warmed to him by now, the set-up just sounds as horrendous as it is. This movie sets about the entirely paradoxical task of making it okay to laugh about not only homosexuals but firemen again while still revering their heroism in the face of … blah.

I should be going into my whole gender stereotypes spiel/rant again here, but I’m not, and not just because I can’t be bothered anymore. I will repeat that it disturbs me massively that there are clearly vast numbers of people who think these movies portray some kind of status quo to aspire to – like, when Adam Sandler wakes to a “hot” nurse, and then is swarmed by Hooters girls outside the hospital, that this is like the height of fantasy for most men watching. And isn’t it hilarious that a little boy does the splits and plays with his sister’s easybake oven? “It’s so wrong!” ... but, no, really, it’s okay! Sigh. Make up your mind, guys.

But in the end, kind of like Good Luck Chuck, it has fleeting glimpses of a conscience, and ultimately left me just a little warm and fuzzy inside. It’s Dan Aykroyd’s speech in the end, which pretty much puts to bed all my whinings above and nails just about exactly something I’ve been trying to tell people for years – that gay, straight, bi, tran, or yes even that thing where she tinkles on a balloon, anything, it has nothing to do with who we are as people. People have different aspects and they don’t have to intersect. They’re totally separate things. Likewise it’s possible to have habits and urges and wants and needs, but just because they happen to coincide with some stereotype, doesn’t mean we are that stereotype. You can like Barbra Streisand and women. You can enjoy a bloody slasher movie and actually be a doctor! And so on. Like I said, it saddens me that there are clearly still people out there who require this Mrs Doubtfire ish “Sandler’s gay, but he’s not, but he punches people who diss him anyway!” hammer on the head to realise all this … but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t as pleased to hear that Aykroyd speech at the end here as I was by the whole “Lady! Gentleman! Lentleman!” thing in Anger Management, lol – it’s just a shame I guess that the rest of the movie didn’t make his point better. The kids are really cute, though, so more tiny positives. Would I watch it again? Only if they released a 90 minute cut.