Adam Sandler has a notorious reputation for relishing in the production of crude comedy flicks with distinguishing low levels of nuance and quality. Last year, Sandler took a drastic turn from his prior works with the highly rated thriller “Uncut Gems” and threatened that if the film didn’t win an Oscar, he would take revenge by returning to his usual style and making a terrible movie on purpose. Alas, “Uncut Gems” was not nominated for an Oscar and Sandler has retaliated with Netflix’s “Hubie Halloween,” a festive, campy comedy that relishes in its mediocrity.  

“Hubie Halloween” follows Hubie Dubois (Adam Sandler), a naive, eccentric community volunteer as he tries to make Halloween safe and enjoyable for everyone in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Virtually every person in town makes fun of Hubie for his fatuous mannerisms and when he finds himself caught in the investigation of a murder, ghoulish antics ensue as Hubie attempts to find the truth behind the case.  

Adam Sandler pulls from his repertoire of comedy movies as “Hubie Halloween” borrows some aspect from nearly every one of his past films. The cast lineup is extremely similar to typical Sandler films. From Hubie’s incredibly awkward love interest Violet (Julie Bowen), to the overly comical Sgt. Steve Downey (Kevin James), each role feels like a caricature of something Sandler has already used multiple times before. In addition to these sensationalized characters, the film also doesn’t have much in terms of plot and it often feels like things happen without any rhyme or reason for it. 

Sandler’s highly unsophisticated style of comedy is in full force in “Hubie Halloween.” Each nonsensical scenario is filled with the lowest effort of comedy possible, from toilet humor to crude slapstick. While the depravity of Sandler’s comedy will often make audiences groan, the intentionality behind “Hubie Halloween’s” obnoxiously crass humor makes it somewhat more entertaining. The goal of the film was to be intentionally bad, and every actor involved is clearly enjoying themselves, which helps make the film slightly more enjoyable.  

The Halloween aspect of the film, like with most other holiday movies, is extremely overplayed. Nearly every scene has a low effort jump scare or some other horror movie trope. The protagonist Hubie’s eccentric reactions to getting scared are entertaining the first five minutes of the film, but they get old extremely quickly as the film goes on.  

“Hubie Halloween” ultimately joins the rest of Adam Sandler’s lineup of depravedly mediocre comedy films. While some viewers may take enjoyment in the comedy of the film, most audiences will find Sandler’s latest film frightening to sit through.