# Eight Crazy Nights

Eight Crazy Nights, also known as Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, is a 2002 American adult animated Hanukkah musical comedy-drama film directed by Seth Kearsley (in his feature directorial debut), written by Adam Sandler, Allen Covert, Brooks Arthur and Brad Issacs, and produced by Sandler, Covert and Jack Giarraputo. It stars Sandler in his first voice-acting role, alongside future wife Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealon, Norm Crosby and Jon Lovitz. The film centers on Jewish characters alongside Hanukkah.
The title is taken from a line in Sandler's series of songs called "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 Chanukah Song" also plays over the film's closing credits.
Produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions (as its first animated film), Eight Crazy Nights was released in the United States on November 27, 2002, by Columbia Pictures. The film grossed $23.8 million and received negative reviews from critics.

## Plot

Davey Stone is a 33-year-old Jewish alcoholic with a criminal record that 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, an aging volunteer referee from Davey's former basketball league, convinces the judge to have him do community service as a referee-in-training for his Youth Basketball League, but on one condition – 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 mall, where they meet Davey's childhood crush Jennifer Friedman, now a divorced single mother who has moved back to Dukesberry and taken a job at the local mall, and her pre-teen son Benjamin. Davey still secretly harbors feelings for Jennifer, but Whitey reminds Davey that he lost his chances with Jennifer years ago.
As time progresses, Whitey's various attempts to encourage Davey are met with humiliation and assault. Later, Davey bonds with Benjamin while playing basketball at the community center, but the latter's unsportsman-like behavior, encouraged by Davey, earns him the ire of his mother. On their respective rides home, they reminisce about their happy childhood together and how much things have changed. When Davey gets home, his trailer is being burned down by one of the men who lost the basketball match to him, though Davey runs inside to rescue a Hanukkah card from his late parents. Whitey invites Davey to live with him and his diabetic twin sister Eleanore; Davey reluctantly accepts. To keep Davey in line, Whitey and Eleanore explain the complex rules of the household, stating that Davey will be evicted if he does not abide.
Davey slowly starts to turn his life around, until one day at a skating rink, Whitey recalls Davey's past—en route to one of Davey's basketball games, Davey's parents died in a car accident and he learned of the tragedy shortly after winning the game. He spent the rest of his childhood in and out of foster facilities and state homes, followed by numbing his pain with alcohol and petty crime during his adolescence and ostracizing himself from Jennifer and his other friends. Enraged after being reminded of his trauma, Davey insults Whitey and Eleanore, resulting in a heartbroken Whitey evicting him from his house.
Davey spends the rest of the day binge-drinking. That night, he breaks into the closed mall and hallucinates the logos and mascots of various stores coming to life and confronting him about his inability to grieve. He finally opens his parents' Hanukkah card, which contains a heartfelt message asking him not to change who he is, and Davey finally allows himself to mourn 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 find and 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 sought after 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 reminds the townspeople of the abuse they, and he himself, have subjected Whitey to throughout his life and the selfless contributions he has made to the community in spite of that. Davey leads them to Whitey, who has gone to the mall with Eleanore. The townspeople thank Whitey for his service over the years and the mayor officially grants him the Patch Award, with previous recipients giving him theirs as well. As Davey and Jennifer reconcile, Whitey goes into another seizure that he enjoys.

## Voice cast

* Adam Sandler as:
** Davey Stone
*** Josh Uhler portrays his younger self
** Whitey Duvall
** Eleanore Duvall
** The vocal effects of Dukesberry's local deer
* Jackie Titone as Jennifer Friedman
** Alison Krauss provides her singing voice, while Ali Hoffman portrays her younger self.
* Austin Stout as Benjamin Friedman
** Jason Houseman provides his singing voice
* Rob Schneider as:
** The film's narrator
** Mr. Chang, the owner of Dukesberry's local Chinese restaurant
* Kevin Nealon as Mayor Dewey
** James Barbour provides his singing voice
* Carmen Filpi as a homeless man
* Norm Crosby as the judge
* Jon Lovitz as Tom Baltezor

### Additional voices

The rest of the cast are listed under this section in the end credits:
* Tyra Banks as Victoria's Secret gown
* Blake Clark as Radio Shack walkie-talkie
* Peter Dante as Foot Locker referee
* Ellen Albertini Dow as See's Candies box
* Kevin Farley as Panda Express giant panda
* Lari Friedman as The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cup
* Tom Kenny as The Sharper Image chair
* Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse as the KB Toys soldiers
* Carl Weathers as GNC bottle
* Jamie Alcroft as Eli Wolstan
* Brooks Arthur as Rabbi Fliegel
* Allen Covert as:
** A bus driver
** Mayor Dewey's transgender wife
** An old woman
** Lainie Kazan provides the latter's singing voice
* Judith Sandler as Mrs. Stone
** Ann Wilson provides the character's singing voice
* Stan Sandler as Mr. Stone
** Richard Page provides the character's singing voice
* Archie Hahn as a television announcer

## Production

Eight Crazy Nights was animated by 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. 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. This was also the first and only film produced by Meatball Productions, the animation division of Happy Madison Productions.
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.

## Music

The soundtrack was released on November 27, 2002 by Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax. 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.

## Release

Eight Crazy Nights came in at fifth place on its opening weekend among U.S. box office, making only $14 million since its Wednesday launch. It only grossed a total of $23.6 million in North America and negligible foreign box office receipts, for a total of only $23.8 million worldwide.

### 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." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 23 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
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." Matthew Rozsa of Salon called it the best known Hanukkah film despite its poor quality. 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."
Sandler won a 2003 Kids' Choice Award for "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie". He was also nominated twice for the 2002 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performances in both Eight Crazy Nights and Mr. Deeds.

### Home media

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 film A Day with the Meatball, among other bonus features. A Blu-ray was issued on December 13, 2016.