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 and produced, co-written by and starring Adam Sandler in his first voice-acting role alongside Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealon, Norm Crosby, and Jon Lovitz. The film is animated in the style of television holiday specials and, unlike most mainstream holiday films, centers on Jewish characters during the Hanukkah season, as opposed to the Christian celebration of Christmas. Happy Madison Productions' first animated film, 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 Chanukah: "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. The film grossed $23.8 million of its $34 million budget and received negative reviews from critics who criticized its screenplay, crude humor and Sandler's voice performance (especially as Whitey), though the animation received some praise. Plot In the small fictional town of Dukesberry, New Hampshire, Davey Stone is a 33-year-old Jewish alcoholic troublemaker with a long criminal record whose antics have long earned him the community's animosity. Davey is arrested for refusing to pay his bill at Mr. Chang's Chinese restaurant, attempting to evade arrest, stealing a snowmobile and destroying festive ice sculptures in the process. At Davey's trial, Whitey Duvall, a 69-year-old volunteer referee from Davey's former basketball league, intervenes. At Whitey's suggestion, the judge sentences Davey to community service as a referee-in-training for Whitey's Youth Basketball League. Under the terms of the community service if Davey commits a crime before his sentence is completed, he will serve ten years in prison.