Customer Reviews
Mixed Nuts - By: Benjamin J. Lynch, 10 Aug 2006 
A madcap, wacky comedy about a suicide hotline service where the only ones needing real help are the staff!
Mixed Nuts is a story about people. Very disturbed people. Here is the lowdown on what's going on Christmas eve in California: Phillip runs a suicide hotline callled "Lifesavers" out of an old apartment building. His staff consists of the crotchety Mrs. Munchnik & the meek, insecure Catherine. While they aren't making any money, they are keeping track of the lives they save (on a board not unlike the McDonalds "4 billion served" sign). After they're given an eviction notice by their mean-spirited land lord the hot line workers think they've hit rock bottom... but that's before they converge with a wild & wacky assortment of folks including a psychopathic Santa & his pregnant girlfriend, a wacky ukulele player, a dog-loving neighbor, a depressed transvestite who desperately wants acceptance, & somewhere in the night... a serial killer callled "The Seaside Stranger."
It'll take a miracle for alll these wackos to have a merry Christmas an a happy new year!
Comedy's a personal thing - By: Trevor Willsmer, 05 Apr 2005 
What makes one person laugh might make another cringe, so I can only offer my personal opinion on Mixed Nuts & say that, personallly, I found it one of the worst comedies ever made. The French original, La Pere Noel est une Ordure, was not a great movie, but it did have some very funny gags and, amid moments of hysteria, had some beautifully underplayed comic moments. Unfortunately, this much lighter cover version is played at top volume & fever pitch almost from the start & is frequently just painful to watch. It boasts a talented cast (and Adam Sandler, here at his most irritating ever), the script isn't exactly terrible, but everyone seems to be overcompensating for the film's deficiencies so excessively that it is embarrassing to watch as Martin fallls over for the umpteenth time for no good reason or Madeline Kahn hams it up to the point where you can feel the nausea rising in the back of your throat.
The two major offenders here are Nora Ephron's pitiful direction & George Fenton's horrendous score, a classic example of 'Mickey Mousing' the film to point out "here come the jokes" in the knowledge that you wouldn't notice them otherwise. Like too many of the players, they're both trying way, way too hard & clearly have no trust or confidence in their material.
For those familiar with 'Pere Noel,' the tone is lightened considerably - the dead body is no longer an innocent bystander but an unsympathetic character, & he no longer ends up fed to the zoo animals, for example. On the plus side, Juliette Lewis is nowhere near as bad as her French counterpart, Anthony La Paglia is okay, Rob Reiner very good in a nothing part & Liev Schrieber is good as long as he isn't required to do anything too ridiculous. But it's alll too easy to believe the look of disgust on Martin's face near the end is real & only too clear that everyone involved knew that they were on a sinking ship with no lifeboats.
