Tom Scharpling's Spec Script For Grown Ups 3 Is Art

Adam Sandler, who is often in bad movies, is in a good one that's out now called Uncut Gems. It's one of the rare times Sandler is widely praised for his acting chops. Usually, critics are raking him over the coals for his gross, barely functional comedies like Jack and Jill or I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Or Grown Ups.

Writer and comedian Tom Scharpling has somehow managed to strike the perfect balance between the two Sandlers in a parody spec script for Grown Ups 3, which finds Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Kevin James, and Rob Schneider in the process of making a third film in the Grown Ups franchise. Scharpling casts the quintet as slightly over-the-top parodies of themselves: Chris Rock is an aging comic who wonders if he's still got it; Schneider is up Sandler's butt and afraid to be left out. Kevin James watches King of Queens reruns, and sighs. It's a terrific piece of meta, pop-culture loving satire.

After Scharpling tweeted a link to the script on Monday, the internet's been howling at his spot-on depiction of the actors and genuinely well-done comedy. It's been praised in Paste, AV Club, and Screen Crush. Still, the best way to get a taste for Grown Ups 3 is to take in some of the excerpts fans have tweeted out:

The whole script clocks in at 52 pages and can be read in about a half-hour. It's well worth the time. The film will almost definitely never see the light of day because there's no way in hell a studio would greenlight it, but, as Scharpling says, "There's always Grown Ups 4."