★★☆☆☆
If you thought the 1998 hit rom-com starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore had goofy charm, you might be tempted by this 2006 musical version. However, you’ll need to be a sucker for an anodyne nostalgia trip to fall for it. It’s gaudy, bland and so sickly sweet that it’s like being force-fed an entire wedding cake. Nick Winston’s touring production cavorts about like a drunk uncle on the dancefloor, lurching from one lame gag to the next. It’s performed competently, yet with scant pace or sparkle; it’s utterly pointless, and instantly forgettable.
The flimsy book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy is a love letter to the 1980s, and Winston kick-starts it with clips from the decade’s blockbusters — Rambo, The Goonies