Grown Ups 2

Plot

Three years after the first film, Lenny Feder has moved his family to his hometown of Stanton. His friends Eric, Kurt, and Marcus also live there. Lenny wakes to find a deer in his bedroom that wreaks havoc until he lures it outside with a stuffed animal. Lenny dismisses his wife's suggestion of another child; Eric worries about his children's self-confidence; Kurt gives his wife an anniversary gift she forgot; Marcus is intimidated by his newly discovered son Braden, who hates him.

Lenny commandeers a school bus from the unstable driver Nick and takes everyone to the last day of school. Kurt persuades Lenny to throw a party for the first day of summer. Lenny encounters his childhood bully Tommy Cavanaugh, who threatens him. Kurt's daughter agrees to a date, Lenny's son Keith faces a bully, and the older boys join a college party at an abandoned quarry.

After humiliating their rival Dickie, Lenny and his friends visit the quarry where they swam as youths. A hostile fraternity forces them to jump in naked. The frat boys later blame Lenny's group for vandalizing their house and swear revenge.

Production

Filming began on May 2, 2012, in Swampscott, Massachusetts, which portrayed the fictional town of Stanton, Connecticut, and ended on July 15, 2012. Some scenes were filmed in Saugus, Massachusetts. Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions produced the film.

It was written by Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf, and Tim Herlihy and directed by Dennis Dugan. Rob Schneider could not reprise his role due to scheduling conflicts and his wife's pregnancy. This is the first film sequel Sandler has starred in.

The film includes a role by WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin. A cameo by Chris Hardwick as an ice cream vendor was cut. Shaquille O'Neal appears as a cop, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick appears as a frat brother.

Reception

Grown Ups 2 grossed $133.7 million in North America and $113.4 million elsewhere for a worldwide total of $247 million against an $80 million budget, making a net profit of $48 million. It earned $16.3 million on its opening day and opened at number two with $41.5 million, behind Despicable Me 2. In its second weekend it dropped to number four, grossing $19.9 million. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 8% approval rating based on 114 reviews, with a critics consensus describing it as boring, annoying, and disgusting to most audiences.

Metacritic gave it a score of 19 out of 28 reviews, indicating overwhelming dislike. CinemaScore audiences gave it a B. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called the gags cartoonishly broad and poorly set up. Andrew Barker of Variety called it among the slackest, laziest movies from a major studio in a decade. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave it one out of four stars, calling it merely lousy.

Linda Barnard of the Toronto Star gave it zero stars, saying it makes the first film look like Citizen Kane. Matt Patches of Time Out New York gave it one out of five stars, noting a deer urinating on Sandler's face in the first five minutes.

Sequel

Maria Bello said in an August 2016 interview that people had talked about a sequel and she hoped it would happen. In January 2020, Tom Scharpling uploaded an unofficial Grown Ups 3 script to Twitter. In July 2025, Sandler hinted a sequel was possible once a story was greenlit.

Rob Schneider expressed support for a sequel. In May 2026, a sequel was announced for Netflix with Kyle Newacheck directing. Sunny Sandler revealed that principal photography began in August 2026.

Did You Know?

• The J. Geils Band members Peter Wolf, Seth Justman, Magic Dick, and Danny Klein appear as the party band.
• The first trailer was released on April 2, 2013.
• Grown Ups 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 5, 2013.