Bedtime Stories (film)
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In the Magical Galactic Kingdom of Nottingham, Skeeter Bronson is an unappreciated warrior from Greece. Well, not really.
In reality: Skeeter Bronson is a handyman in a hotel, in which he's been working for 25 years. Ever since his dad owned and ran it. In fact, when his dad sold the hotel to Mr. Nottingham (starting a hotel empire), Skeeter was promised to one day run it. Or so he hoped. You see, despite being a fabulous worker for the same hotel (well, two different buildings, but that's beside the point) he has been recently passed up to be the manager of the third building in that specific hotel's lineage within the empire.
Meanwhile, Skeeter's sister, Wendy, needs to travel to Arizona in order to find a Job. She asks Skeeter to watch over her two kids during the night, while Wendy's friend Jill takes the day shift.
With nothing to do at the kids' home, Skeeter starts to tell bedtime stories in order to entertain the kids. These stories vary in theme, from Ancient Greece to Sci Fi. The kids often throw in events to mix up the story, coming up with better stuff than Skeeter's Real Life events. When the events the kids throw into Skeeter's story affect Skeeter in real life, Skeeter uses this to his advantage.
Bedtime Stories is entirely unrelated to the 1979 Game Show produced by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley.
- Betty and Veronica: Blonde, Spoiled Sweet heiress Nicole vs. the practical brown-haired principal Jill.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Skeeter. Just watch the scene where he introduces Mr. Nottingham to the audience.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Kendall. Seriously, the guy wants to blow up a school to make a new hotel, going over the foreman's head to check the building when Wendy can't find Bobbi and Patrick, and taunts Skeeter repeatedly throughout the film just because his dad's hotel wouldn't have stayed open without Mr. Nottingham's intervention.
- Happily Ever After: Happens, but not in the way you expect.
- Her Codename Was Mary Sue: Subverted in the first story. In other stories Skeeter keeps trying this, but the kids keep interjecting, up to "ruining" his final story.
- Idea Bulb
- It's Been Done: Kendall's theme for the new hotel was going to be rock and roll, but when Skeeter points out how the Hard Rock hotel has run on this theme for years, Mr.Nottingham gives Skeeter a chance to think up a better theme that can get him in charge.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Kendall and his girlfriend, who relentlessly taunt and mock Skeeter throughout the film, end up as the staff of Skeeter's new hotel at the end.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Teresa Palmer plays Violet Nottingham: a young, blond 20-something hotel heiress celebutante notorious for partying and winding up in the tabloids.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Skeeter telling the kids that there are no happy endings near the beginning gets him fired near the end after the kids make a story with a bad ending, saying they want their story to be "real".
- Pet the Dog: When Violet watches the kids for a minute early in the film, she is very nice, treats them well, and takes an interest in their romantic life. It is an early sign that Violet isn't a bad person, just a bit of a spoiled Daddy's girl with tabloid issues.
- Smug Snake: Kendall
- So My Kids Can Watch: The reason why Adam Sandler made this film.
- Spoiled Sweet: Despite her troubles with the tabloids, Violet Nottingham is actually rather nice.
- Where Are They Now? Epilogue
- Barry Nottingham becomes the new school nurse for Webster Elementary after going to medical school.
- Mickey and Violet get married, taking over Barry's hotel empire.
- Skeeter and Jill officially get married.
- At the same time as Bugsy the guinea pig, who goes on to have a lot of big-eyed babies.
- Kendall and Aspen end up working for Skeeter at his hotel.
- X Meets Y: Adam Sandler meets Disney Magic.
- Sort of, because it's never fully explained how the magic works. It just does.
- Your Television Hates You