Nights spent wandering the aisles of BlockbusterVideo—and staking out the return slot for the latest must-see rental—were epic. But while most people were kind enough to rewind and return their tapes, some didn’t even bother. Especially when it came to a certain Happy Madison production, which disappeared more than any other: Grandma’s Boy.
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“Nick Swardson, one of the film’s co-writers, claimed that he and Sandler met the CEO of Blockbuster, telling [the podcast] Stiff Socks that they were made aware of the fact that Grandma’sBoy was ‘one of their most stolen movies of all time,’” Far Out magazine wrote.
“No one ever returned the movie,” Swardson relayed on the podcast.
@stiffsockspod Grandma’s Boy #stiffsockspod
♬ original sound – Stiff Socks Podcast
Swardson, who also stars in the film as Jeff, the friend of a 35-year-old video game tester whose recent eviction forces him to move in with his grandmother and her two elderly, eccentric roommates, added that while making the stoner comedy, he knew it would “bomb” in theaters but more than make up for the failure with its DVD/VHS release. And he was right on the money.
Grossing just $6.6 million at the box office, the film cleaned up months later when it became available in physical form, with Far Out reporting $35 million in DVD revenue and Swordson claiming on the podcast that home-video sales ultimately climbed much higher.
Released in January 2006, Grandma’s Boy was directed by Nicholaus Goossen (Happy Gilmore 2) and produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions. It stars Shirley Jones, Linda Cardellini, Shirley Knight, Doris Roberts, Jonah Hill, and Happy Madison alums Kevin Nealon and Peter Dante. Still, no amount of star power could keep the film from falling into the jaws of critics who pummeled the effort.
But for home video enthusiasts, the film took on a new life. Apparently, they couldn’t get enough of the film’s cheap gags, shock humor, and dialed-up stereotypes.
“Clearly, in the mid-2000s, people couldn’t stop stealing DVDs of Grandma’s Boy, and now, I’m sure you can find a copy in your local charity shop bargain bin,” Far Out joked.
Twenty years later, Grandma’s Boy has become a cult classic, with its quotable one-liners and dumb-comedy chaos resonating with gamer and stoner subcultures. There’s even a whole podcast episode of The Confused Breakfast dedicated to the hangout buddy comedy.
“On today’s brand new episode, we discuss perhaps one of the most quoted movies of the 2000s,” the episode synopsis reads. “Barely grossing $6 million in its original theatrical release, this film made over $50 million in DVD sales alone. In fact, the CEO of Blockbuster has gone on record calling it the most stolen movie of all time because it was never voluntarily returned. We are, of course, talking about 2006’s Grandma’s Boy.”
Grandma’s Boy is available to buy or rent (and not have to return) on Prime Video.
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