Bedtime Stories

Skeeter Bronson works in a hotel his father once owned, and he is still there in a modest maintenance job. When his sister Wendy, who he rarely sees, needs someone to look after her two children for a while, he takes on the babysitting. Each night he makes up stories for his niece and nephew, tales that wander through space, the Old West, ancient Greece and medieval Europe. The morning after, pieces of what he invented begin to show up in his own life, and the children's own ideas shape how events turn out. Skeeter tries to steer the stories toward outcomes that would benefit him, but he finds he does not control what happens, and not everything lands the way he intended. Meanwhile, Jill, a teacher at the children's school and a friend of Wendy, gets to know him.

Bedtime Stories was released in December 2008. It was directed by Adam Shankman, whose earlier films include The Wedding Planner, A Walk to Remember, Bringing Down the House, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, The Pacifier and Hairspray, and who went on to direct Rock of Ages, What Men Want, Disenchanted and two 2026 titles, Stop! That! Train! and The Man with the Bag. Tim Herlihy and Matt Lopez wrote the screenplay. Adam Sandler stars as Skeeter, alongside Keri Russell as Jill, Guy Pearce, Courteney Cox, Lucy Lawless and Carmen Electra.

Produced by Happy Madison Productions, Walt Disney Pictures and Gunn Films for about 80 million dollars, the film took in roughly 213 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6 out of 10 from around 106,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.2 out of 10 from a few thousand votes, while critics rated it lower, at 4.4 out of 10.