Bedtime Stories is one of the movies that just looks like it's just going to be silly and goofy; and it is. However, in spite of that, it's also surprisingly entertaining. Now I'm not saying this is some sort of Oscar contender, but when the movie is over, I've had a fun time and that's what I really watch movie for. So if you're willing to set aside your cynical, critical, "this has to make sense" side of your brain, you may just end up having more fun with Bedtime Stories than you thought.

The simple setup for the film is that Adam Sandler's character, Skeeter Bronson, is stuck watching his niece and nephew. Not knowing what to do with them, he starts making up bedtime stories for them, much like his father did for him. However, when the kids join in and add their own touches to the tales being told, strange things start to happen; parts of the stories begin to come true. Of course Skeeter tries to turn this to his own advantage, and much silliness ensues with the signature, though much cleaner, Sandler flair.

It's a fun idea: what would happen if stories came true? It's an idea that also raises another important question: who's writing the story of your life? That may seem like a strange question, because most of us would say that we're penning the pages of our lives; and besides, we certainly don't want a couple of kids to be writing it. Yet, I wonder if being in charge of our own story is really the best idea.

Skeeter tries to take the reins of his story, and more often than not, it ends in disaster. In fact, looking at my own life, I can see plenty of times when I tried to take control of my story only to have it backfire on me in tragic ways. Truth is, when I try to write my story, things don't turn out the best. That's why years ago I decided to let God write my story. He loves each and every one of us, and he has a wonderful, exciting, adventurous, and sometimes even scary story ready for us (Jeremiah 29:11-13), but we have to let him have control of the pen.

That's a scary prospect, to be sure, but considering the alternatives—writing the story for ourselves with our own limited perspective, or worse, letting others have control over your story, manipulating you for their own selfish desires—well, I think I'd rather let a loving, caring God who sent his son to die on the cross and rise from the dead all to save us from eternal death take the reins and write out the story he has in mind for me. The best part is, the parts of the story he tells that come true are some of the best parts of the story.

The only thing I really didn't like about Bedtime Stories, and it's an issue that's even more problematic on the second viewing, is how the film handles the bedtime stories coming true. In the beginning of the movie, we're given a plausible explanation as to why something happens. It's merely a strange occurrence of happenstance that makes it possible for it to rain gumballs. However, as the film progresses and the events become more and more fantastical in the real world, any attempt to explain them is abandoned. Now I wouldn't have minded one way or the other. Having all the parts of the stories that came true be wild coincidences in the real world would have worked and could have been clever, or making it all simply be something magical and miraculous would have been fine as well. But setting up the movie with the odd coincidence and then not even bothering to explain the odd events later is quite jarring. You have the expectation that things will be explained early in the film, and when you think about it later, you keep trying to figure out why all the weird stuff is happening in real life. It's an annoyance that could have been easily averted, or one that could have been changed with just some simple editing, so why this incongruity is still there, I don't know.

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