Set in a small, pre-World War I German-Protestant village, the narrative is conveyed via the voice over of a now-aged former village schoolteacher who admits that the "strange events" about to unfurl might not reveal "the truth in every detail" but that they "may cast a new light on some of the goings-on in this country."  

Adam Sandler cast a bunch of old buddies as his old buddies (Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and David Spade) and reunited with director Dennis Dugan, whose long-running collaboration with the Sandler dates back to 'Happy Gilmore.' You'd think this thing would yield more organically generated laughs. Grade: C.  

Don't let the title of Adam Sandler's latest movie fool you: 'Grown Ups' is as juvenile as anything in the actor's filmography. At 43, Sandler remains mainstream America's go-to goof-off, a guy whose perpetual adolescence has made him one of the most successful box-office stars of the last 20 years.  

Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia ('Looking at Her' and 'Nine Lives') tells the story of three California women (played by the capable trio of Annette Bening, Kerry Washington and Naomi Watts) dealing with issues pertaining to, as the title overtly suggests, mothers and children. Check out Samuel L. Jackson, who in a supporting role does his best, most subtle work in years. Grade: B-plus.  

Writer/director Nicole Holofcener drops yet another urbane, talky, existentially searching comedy armed with the kind of character and emotional nuance Woody Allen lost years ago. Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt play a fortysomething married couple with an angsty teenage daughter and a flourishing furniture store in Manhattan who drift apart as their material possessions grow in number and lavishness. Grade: B-plus.  

Film Fringe features six films screening in conjunction with the theater-based Cincy Fringe Festival. Screenings are 7 p.m. June 6 and 8:15 p.m. June 10 at Media Bridges.  

Writer/producer David Simon ('The Wire,' 'Treme') is the featured speaker at the Mercantile Library's annual Harriet Beecher Stowe Lecture. This year's theme is "Writing to Change the World." A reception with Simon is at 7 p.m., followed by his lecture at 8.  

David Simon's 'The Wire' garnered nearly unprecedented critical praise — by the end of its five-season run on HBO, some were calling it the best show to ever grace television — but drew a fraction of the audience of the cable outlet's other series 'Sex and the City' and 'The Sopranos.' Yet HBO stood behind Simon (and continues to stand behind him, offering his 'Treme' miniseries), a television iconoclast who'd rather walk away than betray the authenticity of his subject matter. Simon answers a few CityBeat questions before his June 7 talk at the Mercantile Library.  

Just in time to rescue us from another week of safe, reheated Hollywood product (yes, I'm referring to you, 'Sex and the City 2'), Film Fringe is back featuring six films that will screen in conjunction with the theater-based Cincy Fringe Festival. The films will be screened June 6 and 10 at Media Bridges.  

Robert Olmstead's latest, 'Far Bright Star,' grabs one from the get-go via the novelist’s spare yet descriptive prose style. Olmstead, who is a professor at Ohio Wesleyan University when not cranking out visceral novels, reads from and discusses his new work at 7 p.m. Thursday at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.