In this day and age, it is very rare for a year to pass us by without the release of an Adam Sandler movie. While 9 times outta 10 it's usually some hot garbage, there once was a time when everyone and their mother's had to check out what the ex-funny man had to offer. Many college students and 20-something year olds are riddled with fond childhood memories of watching Adam Sandler. Which is why we want to believe he's still funny, cause we've grown up watching him.
Sandler's new Rumpke dumpster of a movie, Blended, dropped last week (or something like that) and along with it came the same critics saying the exact same things they have been saying about Sandler since he was birthed from his mom's womb: he sucks. While that might be mostly true, it's unfair to go into his movies ready to write him off. I personally like to give him a shot every time, and I enjoy most of his movies, but this new flick looks like purebred ass cheeks, so I'm probably gonna wait until I can watch it somewhere for free 99.
Now that he has blessed us with a steaming pile of horse ass, it's time to analyze just where the usually bankable Adam Sandler went wrong. When did the decline happen? When did Adam Sandler stop being funny? How did we go from gems like Billy Madison to Jack and Jill? I now present to you: An Oral History of Adam Sandler and Where It All Went Wrong.
Part 1: The Can't Miss Kid
It really all began in 1995, with the release of Billy Madison, the tell of a manchild who, due to unforeseen circumstances, has to repeat school!!! Hilarious!! It actually ended up setting off Sandler's career and launched a tirade of quotes that are still used today. Basically we'll call that Sandler's rookie year, which got off to a hot start and made him into a fan favorite.
So year 2 of a promising career dawns upon Sandler, and that brings us his greatest achievement: Happy Gilmore. This was basically Sandler averaging a double double, nabbing MVP honors, and dropping one of the best statistical seasons ever seen. With Gilmore, Sandler pretty much dragged his team to the playoffs and instantly became the most wanted star in Hollywood. The future was bright for Adam Sandler in 1996, he was on the path to greatness. Now the question remained: Will he continue his success or will he start an early decline, before hitting his prime?
Sandler answered that question with The Wedding Singer, a movie I personally thought was ass but earned rave reviews and gave Sandler his Scottie Pippen in the form of Drew Barrymore. The movie was a hit and became a box office smash, cementing Adam Sandler as the next best thing in Hollywood. He was destined to have a huge career and this was the beginning of his prime, the prime that made people realize his first two movies were not a fluke.
Sandler followed Singer up with The Waterboy, another smashing hit that had audiences laughing and willing to spend all their hard earned money to see Adam Sandler stutter and play football. It was a perfect formula and ended up becoming one of his best movies, as well as my personal favorite. Sandler could do no wrong from this point on. All we had to do as an audience was sit back and enjoy the show.
What came next for Sandler was a more mature movie, Big Daddy, which was when Sandler became a veteran, as opposed to the young hotshot with all the potential. Again, this was another box office hit and further perpetuated the idea that this guy has an amazingly bright future in Hollywood. Everything he touched turned to gold and he was consistently funny. I'm not sure if any comedic actor has had a stronger run in Hollywood than Sandler did from 1995-2000.
Part 2: The Veteran
Adam Sandler's first hiccup came in 2000 by way of Little Nicky. While most people consider that movie "a bag of shit", I actually liked it. And Sandler had so much respect by this point in his career, that even Quentin Tarantino agreed to be in the film. Little Nicky was kind of like Shaq when he played for the lakers and showed up overweight to training camp. Sandler just had to do like O'Neal and play himself into shape.
That's where Punch Drunk Love comes in. This was Sandler returning to form and winning over audiences again with his first venture into dramatic acting. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and a bevy of other awards and Sandler was once again in good standing with audiences across the country. Finally, he was done with being an overgrown kid and was now heading into the veteran stage of his career where he could play likable every-men.
Sandler made a good run of mediocre movies that were far different and less hilarious than he was in the 90s, from 2002-2007. The first dip in quality came in the form of Mr. Deeds. This was the first time Sandler had a real let down of a movie. It still made a bunch of money, and people like it for nostalgic reasons, but this was the beginning of asstastic movies coming from the Happy Madison camp.
After the mediocre Deeds, Sandler came out with Anger Management. Another mediocre movie, but this time made even more average with the presence of Jack Nicholson! The movie was okay, not good or bad, just okay. Which is the way you can describe this period of Adam Sandler movies. Anger Management was similar to Mr. Deeds, in that you could take it or leave it as an audience member and your life would never be any different. Another way to describe this era is the "I'll wait until it comes out on DVD" era.
So at this point In Sandler's career, a lot of people have accepted that he isn't going to come out with comedic classics anymore. He's more or less making fun movies that you watch but aren't timeless quotables. Which is okay, because the quality of the films is still pretty decent. From 50 First Dates to the popular The Longest Yard and the surprisingly depressing Click, Adam Sandler was still bankable and worthy of your money for a ticket or a rental (or torrent). He wasn't making shitty movies, he was making "okay" movies.
He tried to stretch his range again by starring in the fantastic Reign Over Me, where he played a widower with severe depression. Although he never won anything for that role, Sandler proved he was more than capable of being a dramatic actor that could hold his own against veterans like Don Cheadle, even out acting him throughout the whole movie, although that is the way the film was structured. was Adam Sandler robbed of accolades for that performance? Yeah. But it at least showed he was hungry and striving to be better.
Part 3: The Decline
2007. The year of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and the beginning of the end for Mr. Sandler. Personally, I am a fan of Chuck and Larry, but this was the first time (not counting 8 Crazy Nights) that Sandler had been scathed for one of his movies by critics. He'd always managed to average terrible Rotten Tomato scores, but at 14% this was his lowest non-animated film that he was the star of.
Next came the dreadful You Don't Mess With the Zohan. While it had a few laughs here and there, it was ultimately scoring a low critics and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While RT isn't a perfect indicator in the quality of a film, it's worth noting that this began a string of Sandler films that were deemed "trash".
After the abysmal and forgettable Zohan, Sandler came out with Bedtime Stories, a kids movie. And a bad one at that. This was the point where everyone kinda looked at each other and said, "hmm, maybe Adam Sandler isn't as funny as we thought." By this point in his career, Adam Sandler hadn't really dropped a movie that could hold its own when compared to his earlier work, this was the work of someone who didn't have to be innovative anymore, the work of a man who knew he was famous. That's when most stars begin to falter, whenever they realize their own fame and stop trying. Which was beginning to become a trend for Sandler.
After 3 straight stinkers, the colossally disappointing Funny People arrived in theaters to good reviews. Personally, I thought this movie was a waste of a crazy talented cast, but it really showed how self aware Adam Sandler was of what his product was becoming. Churning out mediocre comedies for 8 years should have been a wake up call to Sandler, and everyone thought with Funny People that he would realize that he needs to get back to his roots and put more effort in his films, but alas, this was a flash in the pan moment. A throwback moment, like when Shaq would drop the occasional double double late in his career and make people remember what a force he used to be. At this point in his career, Sandler became an all star player who is cashing checks in and coasting on autopilot, with a big game here and there.
After people proclaimed that Sandler was back, it was announced he was doing a film with a bunch of famous comic actors, and the expectations became enormous. Now, I'm a fan of Grown Ups, but that movie was raked over the coals by critics and was considered, at the time, a low point of Adam Sandler's film career. The point where people realized he wasn't funny. He assembled a dream team and kinda really blew it. Again, I liked it, but the general consensus was that it was terrible.
After that debacle came Just Go With It, which was a good movie, but one we've seen from Adam Sandler multiple times. There was nothing new, the movie wasn't all that funny, and it became lost in the "forgettable Adam Sandler movies" pile. But as usual, it made a ton of money and reinforced the sentiment that Adam Sandler was still a bankable movie star.
Part 4: The End of An Era
Jack and Jill. Literally one of the worst movies ever made. The movie that is worse than any bad movie you could ever think of. The movie that legit insulted the audience and laughed at them for spending their valuable time watching. This is the Empire Strikes Back of bad movies and the official point in time where everyone realized Adam Sandler isn't funny. By this point, people stopped expecting his movies to be any good.
In order to get back to his roots, Sandler tried to drop a raunchy movie that was supposed to be edgy and hilarious. That's how we ended up with That's My Boy. Which made everyone sad to watch because this was a once great comic trying to be controversial but just ended up being embarrassing. And if you ever watch it, you can tell everyone involved with this movie thought it was going to be a massive hit and propel Sandler back into audience acceptance. But unfortunately it was just another shitty movie masquerading itself as a "change of pace" from what we're used to with the standard yearly Adam Sandler movie.
After that came Grown Ups 2. I liked the movie but I am definitely in the minority on that. It was an okay movie, but it was literally the same jokes we've heard a million times and not really all that funny of a movie. At this point, you knew what to expect from an Adam Sandler movie and it became your fault for paying to watch one. It had been 18 years since Billy Madison and the comic's fall from grace had been a tough one to watch, especially when you consider how promising of a career he was destined to have.
Part 5: Redemption
He currently has 3 movies in development. The first is The Cobbler, which nobody knows anything about. Pixels, an animated movie directed by Chris Columbus. And Men, Women, and Children. Which is the one that should make your ears perk up. An indie film that might require Sandler to show some range/emotion. An indie movie. A great director. Adam Sandler. This is happening and could be the exact cure on the road to redemption for Sandler. A chance to show that he is more than just an unfunny comic actor. I'm personally excited for Men, Women, and Children. The potential is there. This is going to be different from Funny People...I hope.
