Adam Sandler

  • Hubie Halloween (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, November 2021) As I’ve mentioned before, a good chunk of my movie viewing is based on lists. I do not question the lists, but I can groan audibly when certain names show up in the plot summary or opening credits, and Adam Sandler is certainly one of the most groan-inducing names out there. Hubie Halloween is one of those typical Sandler movies featuring him in a whiny-voiced man-child character, goofing off with friends and family. (This is not hyperbole — there are a lot of actors here who have worked with Sandler before, and many cameo roles are played by family members.) The setting here is Halloween in Salem, MA, with Sandler being this overgrown boy-scout taking the event so seriously as to be a local fixture — and not in the good way. When prisoners from a local asylum escape and start leaving a trail of bodies, well, it’s up to him to save the day. Despite the PG-13 horror material, it all amounts to a standard Happy Madison production — very broad, low-level humour, with occasional moments to enliven things up. There’s something for everyone — despite my lack of enthusiasm for the kind of film that this is, I could still appreciate Maya Rudolph in a small role, or the way the climax goes out to play with some horror-movie conventions. Still, it’s not much, especially when the best thing to say about Hubie Halloween is that it’s not as terrible as other similar films made by Sandler for Netflix. Those who like his movies will like this one — others may find out that it works best as filler.

  • Going Overboard (1989)

    Going Overboard (1989)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, January 2021) Nearly every superstar has their early embarrassments, and Going Overboard would probably be even more of an obscure title today if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s Adam Sandler’s first starring role, prior to his tenure on Saturday Night Live. It has not aged well, but then again, it’s probably amazing to its filmmakers that we’re still talking about it thirty years later. Executed on a shoestring budget (something proudly highlighted in the film’s first moments), it’s a low-effort, low-energy, low-laughs comedy about a cruise ship crewmate aspiring to become the ship’s stand-up comedian. Terrorists and Miss World contestants become involved. Billy Bob Thornton also pops up, along with a late-career cameo from the legendary Milton Berle. The narrative is often punctuated by fourth wall breaks (probably the funniest material that the film has), and by gratuitous shots of pretty women—anyone talking about the obvious male gaze will be surprised to find out that the film was directed by a woman, Valerie Breiman. While Going Overboard is not terribly good, I wouldn’t go so far as to steer people away from it. For one thing, it shows how Sandler’s early screen persona is surprisingly similar to his later one; for another, the film does manage a few funny moments. It’s a bit of a capsule of 1980s issues (notably in designating Noriega as an antagonist, and in using as premise cruise ship terrorist attacks) and it does have a smattering of interesting actors slumming away. Heck, there are many worse movies than Going Overboard in Sandler’s own later filmography.

  • Murder Mystery (2019)

    Murder Mystery (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, December 2020) If you believe in the documented theory that Adam Sandler picks projects partially in order to get paid holidays in picturesque locations with a bunch of his friends, then Murder Mystery becomes almost inevitable. The premise is familiar enough, as a couple of ordinary Americans become embroiled in an escalating series of murders among the European jet-set. It’s executed with the very, very broad humour of Sandler’s other films, and Jennifer Anniston should be used to the proceedings given that this is her second pairing with him. The result is a decent comedy, although there’s a sense that it’s dragged down by the personas of its lead actors: While the plot outline of Murder Mystery is solid enough, the film seems contractually obliged to sabotage itself in order to let Sandler or Anniston showboat. It could have been a cleverer film (the twists and turns of the finale almost make sense) but that’s really not what Murder Mystery is interested in, as it moves from a yacht to the picturesque French Riviera. It’s no real surprise if the film does better with its supporting characters: Terence Stamp makes a brief impression, whereas Luke Evans and Gemma Atherton do better. It’s interesting to see noteworthy French comedian Danny Boon take a role as a crusty French policeman in an American film –Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel finally have a successor! The result, to be clear, is still reasonably entertaining… even if it coasts on the familiar appeal of a classical murder mystery with ordinary people tackling the case. It could have been worse, but somehow, I keep judging Murder Mystery on the ways it could have been much better, starting with different lead actors.

  • Airheads (1994)

    Airheads (1994)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, October 2020) I wasn’t expecting much from Airheads—another rock and roll comedy about dumb characters? Meh. But I hadn’t paid attention to the main cast nor the specifics of the plot before watching, and there was no way of guessing ahead of time the strange alchemy between its elements. But by the turn of the first half-hour, I was curiously invested in the adventures of our three rocking protagonists, unsuccessful musicians who end up, almost despite themselves, taking an entire radio station hostage. Much of the interest of the film these days will have to do with the lead trio of actors assembled to play the protagonists: Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler in an early pre-stardom role. The film does make the most out of its comic premise, escalating the situation even further with the hostages cheering for their captors when it becomes clear that the radio station is headed to a format change to easy-listening music. Lesser-know comic actors populate supporting roles from Chris Farley, Ernie Hudson and Joe Mantegna as a rock DJ. The soundtrack is stellar, beginning with “Born to Raise Hell” on the opening credit sequence. The supporting characters all have funny details to contribute, and the restricted setting of the film, once it’s done with the throat clearing, does add an interesting atmosphere. Airheads is not meant to be a good or particularly ambitious film, but I found it easy to like and surprisingly engaging once it gets started.

  • Uncut Gems (2019)

    Uncut Gems (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, September 2020) Every few years, Adam Sandler comes out of his rote torpor and delivers a dramatic performance for good directors that impresses even those who aren’t big fans of his. Uncut Gems is the latest of those too-rare performances, a quasi-hallucinatory, anxiety-inducing trip within the dangerous life of a Manhattan jeweller/gambler at a time when all sorts of crises are reaching a dramatic point. Written and directed by the Safdie Brothers, Uncut Gems is not a pretty film in any way—it’s not slick or glossy or comforting. Every nervous edit, every discordant musical cue, every trashy backdrop seems calculated to make the film even more unsettling. This is absolutely not safe or classically entertaining. But while I wouldn’t normally cheer on such movies (let alone one that seems to think that basketball is one of the most important things ever), even I have to admit that Uncut Gems work rather well, and that Sandler is surprisingly good in this very dramatic -some will even say tragic—role.

  • Shakes the Clown (1991)

    Shakes the Clown (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2020) Perhaps the best thing anyone has even said about Shakes the Clown is how Martin Scorsese defended the film, saying that it’s “the Citizen Kane of Alcoholic Clown Movies.” That should give you an idea of the themes, plot and very specific atmosphere that writer-director-star Bobcat Goldthwait was going for in this intentional cult movie. Clearly aiming to dismantle any kind of romantic illusions about the lifestyle of a professional clown while at the same time creating a bizarre portrayal of secret entertainer sub-societies, Shakes the Clown fully indulges in its own reality. The comedy here is more conceptual than gag-based, especially as the film builds its universe in which performers spend their entire lives in clown outfits and makeup, where there are vicious rivalries between types of street entertainers, and where a murder naturally leads to a clown going undercover in another gang to find the truth. A surprising cast anchors the picture, from one of Adam Sandler’s earliest turns to Robin Williams (as “Marty Fromage”) in a very funny role as a mime instructor. Shakes the Clown’s most reliable asset is that it never tries to be all things to everyone: it plays in a very specific vein of humour and lets its public self-select out. As a result, it’s a bit obscure these days, and often brought up for laughs than any sincere admiration. But it goes to the end of its specific preoccupations, and it’s almost admirable for that. This being said, it’s still not for everyone.

  • Bulletproof (1996)

    Bulletproof (1996)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, April 2020) In Adam Sandler’s career, Bulletproof still stands away from his comfort zone—sure, it’s a comedy, but it’s also an attempt to melt Sandler’s comic sensibilities with an action movie and the result is closer to a comedy incompetently attempting action than a true hybrid. There are clear signs nearly everywhere that the production did not have the means to execute its ambitions—action, people and dialogue don’t always match, exposing significant production shortcomings. Young Sandler does have some charm, but most of the film can feel like a contest to see just how abrasive Sandler could be. While Damon Wayans occasionally acts as a foil, there’s a limit to just how he and James Caan (playing his usual brand of heavy) can restrain him. Shorter than I expected at 90 minutes, this buddy comedy with antagonistic leads is mildly amusing, which is just about what it was aiming for. Soundtrack trivia: I found Bulletproof’s main theme using cues that sounded distractingly like the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Rollercoaster”… is it just me?

  • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

    Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, In Theaters, July 2018) There is so little to say about Hotel Transylvania 3 that it leads directly to asking why the film was needed. There isn’t much more here than, indeed, a vacation episode with a little bit of romance for the lead character. The film spends almost no time at the titular hotel, instead taking refuge on an ocean liner for monsters and various stops along the way. There’s some antagonism between Dracula and the Van Helsing family, a dance-music-dominant finale, and an opponent-to-lovers arc (well, as much as can be included in a kids’ movie). Returning director Genndy Tartakovsky keeps thing running with more or less the same level of energy than his previous two instalments, with Adam Sandler once again turning in a better-than-usual voice performance to anchor the piece. As a film, it’s okay—not good, not bad, just sufficiently in-between to be acceptable family entertainment. I’d complain about missed opportunities in not going with a bigger idea, except that I’m not sure there is a bigger idea to be had—the Hotel Transylvania series is looking as if it’s settling in for cruise control and much more of the same. At least it’s not painful to watch, which is already better than many other kids’ movies these days.

  • That’s My Boy (2012)

    That’s My Boy (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, June 2018) I’ve been gorging on classic movies lately, so it’s even more of a shock than usual to take in one of the dumbest and most repulsive Adam Sandler movies yet. That’s My Boy is unusual in the Sandler oeuvre in that it’s clearly R-rated (Sandler is, temperamentally and intellectually, more closely aligned with the PG-13 rating) and it really doesn’t waste any time in establishing that fact: Once a film starts with statutory rape played for laughs, you have to wonder if it has anywhere lower to go. Alas, it does: incest, granny-lusting and priest-punching are only some of the not-so-delightful surprises that the film still has in store. Most of it plays limply despite the film’s incessant bombardment of curse words and shock images: Like most teenagers discovering the R-rating, Sandler seems convinced that everything is funnier with four-letter words and if he’s not entirely wrong (I did catch myself laughing once or twice) he does overdo it. It’s a mixed blessing to see gifted actors such as Susan Sarandon, James Caan and arguably Andy Samberg being dragged into the mess—although Ciara is cute as a peripheral love interest who shows up in two scenes. Still, much of the film is bottom-grade raunchy comedy, too crude to be interesting and too trite to be surprising. I usually see those films in order to know what I’m talking about when I’m dismissing comedians such as Sandler, but at the moment, That’s My Boy is having an unexpected impact: Making me like the classic Hays Code comedies I’m watching even more.

  • Reign Over Me (2007)

    Reign Over Me (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, March 2016) Having inadvertently gone through most of Adam Sandler’s filmography in short succession (don’t ask why), I’ve been circling Reign over Me as a final pièce de resistance. After all, it’s often mentioned in the same breath as Punch Drunk Love and Funny People as the three movies showing Sandler’s range as a dramatic actor. Best to keep the best for last. As it turns out, the critics are right: While Reign Over Me isn’t a completely successful film, Sandler does get a good performance as a debilitated widower endlessly mourning his wife and daughters killed on 9/11. His aggressive man-child persona here comes across as pathological and off-putting, a cry for help that the film’s protagonist (Don Cheadle, as good as ever) seeks to answer even as he himself needs to change. Reign Over Me does overplay its melodrama at times, and doesn’t quite know what to do with its characters. (Sienna Miller’s character, in particular, feels like a punchline for too long in the middle of such a dramatic film, and one gets the sense that she ends up as a prize to be won.) There are tonal problems, the ending feels off in ways that don’t entirely satisfy and Sandler doesn’t get much to do other than mope and lash out in anger. Still, Reign Over Me often feels like a successful experiment. Even today, it’s one of the few Hollywood movies to use a specific videogame in a thematically appropriate fashion, and it has a dramatic weight that we don’t usually associate with Sandler. Congratulations to director Mike Binder for coaxing such a performance out of him and channelling his inner rage into a worthwhile character.

  • Pixels (2015)

    Pixels (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2016) I’m halfway convinced that a good comedy could have emerged from Pixels’ premise: What if classic gamers were the only chance to save Earth from comically misguided aliens? Unfortunately, there’s no way Adam Sandler could have been associated with said hypothetical good comedy, because Pixels as it exists right now is a big misfire. You can see how the premise was corrupted the moment Happy Madison productions touched the picture, in how Sandler gives himself a middle-aged teenager’s role (hitting on divorcees almost as a first order of business), inexplicably presents Kevin James as President of the United States and keeps going in that vein. The absurdity leads to, and I’m not making this up, a human/alien hybrid that … yeah, I don’t want to talk about it. If Pixels is a predictable failure as a comedy, it can be partially redeemed as a special effects spectacle: From time to time, the aliens attack the earth with voxels and the special effects are actually fun to watch. The New York Pac-Man sequence is generally enjoyable, and there’s a bit of amusing chaos toward the end of the film, even though the climax compresses itself to a disappointing Donkey Kong sequence. There’s probably something interesting to write about how eighties pop culture is now entering its second nostalgic phase, but Pixels gives very little substance to discuss. After all, there’s a much better movie to be made from Pixels than Pixels.

  • Bedtime Stories (2008)

    Bedtime Stories (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, February 2016) Every six months comes another silly Adam Sandler movie. Even if Bedtime Stories falls under the Disney banner, the choice to target younger audiences doesn’t affect Sandler’s humour all that much: it’s still juvenile and broadly obvious. The high-concept premise here has to do with an underachieving janitor discovering that bedtime stories have real-world effects, and trying to take advantage of those for personal gain. Of course, the real plot has something to do with Sandler mugging for the cameras, first in fantasy sequences and then again in the film’s version of its real world. Some of it actually works, as silly and asinine it can be. At times, we’re left wondering what Guy Pearce did to deserve being stuck in a dumb movie like this; at other times, there are a few good jokes in trying to link fantasy with reality. Sandler himself has his own kind of charisma, even though Bedtime Stories often feels like a too-late attempt to recapture some of his earlier less mature roles, limited by rating from going in his typical angry man-child persona. It doesn’t amount to much, though, and kids will be served by plenty of other better movies.

  • Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

    Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, February 2016) In developing a sequel, there’s a difficult balance to strike between offering more of the same, and offering just a little more than the original to satisfy. Hotel Transylvania 2, for all of its faults, actually manages to find this elusive balance: By moving forward the story a few years later, and by focusing the themes of parental anxieties onto another generation, it refreshes its own themes while still offering many of the same attributes that made the first film a success. Adam Sandler once again reprises his unusually sympathetic vampire-dad character, now faced with the possibility that his grandson may not actually be a vampire. Various hijinks ensue, bouncing back and forth between Transylvania and California in a world that is obviously not ours given its broad acceptance of real monsters. The set pieces are lively and if the film does seem to lose its way during an unremarkable third act, Hotel Transylvania 2 gives audiences what they expected, and what they’re ready to accept. The series remains firmly ensconced in the second tier of animated features, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

  • Little Nicky (2000)

    Little Nicky (2000)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, September 2015)  I’m not a big Adam Sandler fan, but have seen enough of his films by now to say that most of them are likable in a fairly generic way –crude, oftentimes gross, certainly lower-common-denominator, but still aiming for kind of a genial comforting middle-America male consciousness.  Little Nicky is irritating in ways that I can’t completely articulate, though: From the early curious fascination with Hitler’s rectum, the simpering protagonist, the badly-executed CGI gags or the haphazard structure, this is a film that feels more botched than most, without much in terms of overall direction or aesthetics.  It’s a dumb comedy, granted, but it seems more aggressively dumb than most others in the Sandler filmography.  Sandler himself is annoying to watch, leaving little of his natural charm to carry viewers over to the end.  Terrible special effects don’t help, and neither are the various pot-shots at easy targets or the uninspired lack of thematic depth in what could have been an effortless opportunity to add more substance to the script.  In the grand scheme of Sandler’s career, Little Nicky is definitely a film at the end of his first, more immature phase –it’s easy to see 2002’s subsequent Mr. Deeds as a course-correction for the excesses of this one (not to say anything about Punch-Drunk Love, also immediately subsequent.)  This is strictly for Sandler completists.

  • I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)

    I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 2015)  Social progress can be measured in laws and statistics, but it’s also a matter of unsaid stereotypes and evolving culture.  Watching I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry eight years after its initial release, I’m stuck most strongly about the film’s uneasy relationship with gay stereotypes, as it presents two heterosexual men marrying for obscure (and frankly nonsensical) administrative benefits.  On one hand, the film is good-natured enough to (eventually) argue firmly in favour of progressive values, show homophobia in a bad light and affirm that sexual orientation isn’t something that should be discriminated against.  Coming from the mid-naughties, after Canada had legalized same-sex unions but before most of the US followed suit, that wasn’t too bad.  But then again I Now Pronounce You Chuck &  Larry crassly makes a lot out of stereotypes, characters spouting regrettable epithets and a barely-repressed attitude that “isn’t it hilarious to pretend to be gay???!?” as a freak-show.  I certainly hope that the very same plot wouldn’t be developed in the same way today.  It’s best to consider I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry as a relic of its time, at a moment when same-sex marriages were past reprobation, but well before they were normalized.  More shocking is the realization that this review spent nearly two hundred words discussing social progress before mentioning that this is an Adam Sandler film, and that he is more or less up to his usual crude shtick here. He is, of course, portrayed as a strongly heterosexual man (and the film stops just as a same-sex kiss with Kevin James was coming up.)  Don’t think that the film is all harmless: As disturbing than the gay stereotypes is seeing Rob Schneider in yellow-face, with a broad and unfunny imitation of an Asian character.  Otherwise, the dumb comedy of I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry pales in comparison to its socially-risky premise: it’s all dumb gags, obvious developments, flat direction and an expected conclusion.  There may be something interesting to say about slipping a dose of progressive values to Sandler fans under the deceptive guise of a dumb comedy, but I’ll let others tackle that train of thought –I’ve blathered long enough about the film already.