Adam Sandler Is Past Due for a Critical Reevaluation, So Here It Is
The Adam Sandler critical reevaluation: He’s always been better than you think
Think of the name Adam Sandler, and we’re pretty sure the image that comes to mind is an unfavorable one. We can’t exactly blame you. Jack and Jill. Grown Ups. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. These are some of the worst Sandler films to hit theaters just in the last decade. And, quite frankly, they’re better than some of the other titles he hasn’t starred in, but has produced. But Sandler isn’t all terrible Rotten Tomatoes scores and shitty gender-swap makeup. For all the garbage he’s put out there, Sandler’s has also gifted us with some real cinematic gems. So it’s time for an Adam Sandler critical reevaluation. Because even the guy responsible for Bucky Larson deserves some positive recognition.The Waterboy (1998)
35% critic score / 71% audience score
Sandler stars as Bobby Boucher, a special needs-type water boy for a college football team, who discovers he has a talent for tackling.
Rotten Tomatoes says: “This is an insult to its genre with low humor and cheap gags.”
The Waterboy (1998)
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Sandler made something of a name for himself throughout the ‘90s by playing different spins on the same character: the redeemably lovable dumb guy with some kind of anger issue. The Waterboy was never going to be Oscar material, and we all knew it.
It is a fun mockery of American “foos-ball,” though, and it features Kathy Bates, who is a goddam American treasure.
Big Daddy (1999)
40% critic score / 74% audience score
When a little boy shows up on his doorstep claiming to be the biological son of his roommate, 30-year-old Sonny Koufax takes him in as his own in order to impress his girlfriend.
Rotten Tomatoes says: “[Adam Sandler’s] charm isn’t enough to make up for Big Daddy’s jarring shifts between crude humor and mawkish sentimentality.”
Big Daddy (1999)
Big Daddy has some trouble riding the line between childish laughs and genuine feeling, so sure, it can feel a little clunky at times.
But it’s one of those movies that shows Sandler can play a character with an IQ above 20, and the dynamic between him and the Sprouse twins (who play 6-year-old Julian) is undeniably sweet. Speaking of, no greater gift has ever been bestowed upon social media than those two.