The Wedding Singer (1998)
Directed by Frank Coraci
Robbie, a local rock star turned wedding singer, is dumped on the day of his wedding. Meanwhile, waitress Julia finally sets a wedding date with her fiancée Glenn. When Julia and Robbie meet and hit it off, they find that things are more complicated than anybody thought.
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What critics compared The Wedding Singer to
Co-produced by Adam Sandler, "Mall Cop" has an innate sweetness that's reminiscent of Sandler's 1998 romantic comedy "The Wedding Singer," although the laughs don't quite reach those levels.
The same explanation, however, doesn't hold true for the rest of the lameness on display, from the plethora of unimaginative pratfalls and wasted opportunities to, finally, the incessant '80s nostalgia (references to Footloose and The Karate Kid, music from the band Europe) that Samberg and his buddies don't seem to realize became played out sometime shortly after 1998's The Wedding Singer.
Hot Tub Time Machine does have some decent laughs and it out does The Wedding Singer with its plethora of 1980s references.
It�s more of an affable romp, The Hangover by way of The Wedding Singer: three guys having a wild and crazy night back in the �80s, though they began the night in 2010.
Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) even though he looks and talks like Jon Lovitz in The Wedding Singer…
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Sandler returns to the brand of comedy that made him a powerhouse on the big screen in the late '90s/early 2000s, and while Grown Ups doesn't live up to Waterboy, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer or even Billy Madison, it generates enough laughs to entertain kids looking for an alternative to animated family fare.
I will admit that I haven’t exactly been the biggest fan of Sandler’s slob comedies over the years--the only one that I can semi-tolerate is “The Wedding Singer” and that is almost entirely due to the efforts of the ever-adorable Drew Barrymore--but they at least for the most part had contained plots that had something resembling narrative drive and focus to them.
On the grand scale of Adam Sandler movies -- and oh, how grand that scale is! -- Grown Ups registers as a middle-of-the-pack comedy, not the instant classic of a Happy Gilmore or The Wedding Singer but not the heinous affront of Little Nicky.
Adam Sandler fans would do well to re-watch “The Wedding Singer” or “Happy Gilmore” rather than suffer through this excruciating mess of gross-out humor, eww-inspiring vulgarity, and soppy sentimentality.
It's kind of amazing that he didn't just confess this lack of inspiration by dressing as his character from The Wedding Singer for the climactic ’80s party.
There’s also an ongoing battle between the middle-aged gang and a group of jerky frat brothers led by Taylor Lautner; the final confrontation takes place at Lenny’s big party, which has an ’80s theme, presumably so Sandler could dust off and reuse some costumes from The Wedding Singer.
There have been times, a la "The Wedding Singer" and "Anger Management," where there is good, solid comedy work being done with interesting and eclectic casts.
He was cute in the romantic-comic " The Wedding Singer ."
It’s a combination of both types of Adam Sandler, the dumb but easy going macho comedies like “The Waterboy” or “The Longest Yard”, and the more serious dramatic emotional guy from the likes of “Punch Drunk Love” and “The Wedding Singer”.
Not because I was upset that missed my opportunity to write an Adam Sandler movie, but because I thought the team behind "The Wedding Singer" might actually be able to have a little fun with the concept.
Director Frank Coraci (Sandler's "The Wedding Singer" and "The Waterboy") does well with the possibilities of the premise in a few scenes and there's some funny topical humor, but the script loses inspiration fast and soon can't think of anywhere to go but low.
Frank Coraci, who directed Sandler in The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy, handles duties, although all auteurist interest lands strictly on Sandler, again providing unexpected emotional depth that shames the egotism of Steve Carrell and the "Frat Pack."
Adam Sandler's gathered his usual family around him for his other oeuvre - the one not targeted at adolescent boys - but while he's been surprisingly effective wearing this persona ("The Wedding Singer," "50 First Dates," "Spanglish"), "Click" doesn't quite cut it.
And so director Frank Coraci (The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy) and writers Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe (the men behind the very similar Bruce Almighty) fail to really capitalize on their idea.
It was like the joy of The Wedding Singer and Happy Gilmore combined with yet another great wig sitting there like a cherry on top of a gorgeous sundae.
Sandler is in full pandering Gen X nostalgia mode here, à la The Wedding Singer ; at worst this means an extended cameo for Vanilla Ice , but for all that, there is far more generosity of spirit and more dumb laffs in Sandler’s latest wicked pissah, a paean to let-it-all-hang-out party-guy sloppiness, than in the sterile, Glee-perky Rock of Ages.
In That’s My Boy, Adam Sandler brings it all together: The hot-for-teacher romance of Billy Madison, the ’80s nostalgia of The Wedding Singer, the class jabs of Happy Gilmore, the competing product placements, the horny grandmas, the random celebrity cameos and the attempts at ethnic humor that fall somewhere between offensive and a parody of offense.
All the things that make his previous worst efforts (I still quite like "The Wedding Singer" and "Anger Management") so hard to sit through.
Sporting a mullet wig that looks left over from “ The Wedding Singer ” and recycling his trademark accent -- an annoying hybrid of brain-damaged redneck and dirty old man -- he packs enough painful screen presence for three people.
If you like this, try: “Billy Madison” and “The Wedding Singer”…
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Buscemi almost always improves any movie he's in, whether it's an uncredited turn in an Adam Sandler comedy ("The Wedding Singer," "Billy Madison") or a classic Buscemi creation itself: Chet the Bellhop in "Barton Fink," Mr. Pink in "Reservoir Dogs," Map to the Stars Eddie in "Escape from L.A.," Garland "The Marietta Mangler" Greene in "Con Air," and now simply Seymour in "Ghost World."
Anyway, the film from frequent Sandler collaborator Frank Coraci (“The Wedding Singer,” “The Waterboy,” “Click”) is a Western, in theory, because it takes place in the American West and it’s a knock-off of “The Magnificent Seven.”
The director is veteran Sandler hack Frank Coraci ("Blended," "Click" and, in better days, "The Wedding Singer").
And Sandler has taken part in enough good ones that the (admittedly humongous) trash heap of unconscionably bad comedies bearing his name will eventually rot away, leaving gems like “Punch-Drunk Love” and “The Wedding Singer” and (the first half of) “Funny People” as his legacy.
Indifferently directed by Sandler associate Frank Coraci (The Wedding Singer, Click, Blended), Ridiculous is well-suited for the lowered expectations of home viewing (even the Western landscapes look bland).
While director Frank Coraci is a long-term practitioner of the Happy Madison house style (most productively with The Wedding Singer ; less so with the likes of Blended ), Ridiculous 6 is one of the most cinematic-looking Sandler comedies ever.