What the hell has happened to Adam Sandler? I still remember laughing my head off at the bitter golfing antics of Happy in Happy Gilmore and the childish banter of Billy in Billy Madison. His work on Saturday Night Live was equally as brilliant; Sandler has truly proven that he is capable of working in both small and silver screen environments. In addition, Sandler's shift of pace in PT Anderson's dramedy/romance Punch-Drunk Love, is, arguably, the greatest film of his career and one of Anderson's most memorable projects. It signalled his potential as an actor with both strong dramatic and comedic timing. Nowadays, however, Sandler has returned to the idiotic humour that nearly ended his career before it started in the late 1980s and very early 1990s. Why has this happened?
The reason for Sandler's return could only be put down to complacency and a willingness to ride upon the fame and notoriety he has developed since his successful work on television and in film in the mid-1990s. Of late, his work has shared absolutely no resemblance with his work of yesteryear. Tell me, what do the following Sandler films have in common: Jack & Jill; Zookeeper; Just Go with It; Grown Ups<; Bedtime Stories; You Don't Mess with the Zohan; I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo? The answer: they all suck really bad. Sandler's credits over the last half a decade have been mediocre leaning towards terrible, to put it lightly. Sure, he was great as Charlie in Reign on Me, a dramatic return to the brilliance he showed in his collaboration with Anderson years before in Punch-Drunk Love, and he was amusing as Henry in 50 First Dates. Here, however, is where we see the problem: we can count the credible projects he has aligned himself with over the last 5-10 years on one hand. The glory days of Gilmore and Madison are gone and the horrible gags he bored audiences to death with in the early phase of his career are back.
Jack & Jill is a return to the awkward, ridiculous humour that characterised
Going Overboard in the late 1980s. Little Nicky was one of the earliest signs of Sandler's decline but he then redeemed himself with Anger Management, Spanglish and The Longest Yard shortly after. These half-hearted attempts at redemption, however, have characterised Sandler's career. On one hand, he has proven to audiences that he is capable of wooing them with his lovable onscreen persona, as can be seen in his portrayal of Robbie Hart in retro romantic comedy The Wedding Singer, but he has also disappointed viewers with follow-up performances in such films as The Animal and Eight Crazy Nights. Sandler has wavered between funny, amusing, misanthropic comedy to tortured, antiheroic, dramatic performances. In between, however, we have seen some stinkers. Of late, however, there have been far too many.
So, the question remains: what's happened to Sandler? His work on Saturday Night Live and his class roles of the 1990s seem like distant memories. His naturally strong dramatic and comedic timing seems absent, almost lost in films he has been involved with over the last 5-10 years. Is this a return to the painfully bad comedy of the late 1980s and early 1990s that nearly ruined his career?
By Chris Traficante