From high comedy to low, theres more variety than you think in the actor’s filmography.
No actor has been harder to pigeonhole in their post-Saturday Night Livecareer thanAdam Sandler.
The urge is to underestimate his self-produced comedies while holding aloft Sandler films made by “real” directors.
Adam Sandler and Jared Cook in ‘Billy Madison’.Everett Collection
ButYou Don’t Mess With the Zohanfeatures one of Sandler’s most confidently atypical performances.
Not to mention, the praiseworthy performances of Sandler’s daughters prove how,sometimes, nepotism works wonders.
inadequacy that endangers both his plan and anybody who remotely crosses him.
Paz Vega, Tea Leoni, and Adam Sandler in ‘Spanglish’.Bob Marshak/Columbia Pictures
(The film plays like the Stiller-starringThe Royal Tenenbaums, minusWes Anderson’s formalistic whimsy.)
But Baumbach knew that Sandler’s skills at underachiever pathos would make Danny Meyerowitz uniquely resonant.D.P.
(To say he was born for this role is almost an understatement.)
Adam Sandler in ‘You Don’t Mess With the Zohan’.Tracy Bennett/Columbia Pictures
(“Guys in their 50s don’t have dreams,” Stanley says.
“They have nightmares and eczema.")
She’s not wrong.
(From left to right) Leslie Mann, Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Eric Bana in ‘Funny People’.Tracy Bennett/Universal
(Actual Celtic Kevin Garnett plays himself in a drolly effective comic turn.)
Is Adam Sandler as good as Al Pacino would have been?
Nobody’s saying that, exactly.
Idina Menzel and Adam Sandler in ‘You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah’.Courtesy of Netflix
Except this time, there’s no soft and silly place to land when things fall apart.D.P.
Where to watchPunch-Drunk Love: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Bob Barker and Adam Sandler in ‘Happy Gilmore’.Everett Collection
Dustin Hoffman and Adam Sandler in ‘The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)'.Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix
Juancho Hernangómez and Adam Sandler in ‘Hustle’.Scott Yamano/Netflix
Kevin Garnett, LaKeith Stanfield, and Adam Sandler in ‘Uncut Gems’.A24
Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in ‘The Wedding Singer’.Everett Collection
Emily Watson and Adam Sandler in ‘Punch-Drunk Love’.Bruce Birmelin/Columbia Pictures
