“Billy Madison” (1995)
Recently, this writer (Erik McClanahan) fell into a long, impromptu discussion about Adam Sandler’s movies with several old friends, and nearly all of them talked serious shit about his (for all intents and purposes) leading man debut. It hasn’t aged well, they said. Boy, is it stupid, they added. We all agreed, it’s not very good, but god damn we loved it when it came out. Then, as if struck by some triumphant musical score swelling on the soundtrack (One of us almost started singing: “Veronica, I thank you, for beating the shit out of me!”), we couldn’t stop reciting all the many, many still hilarious moments from “Billy Madison”: the aforementioned rendition of “More Gum”; pretty much anything said by Norm MacDonald and Mark Beltzman as Billy’s constantly drunk friends (“They just drift through life like lumps of crap!” -“What the hell is she talking about?”); the old man and the case of the burning brown bag of dog poo; Billy’s maid Juanita (“He’s a nice piece ‘a ass too”); Steve Buscemi saving the day; Billy using The Puppy Who Lost His Way to answer a question about reflections of society in literature and its brutal, brilliant refutation by the moderator; and all those bizzaro flourishes like the penguin and the clown bleeding from his mouth, to name only a few. It’s in those weird touches in this and other early vehicles that Sandler was able to capture at least some of the tone of his best work — his extremely vulgar comedy albums — and put them to use in a PG-13 movie ready for mass consumption. The great lament we have for Sandler’s career is that he’s been seemingly too gun-shy to bring that level of vulgarity to most of his movies. A lot of great comedy is lost in shackling the goofy-speaking, violent man child with a watered down aesthetic. It’s also pretty insane to think about how, as he gets older, his budgets have risen to insane levels, yet they’ve never looked any better or more expensive onscreen than Billy Madison, which was made for only $10 million. Despite all that, it’s impossible to deny, for the right generation, that “Billy Madison” is a ‘90s comedy touchstone, finding that sweet spot between incredibly stupid and really, really funny. [B+]
And The Rest…
There are a few other Adam Sandler movies that are worth mentioning, although not in great detail — there was an early ensemble comedy “Airheads,” about heavy metal headbangers that become half-assed hostage takers (it’s become something of a cult classic, hopelessly dated but beloved just the same); “Bedtime Stories,” Sandler’s one and only foray into glitzy Disney family fare (complete with whiz-bang visual effects and a supporting performance by Russell Brand); and a pair of animated features — the traditionally animated “Eight Crazy Nights,” which was based in part on a song lyric in his popular “Hanukkah Song,” which originated during his tenure at “Saturday Night Live” (it’s thin and crudely animated, but hey, at least it’s a Hanukkah movie) and “Hotel Transylvania,” last year’s smash film, a computer animated marvel where Sandler played a neurotic version of Dracula (his accent is beyond questionable).
Where is “Punch Drunk Love” you ask? On the final page we look at five Adam Sandler films that aren’t Happy Madison films and in some cases don’t even remotely resemble an “Adam Sandler movie.”
And 5 Adam Sandler Films That Aren’t Happy Madison Productions
“Punch Drunk Love” (2002)
Brace yourself, dear reader, for a shocking statement: Paul Thomas Anderson is, like, a totally awesome filmmaker! Ok, all teasing aside, we do of course love us some PTA over at The Playlist (even though our EIC finds him to be a tad overrated — blasphemy!), and it is with this undoubtedly odd and adorable romantic comedy that the beloved indie filmmaking darling gave Sandler a huge gift — his best role to date. Sandler must’ve been waiting for the chance to stretch, because his performance matches and elevates what was on the page. He brings to life Barry Egan, the sad, closed-off toilet plunger salesman who wants to connect, but just doesn’t know how to do it. It really is the perfect distillation of the Sandler mythos, turning off those who just wanted to see another dumb comedy vehicle and exciting arthouse snobs who couldn’t believe he was capable of such pathos. There’s so much to love about “Punch Drunk Love” — Jon Brion’s magical score, an encapsulation of all rom coms to that point but also capturing the feeling of love in music; Robert Elswit’s typically lush framing and moving camera; the bizarre non-sequiturs; Jeremy Blake’s artwork, sort of used as chapter breaks; Barry’s eight sisters; the pudding — that listing it all could take thousands of words. Sandler and Emily Watson are perfectly matched romantic leads, creating a useful shorthand for the audience just by the way they look and sound, even moreso if you’re familiar with their screen personae. This is when PTA took a step in another direction, mostly leaving behind his roots as a Tarantino-esque referential director, and making something uniquely his. In hindsight, this is when the gifted filmmaker really came into his own, found his voice and would hit even greater heights with his next film. If you haven’t watch “Punch Drunk Love” in a while, do yourself a favor and revisit, you’ll be glad you did. [A]
