Click continues Adam
Sandler’s reign as the king of movie comedy, a position he inherited
from Jim Carrey. Being the contemporary Jerry Lewis does have its
drawbacks. As long as he sticks to the accepted Sandler formula, box-office
gold is a virtual guarantee. Watch out if he tries something more
substantial, though. The response from his legion of stubborn fans is a
deafening silence. There is his choice: $100 million grosses or quality. Mr. Deeds (2002), the remake
of the Frank Capra classic Mr. Deeds Goes to
Town (1936), starring Gary Cooper, threatened
to be a more substantial film, but Sandler fans somehow knew better. Deeds hasn’t one
shred of substance, and it is a complete travesty of the original. Sandler
barely tries to re-create the role of an eccentric millionaire whose sanity
is questioned because of his excessive philanthropy. Any attempt at social
commentary is pounded away by garbage-can beatings. Of course, it was a hit. His 2005 remake of The
Longest Yard (1974) is far less offensive
because its starting point is much lower. Burt Reynolds, who reappears in
the remake, starred in the original as an imprisoned football player who is
forced to coach prisoners for a football game against guards. The original
is entertaining but a long way from being a classic. Sandler adequately
steps into the Reynolds role, and nothing in his version is embarrassing. I
suppose that is a plus. Sandler’s two best films bombed. He is
convincingly subdued in Spanglish (2004), which features the intriguing premise of an
average decent guy who is saddled with a crazed wife (Téa Leoni).
Director/writer James L. Brooks writes some of the wittiest scripts in
modern cinema, and he gives Sandler the rare opportunity to play a
character with a brain. The DVD has deleted scenes that add significant
detail to the troubled couple’s relationship. Brooks should not have
cut them. When I heard that Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) was
making an Adam Sandler movie, I thought that he had lost his mind. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) turned
out to be quite a surprise. Anderson explores, rather than avoids,
Sandler’s lunkhead persona. He is a businessman who falls for a
quirky woman (Emily Watson), but his life is temporarily hindered by a
phone-sex service run by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Anderson’s odd
surrealistic film plays much better than it sounds, and it may be the best
love story of the decade. Sandler fans, take note: He does beat people up.
This article appears in Jul 6-12, 2006.
