THE WEDDING SINGER
RATING: ** (out of ****)
New Line / 1:35 / 1998 / PG-13 (sex humor, language, Adam Sandler) Cast: Adam Sandler; Drew Barrymore; Christine Taylor; Allen Covert; Angela Featherstone; Matthew Glave; Alexis Arquette; Frank Sivero; Christina Pickles Director: Frank Coraci Screenplay: Tim Herlihy
After the not-so-fashionable '70s were affectionately captured on screen with "Boogie Nights" and "The Ice Storm," it was inevitable that someone would splash theaters with a loving tribute to the Me Decade. It's finally here -- only a few months after "Boogie" and "Ice" -- in the form of the 1985-set "The Wedding Singer," part pop culture nostalgia flick and part starring-vehicle for Adam Sandler, one of the more successful "Saturday Night Live" cast members to hit movie pay-dirt. As an Aqua Net-heavy flashback, "The Wedding Singer" is quite amusing, especially its Culture Club-laced soundtrack. But as a romantic comedy, what it really wants to be, the movie is pretty inept.
Sandler plays Robbie Hart, the wedding singer of the title. Robbie's got quite a charismatic knack for turning the worst occasions -- like the scathing toast of a liquored-up groom's brother (Steve Buscemi, in a great bit of novelty casting) in the film's opening segment -- into a good time for all. But his personal life crashes when he's left at the altar by his fiancee (Angela Featherstone), and the humiliation and melancholia turn him into every reception-goer's worst nightmare. The sole bright spot in his world appears to be pretty, perky waitress Julia (Drew Barrymore), but she's on her way to weding a cheating Don Johnson-wannabe named Glenn (Matthew Glave). Connect the dots to see what happens.
Some of what's wrong with "The Wedding Singer" can be summed up in two words: Adam Sandler. Sandler, whose 1994 "comedy" "Billy Madison" is still one of the decade's worst, just doesn't feel at home as the male lead in this type of film. In the recent "Happy Gilmore" (what, they didn't want to call this movie Robbie Hart?), he scored by playing a character with a raucous edge. It's fitting, then, that "The Wedding Singer" comes alive when it lets Sandler be his bawdy self, but when he waxes sentimental with Barrymore (which is most of the time), he oozes false earnestness -- it's as though he's secretly smirking at the material. Barrymore, though, is impossible to resist. She and Sandler do exhibit chemistry, and it's just enough to make you wish that he didn't seem so out of his element.
What's even worse is how calculated the movie is at getting Robbie and Julia together. Glenn is shown to be such an arrogant, pompous jerk that it's never clear what exactly drew Julia to him in the first place. In one scene, Glenn spills the beans to Robbie about his cavorting ways and how he'll continue them into his marriage. That's not the best idea, considering how Glenn later confesses that he was aware Robbie had his eye on Julia the whole time. What did he hope to accomplish there? Perhaps "The Wedding Singer" would have been more effective in its romantic storyline had it taken a cue from "My Best Friend's Wedding," a film where Julia Roberts wanted to break up her pal's impending nuptials, but found it increasingly hard because her competition was a really sweet person, deserving of his love in every way possible. No such luck here.
Yet while "The Wedding Singer" is wobbly and manipulative, it is consistently watchable. A handful of worthwhile elements standout among the haze, most notably Jon Lovitz's cameo as a flailing, vulgar stage performer ("Thank you ... and that ain't no sock in my crotch!") and the running plethora of '80s memorabilia (a Rubick's Cube, a DeLorean and some pretty big hair make appearances). There's also Alexis Arquette's underused but dazzling supporting work as a member of Robbie's entourage who fancies himself a Boy George clone -- "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" is the only song he knows, and lemme tell you, it doesn't go over very well at Bar Mitzvahs. For a truly good retro-comedy, rent "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," because, while survivable and even funny in patches, this "Wedding" is something old and not much new.
© 1998 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit the Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
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