THE WEDDING SINGER (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Frank Coraci Writer: Tim Herlihy Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Christine Taylor, Allen Covert, Angela Featherstone, Matthew Glave, Alexis Arquette, Frank Sivero, Christina Pickles, Steve Buscemi, Billy Idol, Jon Lovitz
In the first scene of "The Wedding Singer," Adam Sandler did something I never thought I'd see him do: after a drunken Best Man at a wedding gives a scathing speech to his father and his brother the groom, the wedding singer, played by Sandler, doesn't yell at him or beat him up, but instead turns to the married couple and says something about how he thinks they'll have a long happy marriage, easily smoothing over the previous speech. I did a double take. Sure, he has a different cut and all, but aside from that, I thought that would be the only difference his character has to, say, Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore. Is this the same guy?
Yes and no. "The Wedding Singer" has the some of the same off-the-wall humor usually attributed to Sandler outings, but this time the filmmakers, and Sandler, have given the film a sweet overtone. The Sandler who was subject to fits of rage and various other vulgarities, the guy who would scream obscenities at a freaking golf ball are gone. "The Wedding Singer" strips Sandler down, and exposes his soft candy shell. Sure, we're still laughing, but this time I actually cared for his character for reasons other than that he was being played by Adam Sandler.
This fooled me immensely as the previews and commercials for this film made it look like yet another gimmicky flick from Sandler that you see once, laugh a couple times, and then forget completely (does anyone remember anything about "Happy Gilmore," other than it featured golf?). It could have: a) been a typical Sandler flick, where he sings some tunes and yells at people; or b) a tiresome, occasionally witty joke film making fun of the 80s (which would be a hair better). What it is is a sweet, simple tale...a slightly self-conscious 80s teen movie with a heart of gold and a couple swear words.
Sandler is Robbie Hart, a musician in his early 20s working in town as a wedding singer at receptions. One night at work, he meets Julia (Drew Barrymore - possibly looking the cutest she ever has), a waitress working with him there, and the two slowly become better and better friends. After being stood up at his own wedding to a big-haried bitch (Angela Featherstone), he starts to get more and more aquainted with her, and soon realizes he may be in love with her. Unfortunately, she's dating a Don Johnson wannabe jerk, a guy who works at a big paying job in the city, and drives a Deloreon (!!!) - Glenn (Matthew Glave). The thing is Glenn cheats on her, and is only marrying her for stability and because they've been dating for years upon years now anyway.
That's the plot in a nutshell, but it's covered with lots of sugar coating to make it nice and relaxing, as well as a billion 80s jokes, most of which are hilarious. Those of us who were forced to grow up when MTV was young, when Reagan was in office, and when everything seemed kinda honky dorey for the moment will bust a gut laughing at this film's numerous references, such as a friend of Julia's (Christine Taylor - Marcia from the Brady Bunch flicks) who has the old Madonna look, a run-down of couples who people thought would be together forever...but are not anymore (Burt and Loni, Donald and Ivana, Woody and Mia...), and a member of Robbie's band (Alexis Arquette - the Arquette who tried to shoot Travolta and Jackson in "Pulp Fiction") who bears an uncanny resemblance to Boy George...who alas gets the worst case of "beating a dead horse" jokedom in the film. Yeah, I laughed my ass off when he started singing "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" over and over again in the begininng, but by the 45 minute point enough is enough!
And we even get a couple dynamite cameos, one from Steve Buscemi (an old pal of Sandler's - he's been in "Airheads" AND "Billy Madison"), and another from Jon Lovitz, both which are tied for funniest part of the film. Buscemi gets to play the drunken best man in the beginning, and does it to comic perfection, while Lovitz gets a chance to show why some of us sometimes think he's really really funny, playing another Wedding Singer, only more of a lounge lizard. His exiting grin is priceless. And oh...how could I forget: Billy Idol, playing his own self-obsessed self...and not doing too bad a job at it either.
The thing that I'll really remember, which really makes this film seem like something, is the way the film just feels sweet. Who'd of thunk that a scene where Sandler sings a tune in that tiny voice he does to Drew would actually make me smile? Sure, he does some of his usual schtick, but most of it is what you've seen in the commercials. This time his temper is very much on hold, and when he lets it go, you actually feel bad for the guy. I loved his reaction when he was told his fiancee was standing him up at his wedding: he just stands there with a half-grin on his face, and quietly walks away into the Groom's tent where he then throws a fit. I laughed much more than I would if he had torn the place down or something like that.
I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of Sandler, or ex-SNL members who try to films either. But "The Wedding Singer" gives a very funny comedian a chance to open up a little bit more, to do his usualy schtick but also do some stuff he's never been able to do before. The film could have been better (it could certainly have done some truly satirical takes on the 80s, like materialism, which it touches but only briefly), but it's still an enjoyable, nostalgic, and even a bit touching time at the movies.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews