The Wedding Singer (1998) 2 stars out of 4
Sometimes when you go into a movie with low expectations - be it because you are unimpressed with the talent or lack thereof of one or more of the participants - you can be surprised.
Such is the case with The Wedding Singer. Now, this isn't the funniest movie since Buster Keaton's The General. Let us just say it's better than Dumb and Dumber, but not as good as Caddyshack.
What catches you off guard is the performance of Saturday Night Live alumnus Adam Sandler. It's restrained and, at times, touching. The comedy of Sandler, like many of the recent SNL grads, is - like limburger cheese - an acquired taste.
In The Wedding Singer Sandler puts aside his usual loud, obnoxious schtick to create a character with whom the audience can actually empathize and root for.
Sandler plays Robbie Hart, the title character, a failed rock musician who makes his living singer at wedding, Bar Mitzvahs and other social occasions.
While he makes others happy, he himself is tossed into the dumpster after his fiance jilts him on his wedding day, leaving him embittered and forlorn.
To try to lift his spirits his friend, Julie (a winsome Drew Barrymore) asks him to help her with her wedding plans because her jerk of a fiance, a snooty Wall Street bonds investor, claims he is too busy to help.
Well, you can guess the rest as well as the outcome. If not, it's back to basic film school for you.
The Wedding Singer is a nice little movie, mostly thanks to the chemistry between its two protagonists. Barrymore, with her baby moon face, looks radiant, a good contrast to Sandler hound-dog appearance.
Some of the laughs fall flat, and many of the characters are types rather than real people, but overall, The Wedding Singer entertains. It's a nice diversion for undemanding and unsophisticated moviegoers who want to wile away about 100 minutes.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or cbloom@iquest.net
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