Big Daddy 1 Star (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org June 18, 1999 ***Big Daddy opens on June 25, 1999***
Adam Sandler's latest film, Big Daddy, is an unreal one that is candy-coated with humor lifted from Sandler's previous hit, Billy Madison, while possessing a theme of romance common to his other smash hit, The Wedding Singer. Further amplifying the overall lack of reality is technical faultiness, and universally poor acting, save one supporting role.
Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) is a 32-year-old law school graduate throwing his life away. Despite the relative success of his friends from law school, Sonny is going nowhere in life and seems to procrastinate everything to the nth degree. Admittedly, he hasn't been up before 11 AM in "like 10 years" and supposedly filed for social security at age 30.
The only reliable constants in Sonny's life have been girlfriend Vanessa (Kristy Swanson) and roommate Kevin (Jon Stuart). When Kevin prepares to move to the Far East, and Vanessa informs Sonny that their relationship is on the rocks, Sonny becomes desperate for something to bring stability back to his pathetic life. So when the opportunity literally knocks at his door, he becomes a temporary parent to five-year-old Julian (Cole and Dylan Sprouse), as part of a grander scheme to win Vanessa over.
This film is a collaboration of the romance from The Wedding Singer and the humor from Billy Madison, both financial hits for Sandler. When Sonny realizes that Vanessa is out of the picture for good, and starts chasing Layla (Joey Lauren Adams), the supposedly perfect girl, the parallels to The Wedding Singer cannot be ignored. Ever more apparent are the similarities to Billy Madison. Both are films focusing on an adult who hasn't fully reached his potential in life, played by Adam Sandler. Also, both feature several scenes in a school. But most obvious are the countless big-boy-urinating-with-little-kid-in-awkward-place jokes that are common to both productions. Coincidentally, both films also feature a cameo from longtime Sandler friend, Steve Buscemi.
Extremely poor acting, for the most part, further degrades Big Daddy's believability. Adam Sandler was near perfect in his previous comic productions, and should be credited fully for their success. He was also one of the undisputed forces behind his romantic film, The Wedding Singer, and its success. However, just as Ben and Jerry's tasty chocolate ice cream stains the company's beautiful shirts upon contact, Sandler's multiple talents don't homogenize either. The outcome is a lame Sandler who never fully explodes into his uproarious vocal humor because he is constantly trying to be a sweetheart in love at the same time. This is best highlighted in a scene where he learns of and meets Vanessa's new boyfriend at the same time. Quickly realizing him to be an older man, Sandler launches into a series of age based jokes. Yet they simply aren't funny, probably due to the restraint necessary as a result of Julian being in the room, thus making Sandler hold back as he attempts to display affection simultaneously.
Jon Stuart's wonderful talents as a standup comedian simply don't translate into the ability to act well in this movie. His biggest fault may well be his habit of overemphasizing each line, as comedians of his nature do in order to receive laughs on each punch line. This makes him sound very much like someone deliberately reading off cue cards, and forgetting to actually act in the process. The finest example of this is when Stuart's character, Kevin, is in the airport preparing to board a plane when Sonny notifies him via cell phone that Julian has appeared out of nowhere. As he steps to the side of the plane's boarding line and volunteers to come back to assist Kevin, he sounds more like R2-D2 than a grown man trying to make an important decision.
Big Daddy's one positive asset is Joey Lauren Adams' acting. Despite a harsh sounding accent, she delivers a very solid, funny, and romantic performance as the second love in Sonny's life. She even manages to stay clear of the negative force that Sandler brings, and truly stand out on her own. This is best exhibited in a scene pitting both of them in a public laundry facility. Sandler chokes on the aforementioned deadly combination of comedy and romance, while she sticks strictly to the latter trait and actually makes the scene worthwhile in doing so. Chief Lighting Technician Petr Hlinomaz's inconsistency from scene to scene further harms any feeble remains of believability that Big Daddy may still have. Several of the film's scenes revolve around putting Julian to bed, and occur in his bedroom. The first scene of this nature depicts a pitch dark room that even requires a nightlight for the young child. Not only does the nightlight disappear in the following scenes, but the room seems to get lighter and lighter as these scenes progress.
Numerous little things continue to subtract from the reality that the film attempts to posses during its 95 minute life span. These include, but surely aren't limited to, scenes where Sonny throws himself in front of a moving car and fails to display so much as a bruise; Sonny's ability to find a full scuba diving outfit and change into it in a matter of seconds; and the ability for a grown man and little boy to urinate on the side of a building whenever they feel the urge, and never encounter any reprecussions.
As Big Daddy opens, the screen is black. Then, over the next hour and a half, unrealistic, hard to believe, poorly acted, and technically deficient scenes run across the screen. One performance carries with it a ray of light, but the movie is otherwise a waste of time, a waste of money, and a waste of 35mm film. Perhaps things would have been better had the screen stayed black.
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