February 12–19, 1998

movie shorts

The Wedding Singer

Adam Sandler's basic schtick is his lack of talent. This film, directed by Frank Coraci (who went to NYU with Sandler) and written by Tim Herlihy (an SNL writer who also wrote Happy Gilmore), spends 93 minutes hammering this point. Set in 1985 to showcase terrible clothes and hair, it alternates between Sandler's standard idiot character (here a wouldabeen spandex rock star now singing schlock at weddings) and something more sensitive (he's a better and nicer singer than his competition, Jon Lovitz). When his fiancée dumps him, Sandler briefly turns mean, hurling a string of fat, ugly and old-people jokes. Then he falls in love with a wedding-obsessed waitress played by Drew Barrymore (who looks so much like she did in E.T. that this movie borders on the pedophilic), and he turns nice again. But he's still talentless.

—Cindy Fuchs