With his new release Grown Ups 2 opening in theaters today, we've decided to spotlight the 10 best films of Adam Sandler. Share your kind remarks about our list in the Comments below!
What do you get when you put Count Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, The Mummy, and The Wolfman together? Well aside from a killer monster mash, you might just end up with Hotel Transylvania. This is the first feature film from animation icon Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Clone Wars). Dracula is the central figure here, an aging father dealing with his daughter growing up. Like most dads, Drac has a hard time letting go. His half-human daughter Mavis is turning 118 and dreams to see the human world, which means leaving the safety of home for the first time. Adam Sandler gives Dracula a light but caring edge. Despite the silliness of the subject, there's a lot of pathos. This is easily Sandler's best animated performances to date, so hopefully we'll see more soon.
It's not exactly a stretch for Sandler to play an unmotivated slob who refuses to face the realities of adult life. He tried this same ol' shtick again in 1999's Big Daddy, which stars Sandler as Sonny Koufax, a perpetual adolescent whose girlfriend gives him an ultimatum: Become responsible or kiss her goodbye. Who wouldn't get their stuff together for Joey Lauren Adams? As it turns out, the young son of his roommate is left in Sonny's care and the man finds new purpose in life... after copious amounts of bathroom humor, of course. Critics hated on the flick, but it went on to make $165 million at the box office.
Sandler returned to drama in 2007, starring opposite Don Cheadle in Mike Bender's story of two old friends who are reunited in post-9/11 New York. Sandler plays a grief-stricken man who lost his wife and children in the attack. He's completely shut down emotionally and regressed to a seemingly carefree life much like his college years, mostly playing PS2 and watching movies, while refusing to face his demons. The movie won generally positive reviews, and Sandler received further acclaim for his dramatic skills.
Judd Apatow cast his old roommate Sandler as comedian-movie star George Simmons in this 2009 dramedy. George is forced to reevaluate his life when he learns that he has a potentially fatal blood disease. He reaches out to his estranged family and his now married ex-flame and returns to the world of stand-up comedy after years of making dumb movies. To help improve his act, George hires young, struggling comic Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) to write material for him. When he's not berating and abusing him, the self-involved star reluctantly serves as a mentor to his new assistant.
This 2004 rom com reunited Sandler with his Wedding Singer costar Drew Barrymore. It tells the story of a marine biologist in Hawaii who, while living a lifestyle of one-night stands with tourists, unwittingly falls for a beautiful accident victim who wakes up every morning without her recent memory, forcing him to win her affections anew each day. It's not exactly a great flick in the vein of Groundhog Day, but 50 First Dates is cuter and funnier than it's often credited.
The Waterboy may not have clicked with critics, but the 1998 comedy got plenty of laughs from moviegoers. Sandler's turn as stuttering outcast-turned-football star Bobby Boucher is classic, and the movie also has the smoking hotness of The Craft actress Fairuza Balk going for it. Kathy Bates stars as Bobby's over-the-top Cajun mom and Henry Winkler (The Fonz!) plays Coach Klein. If that's not enough, The Waterboy features the first appearance of Rob Schneider's "You can do it!" guy.
Billy Madison was Adam Sandler's big-screen breakthrough. The film, which Sandler wrote with frequent collaborator Tim Herlihy, was a perfect vehicle for his sophomoric humor -- the story of a slacker who has to go back to school so he can take over his father's company. Naturally, he's got a hot teacher to help him out in the form of Mortal Kombat's Bridgette Wilson. The film earned Sandler an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance and, more importantly, was a springboard to bigger and better things.
Paul Thomas Anderson, director of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, had a hunch that Adam Sandler was an actor of far greater depth than he'd been given credit. And so he cast the Saturday Night Live alum in this 2002 drama, the story of a quiet, reclusive man who is transformed when a beautiful woman (Emily Watson) enters his life. The role was in some ways similar to Sandler's socially awkward comic characters, but with a much darker and deeper tint. The performance earned Sandler a Golden Globe nomination.
Yes, it's an undeniable cheese-fest, but Sandler's The Wedding Singer is the comic actor's most widely appreciated film. The story follows jilted wedding singer Robbie Hart on a quest to save his crush, Julia (Drew Barrymore), from a marriage to her horrible fiancé, Glenn. And it's all hilariously played out against the backdrop of mullets, skinny ties, and Culture Club tunes. The '80s-set romantic comedy gave Sandler a chance to go for more than just the easy laughs and paved the way for him to enter the big time.
Happy Gilmore stars Sandler as a hockey reject who takes up professional golf in order to save his grandma's house. It's a slapsticky comedy full of great gags, not the least of which are Happy's golf course brawl with Price is Right host Bob Barker ("The price is wrong, bitch!"), and a hilarious Return of the Jedi parody finale. As is par for the course with Sandler flicks, some critics just didn't get it, but Happy Gilmore is a clear favorite among the comic actor's biggest fans.
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