Adam Sandler finally feeling the love from critics

If you’re a media critic, it’s easy to dismiss an actor who likes to talk in a man-baby voice. Who likes a good groin injury joke, who delivers news commentary as an opera aria. But if you’re an Adam Sandler fan, that kind of stuff can make him a hero for an entire generation.

Consider the Rotten Tomato scores for his early box office hits, the movies most replayed on TV. Critics gave Billy Madison 40 per cent, while viewers gave it 79. Critics gave Happy Gilmore 65, and viewers gave it 85. The Waterboy has 32 from critics, but from viewers a full 71. Mr. Deeds got a paltry 22 from media outlets; audiences tipped it at 59. Even The Wedding Singer has 72 from critics, compared to a viewer-endorsed 80.

For fans, Sandler specializes in entertaining movies with a feel-good factor — his 2006 comedy Click is essentially a reworked It’s a Wonderful Life. He’s an unpretentious, laid-back Everyman who likes to work with his friends and is by all accounts a good guy.

So it’s funny that now — 35 years after his Saturday Night Live debut — critics are taking him seriously. They gave him the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2023. They praised movies like Hustle (94 on the Tomatometer), The Meyerowitz Stories (92) and Uncut Gems (91). His Netflix standup specials, too, are rated so fresh on Rotten Tomatoes that they’re practically still on the vine. Witness Adam Sandler: Love You (92 per cent) and Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh (90).

The latest bit of vindication arrives in the form of another Netflix special, a 48-minute interview with one of late-night’s finest, further cementing Sandler’s deal with the platform. My Next Guest With David Letterman and Adam Sandler is now streaming.

It’s a standalone episode of the Emmy-winning series, leading up to the Season 6 debut later in the month. Sandler will discuss his journey from standup to SNL to movie star status.

It comes at an opportune time. Critics most recently praised his performance opposite George Clooney in the movie Jay Kelly, which played in select theatres and hits Netflix on Dec. 5. Fans helped Happy Gilmore 2 break a Nielsen streaming record earlier this year, and they showed up en masse for Sandler’s North American standup tour.

It’s a state of near-universal copacetic-ness first glimpsed as early as 2002, after Sandler won over both camps with the film Punch-Drunk Love.

Sure, not all his movies are beloved — we shall neither think nor speak of The Ridiculous 6. But it’s nice to see a guy smash the traditional Hollywood template, play to the fans first, and still come out on top. The fact that he wore a hoodie and basketball shorts to the Oscars this year is just a bonus.