Well, they certainly did once. There are those who believe Sandler has never been very funny, even at his most popular. They claim they’re immune to the charms of his Hurlihy Boy or Canteen Boy SNL skits; they resist the urge to hum along with the Hanukkah Song; they hold elation at bay when Billy Madison triumphs over his father’s evil assistant (Bradley Whitford) in an academic decathlon that would surely have made many an Athenian, if not their ribald gods, blush. Ok. They’re likely not fans of Chris Farley either, or even John Belushi and his projectile interpretation of a zit. Sophomoric humor isn’t for everyone when it’s done well, let alone when it’s written 50-First-Dates poorly. But, once, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore did it very well. The Wedding Singer is the first and finest of their collaborations. It is also one of the best romantic comedies of the past 20 years.
What makes a good rom-com? Years ago, those preceding and just after 1998’s The Wedding Singer in fact, it seems studios knew: Cast a Julia Roberts-Sandra Bullock-Meg Ryan-Renee Zellweger pretty but nonthreatening type (Angelina Jolie as she is today, weighted with sexuality, would never have flown) alongside a Hugh Grant-John Cusack-Tom Hanks handsome but non-intimidating actor (which may explain why Gerard Butler’s forays into the genre have not been very successful). Have them banter with witticisms laypeople would never use, but which are easily accessible. Do not be afraid of earnestness. And then – and this is among the most important factors for ensuring repeat-viewings and therefore healthy home video sales – add a great soundtrack.
The Wedding Singer is no Nora Ephron production, but it hits its notes roundly. The year is 1980-something-or-other and Robbie Hart (Sandler) is the titular crooner preparing for his nuptials. He hits it off with a sweet, friendly waitress (Barrymore) at one of his gigs, but, as Julia is also engaged, their meet-cute remains an innocent if knowing kind of just cute. While preparations for her Big Day hum along nicely, Robbie is devastated when his punk-rock fiancée leaves him at the altar. Her excuse? He’s not the aspiring rockstar she fell in love with, having turned into something far worse than a White Snake wannabe: He’s a wedding singer. Luckily, Julia reappears to cheer Robbie up, and in a bid to distract him from his heartache, solicits his expert wedding advice on everything from cake to the all-important performer for her own ceremony (Jon Lovitz’s cameo as a greasy, fellow wedding singer here is a high point). It doesn’t take long for Robbie to fall in love with Julia, and even sooner for him to realize her hubby to-be is, politely, a turd. Robbie determines to win Julia himself.
Screenwriter Tim Herlihy is responsible for some of the best (Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore) and worst (Little Nicky) of Sandler vehicles. In The Wedding Singer, his blend of romantic earnestness and broad comedy achieves an appeal intermittently evident in previous Sandler collaborations, notably in the “Endless Love” scene from Happy Gilmore, and not since sustained. Take, for instance, the scene in which Robbie, after having vowed never again to sing, reluctantly performs for Julia. He chooses a song of which he wrote half while still engaged, and half after he got dumped. It’s a schizophrenic mash-up that is part The Cure ballad and part cri de coeur of a raw, National Geographic timbre. The abrupt tonal shift halfway through the tune, those Dr. Seuss rhymes for which Sandler is known, the actor’s commitment to wailing, and Barrymore’s stunned take on a straight-faced “I like it” response, all get the laughs. But the embarrassment, frustration, anger, hurt, self-indulgence and self-pity attendant on romantic betrayal are all present and – and this is something missing from more recent Sandler comedies – present in veracious form. The scene is funny ‘cause it’s true.
Barrymore is just the right blend of rom-com pretty and nonthreatening, while the never intimidating Sandler is an appealing hangdog. Really, he just wants to get married and have a family. There’s a sentimental streak in almost all of Sandler’s comedies, no matter how crass the highs and lows achieved within the individual jokes. The Wedding Singer is unafraid of earnestness, but its jokes manage to offset the treacly story without discordantly ranging too far in another, offensive, direction. Robbie calls the ugly guests at one wedding, all relegated to a single singles table, mutants, early on in the film. His fiancée has just dumped him, he’s drunk and smelly, singing “Love Stinks” to a newly married pair. “The mutants at table nine” initially eye him with as much wariness as the wedding’s other guests, but they soon embrace him as heartily as he embrace-mocks (not mockingly embraces) them. Love’s castoffs are his people, those who are romantically unwanted for shallow and therefore no good reason. Love stinks, in other words. It’s funny ‘cause it’s true.
And then there are those songs. “Love Stinks,” the schizo “Somebody Kill Me” and the crowning reason The Wedding Singer is a satisfying comedic romance, “I Wanna Grow Old With You.” The latter provides the film’s climax and the culmination of a ridiculous and awesome scene featuring Billy Idol on an airplane. In our review of Blended here at Film Journal, our writer concludes her piece with an assessment of Sandler’s genre chops: “And one more thing: No matter how many times he tries, Adam Sandler can’t do romance, and he will never, ever, be an appealing leading man.” I would argue, however, “an appealing leading man,” and a romantic one at that, is precisely what Sandler is in this moment of The Wedding Singer:
"I Wanna to Grow Old With You" is a bid for affection grounded in pragmatism. Romance is not a passionate kiss shared by two young and gym-toned beauties backlit by a beach sunset. It’s someone who will let you hold the remote control. Someone with whom to share the quotidian. It’s romantic ‘cause it’s true.
Yet for all that, The Wedding Singer is ultimately a great rom-com because of the chemistry shared by its two leads. It is a film that proves, when given the right material, Sandler and Barrymore are capable of something great. Maybe they should have quit while they were ahead, but it would be a shame if present (and, let’s hope not, future) missteps obscured the reason they’ve made several films together to begin with.
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