The Great Failure of Adam Sandler

Friday, July 17, 2020

Adam Sandler's Everlasting Shtick - The New York TimesBilly Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy – Adam Sandler has made a career out of portraying brash but lovable underdogs. In fact, his early box office success was so bankable that it paved the way for his own production company, Happy Madison Productions, in 1999. More than simply earning an extra title card in the credits, the company became a sheltered cinematic playground for Sandler and his friends to freely create without overwhelming studio interference.  


Financially speaking, the gamble paid off big time. Of the 46 features released over the next twenty years, only four of them were unable to turn a significant profit (That’s My Boy, anyone?). Any studio executive worth their pending sexual assault lawsuit claims would kill for a 91% recoup rate. So how does the idea of failure even dare to enter the equation?


Pop quiz time: Can you name a female lead from any Happy Madison Production that was NOT treated like a prize or sexual object?



Exactly.


Paul Blart: Mall Cop? Jayma Mays nailed the role of mall kiosk vendor, but could Paul Blart (or the viewer) describe any aspects of her character aside from her being “pretty” or “nice”? 


The Ridiculous 6? Julia Jones is a phenomenal dramatic actress with meaningful roles such as the redemptive farmer in The Mandalorian and pained sentient AI in Westworld, but this stunted flick reduced her character’s entire existence to her sex appeal as Smoking Fox. You can draw your own conclusions for the quality of this role.


Pixels? Michelle Monaghan started the movie as a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the US military’s weapons’ program, but by the end, she was Sandler’s prize for saving the world. (Not-so-Fun fact: this movie also features Serena Williams and Martha Stewart…as sexual trophies won by Peter Dinklage. And don’t even get me started on the awkwardness of Q*bert!)


Which brings us to 2020’s The Wrong Missy. David Spade plays a stuck-in-a-rut businessman who sees his whole life flipped upside down when he accidentally invites the wrong date to join him on his corporate retreat (the free-spirited Lauren Lapkus). Despite the interesting idea, the entire film drags on like one long cameo conga line of Sandler’s day players only briefly interrupted by stints of unnecessary and uninspired sexual exploitation of the female cast. From uninvited intimacy advice to demanding group sex with an ex-fiancée, there is not a single woman in the entire film that is not juxtaposed with painfully overt sexual dialogue or action. 


How does this happen? Aren’t we living in the era of heightened awareness and representation? Well, yes and no.


While Happy Madison Productions shielded Sandler and friends from studio oversight, it also isolated their creative minds from new ideas and diverse insights. Of their entire catalog of 46 films, do you know how many were written by a woman?


One – The House Bunny featuring Anna Faris (written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith).


Do you know how many of those 46 title were directed by a woman?


Zero.


That’s right. Because who knows how to capture a female-centric story of rejection and self-discovery better than a man?


Now, don’t get me wrong. I understand that Happy Madison is far more than Mr. Sandler’s influence, but his influence is what makes everything this company does possible. It is in his name that they continue to produce.


And even though Sandler has evolved as an actor, garnering well-earned praise for his turns in Uncut Gems and Reign Over Me, his voice and creativity have remained stagnant – still facilitating the fantasies of immature teenage boys everywhere. In his twenties, it was fun. In his thirties, it was stretching. But in his fifties, it just feels sad and creepy.


So why does it matter what kind of films are created? His films aren’t for everybody so just go watch something else, right?


Well, this environment of objectification impacts far more than what you see at the theater. In 2015, the delightfully witty actress Rose McGowan of Charmed fame was on her way to audition for a role in one of Happy Madison’s productions when she received a brief wardrobe note with her script encouraging her to wear a “form fitting tank top that showed off cleavage (push up bras encouraged). And form fitting leggings or jeans” (McGowan’s Twitter – link below). While it’s not uncommon to make wardrobe requests to aid final casting decisions, keep in mind this was a FIRST READING. McGowan refused to audition, and her agent dropped her. She was labeled “hard to work with” and struggled to find representation for a bit – all for refusing to allow herself to be objectified.


And that’s the great failure of Adam Sandler: what’s on the screen mirrors what’s behind the scenes.


At a certain point, a person’s body of work betrays their true nature. For example, it’s no secret that Alfred Hitchcock preferred blondes to an unhealthy extent both on and off the screen. Yet when his platinum-plumed love interests dared to stand up to the famed director, he took out his frustrations on his casting choices as “his way of creating perfect women whom he could control” (Jeff Saporito, Screen Prism’s The Take). On the other hand, the legendary Cary Grant had it written into his contract that women had to chase him in his films (instead of the man-chasing-woman romantic standard of the day) so that he could seem more desirable to the public. Any surprise that Grant struggled with personal identity, value, and acceptance his whole life?


And finally, the hallmark of an Adam Sandler movie is the objectification and sexualization of women. From Click to Grown Ups, a depressing number of talented actresses have had their human identities reduced to the sum of their curves for the greedy, guilty pleasure of immature boys masquerading as men. As horrendous as this practice is for actresses in the moment, it lastingly degrades femininity for the next generation of filmmakers and audiences.


After nearly thirty years as the brash but lovable underdog, maybe it’s time for Sandler to mature.

 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/rose-mcgowan-fired-for-calling-out-sexist-adam-sandler-movie-role-2015-6

http://screenprism.com/insights/article/what-does-the-term-hitchcock-blonde-mean-who-were-the-most-famous-and-what


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