50 First Dates

In 50 First Dates, Sandler’s movie that revolves least around comedy makes many commentaries about the values that we regard highly in American society.  In the movie Sandler plays a character by the name of Henry Roth.  At the beginning of the movie we see Sandler presented as a promiscuous man who is very proud of his sexual accomplishments.  One day in a diner Sandler runs into a beautiful woman named Lucy, played by Drew Barrymore.  From that point on Sandler falls madly in love with the girl and cant stop thinking about her.  It seems as if Sandler is going to leave his promiscuous ways and attempt to settle down for the first time. 

The next day Sandler returns to the restaurant in hopes of talking to the girl again and maybe asking her out on a date.  Sandler is very surprised, however, when the girl acts as if she had never met him before in her life, despite their extensive conversation the previous day.  Before Sandler gets very upset, the owner of the café takes him away from the table to talk.  He explains that a few years ago, Lucy was in a car accident and as a result each morning she thinks that it is the same day, she lives her life in repeat and never has any recollection of what happened the day before.

While the plot of the movie seems rather outlandish, the message that it sends and the comments that it makes upon our society are substantial.  Love is one of the most important facets of our society and a thing that is minimally understood.  In the movie Sandler tries to comment on how we regard, or how we should regard love in our society. The main point that he is trying to make is that love is blind in our society.  With each passing day, Lucy cannot remember ever meeting Sandler but when he reminds her every morning that they are in love, she falls back in love with him.  Sandler takes the notion that in our society love is blind and takes it to the most literal level and shows that no matter what hardships exist, the importance of love is limitless. 

Mr. Deeds

Mr. Deeds is one of Sandler’s more popular comedies that was released in 2002.  Unlike most of Sandler’s movies, this film is much more of a romantic comedy than many of his other works.  The movie begins outlining the fortune of Preston Blake, an extremely wealthy businessman who amounted a $40 billion fortune.  We also learn that Blake was a daredevil and throughout his life attempted many risky adventured.  Climbing Mount Everest, however, proved to be his final challenge as he froze to death at the summit.  After his death, it became apparent that he didn’t seem to have any close family members that would inherit his fortune.  After extensive search, Blake’s heir is found to be Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler), a man who runs a small pizza shop in a very rural New Hampshire town.  Once Deed’s is summoned to New York to meets with the heads of the company, he learns that he has inherited this tremendous wealth. 

It is this inheritance of extreme fortune that makes a clear reference to traditional American values that one would not expect to be found in a movie like this.  Upon further examination, however, it becomes clear that this story clearly follows the same outline of the Horatio Alger “Rags to Riches” tale.  Deed’s was clearly presented as a hardworking American who just was trying to make a living owning a pizza shop.  While the way in which Deeds gets his money doesn’t exactly follow the “Rags to Riches” tale, it still comments on American society in that if one works hard, he or she will eventually be rewarded.  This movie also seems to be relevant to the Boskin article, “American Dream/American Laugh”, which describes the American dream as it is related to the humor of our culture.  This article aptly describes Mr. Deeds, because while the movie is often goofy and comedic as it appeals to American humor, it also incorporates the notion of achieving the highly sought after “American Dream”.  The movie ties together the quintessential aspects of the American Dream and excellently weaves it into popular comedy.

Happy Gilmore

As a golfer, I think that Happy Gilmore, one of Sandler’s earlier comedy films is particularly funny.  From the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to the belligerent, extremely untalented hockey player that is Happy Gilmore.  In fact, Gilmore brags that he holds the record for the only person who ever took off his skate and attempted to stab someone during a game.  The overall theme of the movie and the main aspect of humor that it employs is complete mockery, particularly the mockery of sports.

When Gilmore finds out, however, that his grandmother is grossly in debt and that her house is being foreclosed, he abandons his hopeless goal to become a hockey player and tries to find a way to help out his grandmother.  When Gilmore is first introduced to the game, he declares,  “Golf requires goofy pants and a fat ass. You should talk to my neighbor, the accountant. Probably a great golfer, huge ass”.  It is right after Gilmore makes this statement that he discovers his incredible ability to hit the ball farther than anyone on the pro tour.  It is this scene that shows the utter mockery of golf, Gilmore blatantly insults the game and the type of people that play golf. 

As the movie progresses and Gilmore begins to play more and more golf, his frustration with the game comes out in an extremely amusing.  The typical conception of golf as a game played by gentleman requiring a great deal of etiquette, is shattered when Gilmore begins to play on the pro tour.  Whenever he hits a bad shot, he is seen throwing clubs, breaking rakes in the sand traps, and even starting fights with the spectators.  This humor of flagrant disobedience of traditional values and conceptions is present throughout the movie and is a good demonstration of Sandler’s comedic style.  Sandler not only mocks hockey in the beginning of the movie, but throughout the rest of the movie, this style of humor is used to mock the game of golf and its players.  I think that this type of mockery that Sandler uses in Happy Gilmore can be glimpsed in almost all of his films, as we saw in my post about Billy Madison, and it is this mockery that makes his films incredibly funny.

In my next blog I will talk about the humor in Mr. Deeds.

Humor of Billy Madison

Of Adam Sandler’s comedy films the one that I regard as the funniest and the one I find myself quoting most from time to time is Billy Madison.  Billy Madison outlines the story of an heir to a gigantic hotel fortune who has wasted his life because he feels no need to do any work because he is financially taken care of.  The movie begins by showing Billy, now presumably in late twenties, lounging in the middle of the pool on a float, with beer cans surrounding his two other reprobate friends who are passed out.  As the movie continues, we are shown a meeting between Billy, his father, and his father’s business associates, during which the future of the hotel chain is discussed.  As Billy’s father makes a statement that he is going to retire, he also tells Billy that he will not take over the company because he is grossly unqualified for the job.  Upon hearing this news Billy is outraged and decides to take action.   Since Billy failed to adequately complete grade school, he offers to go back to school and complete each grade in two weeks and when he graduates high school he will take over the company.

After reading my synopsis, many people will think that this movie is overly ridiculous and does not portray a real life situation in any way.  While I will probably agree that the movie does not outline real life scenarios, I will, however, comment that this movie shows important aspects of American Humor and American society.  Firstly, the movie brilliantly outlines the importance of a basic education that we value so highly in our society.  It becomes clear that Billy’s life is almost meaningless because of his lack of education, and therefore the movie preaches the importance of school despite the childish humor present throughout.  At the end of the movie when Billy successfully completes grades 1-12, it shows Billy’s incredible sense of achievement and his ability to lead his life in a rewarding and meaningful way due to his schooling.  The movie also makes a comment upon the complacency of the upper class and the downfalls of this complacency.  When we are first introduced to Billy, it is clear that since he stands to inherit large fortune, he does not need to work, but just relax for the rest of his life.  Sandler shows that this complacency leads to mental and physical degeneration and as a result something needs to be done.  Our society holds great condemnation for upper class people, especially people with inherited money, that don’t do any work and just live off their money, and the movie outlines this vilification.  Despite appearing infantile in content, Billy Madison, actually makes serious statements about American society, culture, and humor. 

In my next blog I will look at the humor in the movie Happy Gilmore.

Introduction to Adam Sandler

While he may not be regarded as one of the great comedians of all time, whenever I think of American Humor, I can’t help but think of the comedy of Adam Sandler.  Throughout my childhood, I was always so excited whenever another one of the great works of Sandler was released, such as Little Nicky or the enduring sports classic that is Happy Gilmore, not to mention his many years on arguably America’s most defining comedy show, Saturday Night Live. 

While many may disregard Sandler’s humor as overly childish, immature, and occasionally outright stupid, I think that these aspects are a key part of our culture and an important facet in American Humor.  A big part of American Humor I think is merely an attempt to relieve stress through laughing at societal conventions and I think Sandler’s movies do a particularly good job of providing such a comedic relief while at the same time critiquing American culture.  Just to mention a couple, in Billy Madison, Sandler pokes fun at the complacency of America’s upper class and the resultant stupidity that is linked to such complacency and in Mr. Deeds, he makes a clear reference to the rags to riches tale, one of the most important stories linked to American society. 

Throughout my blog I will be discussing and analyzing the humor, particularly American Humor, in the movies and other collections of Adam Sandler.  With each blog I will discuss a different aspect of American Humor and American culture that is demonstrated in different Sandler comedies.  In my next blog entry I will be discussing the comedic genius present in Billy Madison, one of Sandler’s earliest and I think funniest films.