My only hope is that one day Adam Sandler’s daughters will see what kind of film star their daddy has become and lock him in a home for demented, dirty-old-men comedians.
He’s done some sick and twisted stuff in his day, but “That’s My Boy” takes the cake — and then practically has sex with it.
He plays Donny Berger — a junior high school kid who becomes famous for impregnating his math teacher. Yes, get ready to celebrate consensual sex with a minor! Yeah.
The teacher lands in prison for 30 years. Donny goes on to become a creepy celebrity like Joey Buttafuoco, only in reverse.
The court orders him and his abusive father to raise the child (sure, that makes perfect sense). Donny names him Han Solo Berger.
However, when Han turns 18, he runs away, never to be seen or heard from again — until he pops up on the cover of Parade magazine with his lovely fiancee. He now goes by the name of Todd (Andy Samberg), has become a successful hedge-fund manager, is about to make partner, and is marrying the lovely Jamie (Leighton Meester), who yells at him most of the time because he’s a wimp.
Donny shows up, uninvited, on wedding weekend, needing money for a tax issue. Instead, he sees that his estranged son needs his help to discover his manhood.
That just so happens to be Donny’s area of expertise, if you consider debasing women at every turn, young or old, a particular skill. He’s a sexually charged loudmouth one moment, but trying to be a good supportive father the next, which is an obvious attempt to make him endearing despite his brutish behavior.
The loving-dad thing is no problem. It’s all the disturbing sexual scenarios that are so off-putting, from having lewd fantasies about grandma, to actually sleeping with grandma — although Sandler and company draw the line at incest (even though the movie does not).
And herein lies the problem with recent Adam Sandler comedies. He still believes he has that ability to go from disgusting jerk to father-knows-best in the blink of an eye, and his adoring fans will embrace him.
Sadly, he may be right.
His last film, “Jack and Jill,” considered by many (including me) to be the worst movie of last year, made $150 million worldwide on a budget of $79 million, but it had a PG rating.
This film, although not as awful as that one, comes with a heavy R rating, so we’ll have to wait and see if he still has that Sandler magic.
I, for one, am growing weary of his insistence on including the cringing nasty as an offset to his once-considerable charms. Why does he feel the need to go there? It can’t be just about the money, can it?
Here’s hoping his daughters will have some say in his future endeavors. In the meantime, please, Adam, grow up, just a little? Because as it turns out, I can’t take MY daughters to see YOUR movies anymore.