Strange, I Never Had Hair THAT Big!

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2007)

One of a small, but slowly growing list of Adam Sandler movies that aren't expressly designed for morons, 1998's The Wedding Singer is a sweet, generally and genuinely funny vehicle for Sandler and Drew Barrymore to show some real chemistry and artistry. We are only subjected to a few of Sandler's trademark outbursts and, because of that marshaling of his raging resources, the title character is both funny and sympathetic.
It's like a 60s Jerry Lewis movie where somebody else directed. Sandler is charismatic, fun to watch and to root for. But only when he reins it in--or is reined in.
I've never really cared one way or another for Drew Barrymore (and I'm one of the seven people in the world who just hated ET with an unbridled passion), but before she got all buff and sexy and moviestarrish in this decade, there was a time that she was chunky and a bit goofy-looking and sexy/believable. In The Wedding Singer, she is one of the more appealing female leads you might ever see because she isn't one of those interchangeable, pointy-breasted bimbettes I complained about in my review of HappyWaterMadison.
The Wedding Singer isn't great art, nor is it great film making, but it is fun and only to a certain extent, predictable. I recommend it for four reasons: Sandler and Barrymore's performances, the music, the sweetness of the story, and seeing that Billy Idol only got snarkier over the years!