Adam Sandler ruled the world in the ’90s. His Saturday Night Live characters slayed millions, especially Canteen Boy. When Billy Madison came around, vulgar, offensive, and silly, my idiot teen self couldn’t have been happier. The movie is 89 minutes of Sandler being a complete moron, the glorious theme of my cherished mid-’90s comedies (Dumb and Dumber, Tommy Boy, Ace Ventura). I loved goofiness and Sandler was king.Since those days, Sandler has continued making movies, over 40 since 1995 when Billy Madison debuted. He’s made and starred in a feature-length comedy almost every year since, and, in the process, has become both a very rich man and also critical laughingstock. In Funny People, Sandler plays a character that was great once, but hasn’t done anything worthy for a while. He’s playing himself. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sandler because of SNL, Billy, and Happy Gilmore. If you told me when I was 14 the comedian would make a movie a year for the next 20 years I would’ve hugged you. But here we sit, all these years later, and I’m never excited by a new Sandler movie anymore. Have I outgrown him? Has he stopped being funny? What’s happened to us, Adam? I thought ranking his movies would help me figure things out. Essentially, Sandler movies boil down to these ingredients: Sandler as a wacky character or family man caught in a complicated situation, an actress way out of his league as the wife/love interest, foul-mouthed kids, shameless product placement, and very famous supporting characters. Like most filmmakers, Sandler’s very loyal to his friends/co-stars (except women, who are trophies). He couldn’t care less about story. His movies are written around one-note jokes for the most part. It will be a challenge to separate them. But know these rankings come from a place of love. I may not like a lot of Sandler’s movies now, but it’s only because I know he’s capable of so much more.[Editor’s note: A “Sandler Movie,” as defined by the author, excludes his smallest roles and cameos, of which there are many: Dirty Work, Coneheads, and Top Five, to name a few.]
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