Since he first appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1990, Adam Sandler has been a staple of the comedy world. He has a film or special out almost every a year, and 2022 was no different with Hustle debuting on Netflix.
For nearly 30 years, Sandler has starred in comedy movies that range from absurdist slapsticks to charming romances. Each film has a central heart that makes the jokes all the funniest, and each one is jam-packed with hilarious lines, scenarios, and physical comedy moments that never get old.
Get In Your Home
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Happy Gilmore provides one half of the studio name for Adam Sandler’s productions: Happy Madison. That goes to show how important the golf film is to Adam Sandler’s legend. Like many of his comedies, the plot is simple: Gilmore must win a golf tournament to save his grandma’s house.
But that simple log line belies countless funny moments, one being the scene in which Happy misses sinking a putt by an inch. The ball sits on the edge of the hole in the center frame, and Sandler comes to lay on the ground with his face right in the camera to scream, “That’s your home! Are you too good for your home?” at the ball.
Brought To My Attention Yesterday
The Wedding Singer (1998)
The Wedding Singer is one of Adam Sandler’s best movies, with some of the most charming and heartfelt scenes in any of his films. Sandler plays a wedding singer who lacks ambition to move on from his simple, hometown life. Early in the film, his fiancée leaves him at the altar for that reason.
The next day she comes to visit him and explain why she stood him up. She says she will never marry him, to which Sanders answers, “That information might have been a little more useful to me yesterday.” Their argument escalates resulting in Sanders channeling his iconic anger and screaming the same point about bringing up these points yesterday.
Microsoft Went Down Three Points
Big Daddy (1999)
Big Daddy puts an interesting twist on the standard Sandler formula. He is still a man-child, but he’s now responsible for taking care of an actual child. The comedy that comes from his trying to navigate adulthood and parenthood at the same time is funny and heartwarming that makes it one of the more rewatchable Adam Sandler movies.
In one scene, Sandler takes the five-year-old grocery shopping. He picks up a can of spaghettios and throws it on the ground saying dented cans are discounted. They need it because “Microsoft went down three points,” meaning his investments are not doing well. The joke is brought back a minute later when the child slams a can and repeats the same line.
Tennis With Mr. Deeds
Mr. Deeds (2002)
Adam Sandler channels Happy Gilmore in this sports scene from Mr. Deeds, the 2002 comedy about Longfellow Deeds, a pizzeria owner who happens to be the last remaining heir of a billionaire. His down-to-earth personality clashes with the rich, upper-class people he is introduced to.
One of the scenes early in the film have Deeds playing his first game of tennis against Chuck Cedar, played by Peter Gallagher, who is secretly working against him. Instead of gently batting the ball back-and-forth, Deeds rockets each tennis ball either back into Cedar’s face or into the ball boy sitting at the net. It gets funnier with every wince.
A Simple Wrong…
Billy Madison (1995)
The other source for the name “Happy Madison Productions,” Billy Madison was many people’s first introduction to Adam Sandler if they missed his relatively short stint on SNL. In Billy Madison, Sandler plays Madison who must complete middle school and high school to inherit his father’s company.
It’s a movie where every scene is laugh-worthy but one of the best comes during the academic face-off between Sandler and Bradley Whitford’s character in an academic decathlon. Sandler answers a Jeopardy question incorrectly and the host’s response is a 30-second monologue about how stupid Sandler is. Sandler’s response — “OK, a simple ‘wrong’ would have done just fine” — buttons one of the best jokes in the film.
Rhyming With Shooter
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Adam Sandler’s role as Happy Gilmore isn’t the only reason the film is a comedy classic, a special mention needs to be made for Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin. Shooter is the paradigm of a smarmy, country-club golfer who thinks he’s the greatest. If there’s ever a sequel to Happy Gilmore, Shooter will need to be in it.
Whenever Sandler and McDonald share a scene together it’s bound to be hilarious. One of these scenes involve Shooter and Happy trading barbs over cocktails, Shooter ends up making a goofy-sounding rhyme and Happy does not let it go. “How about I just go eat some hay. I can make things out of clay…” is a hilarious response to mock someone who takes themselves too seriously.
Cat Sack
You Don’t Mess With The Zohan (2008)
Adam Sandler’s 2008 comedy about an Israeli special forces soldier could have been a disaster if it didn’t carefully balance the comedy with the sensitive material. But in the end, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan treated its subjects fairly and honestly while still having fun with the material.
In one scene, Sandler, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan, and Ido Mosseri all gather around to discuss the Zohan’s interest in a girl. When the conversation is over, they celebrate their talk by playing a game of “cat-sack”, which is just Hacky Sack with a live cat. It comes out of nowhere and is treated like a totally normal game. The cat landing in the curtains safe and sound also makes it more ridiculous than mean.
Make It Look Good
50 First Dates (2004)
50 First Dates is a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore as an amnesiac woman who forgets the past day every 24 hours. It’s the setup for a lot of great jokes as Sandler gets to try new ways to woo her every day.
In one attempt, he and a pal played by Rob Schneider stage an attack so that Barrymore can come and save Sandler. But their staged fight is a bit too real because Barrymore ends up beating Schneider into submission with a metal baseball bat while Sandler grimaces and silently apologizes.
Water Sucks
The Waterboy (1998)
The Waterboy is one of the more underrated of Adam Sandler’s filmography. It’s about a college football team’s water boy who ends up becoming the leader of the team and leading them to the school’s best season. Bobby Boucher is one of Sandler’s most iconic characters and he’s one of the best examples of the “Sandler-voice” that is part baby, part angry-child, and part sarcastic-adult.
It’s one of the more absurd Sandler films. And one of the funniest moments in the film is a surreal scene where Boucher, is told by his coach “water sucks, Gatorade is better”. This enrages Boucher to the point that he envisions every player on the opposite team with his coach’s head taunting him about how great Gatorade is in comparison to water.
That Veronica Vaughn
Billy Madison (1995)
Chris Farley died much too young, so he has only a few films to his name that show what could have been. As a friend of the “bad boys of SNL“, a moniker for Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade, who often worked together, he appeared in a number of Happy Madison Productions.
In one scene from Billy Madison, Chris Farley plays the crazy bus driver of a middle school class that includes Sandler. Farley tries to talk about the teacher, “That Veronica Vaughn”, he says, and tries to buddy up with Sandler about how he’d like to date the woman. The way Sandler shoots down the “guy talk” is just hilarious.
