Lazy Boy
Adam Sandler -- smirking all the way to the bank
Of course, the characters are never really dumb, in that they always get the last word as well as the girl. Invariably, they turn out to be smart, or smart enough, not because of the books they've read but because they're inherently bright, like the waterboy who's cleverer than everyone in school, even his snooty professor. These underachievers need never work too hard -- at real happiness, and especially romance. Success is their birthright. In Big Daddy, Sonny has opted out of the legal profession and instead works as a tollbooth operator, a job that, in keeping with Hollywood's disdain for work that isn't white collar, is played for laughs. But not at Sonny's expense, only those folks who really do have to work in tollbooths.
And that has been Sandler's essential appeal, the reason for his rocketing success. He's not only made mediocrity funny, given it fat box-office returns, a burgeoning fan base and the professed goodwill of the entertainment industry, but he's turned mediocrity into the triumph of the smug. No wonder he always looks like he's smiling at a joke that only he gets. An entertainment magazine recently proclaimed Sandler's success the "revenge of the nerd," but that's off the mark. For one thing, nerds don't mind being (or looking) smart. For another, nerds aren't lazy. It's hard to imagine Sandler, for instance, having the nerve to play The Cable Guy with as much physical abandon and lack of ego as did Carrey, one of the hardest-working men in show business. Sandler doesn't have Carrey's talent or drive, or, as is clear from the straight bits interspersed through Big Daddy and The Wedding Singer, anything close to his dramatic potential. And that smirk etched into Sandler's face cancels out any hope that he might develop into a serious actor, along the lines of, say, Tom Hanks. Which is why, finally, the big gamble in Big Daddy, the bid to turn Sandler into a grown-up -- a daddy and a lawyer -- will turn out to be a mistake. Stupidity has its limits, on screen and off.
BIG DADDY | Written STEVE FRANKS and TIM HERLIHY Directed by DENNIS DUGAN | Produced by SID GANIS and JACK GIARRAPUTO | Released by Columbia Pictures | Citywide
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