George C. Scott Watches the New Adam Sandler Trailer

[AndyDursin]

Don't miss this...

[Monterey Jack]

That's guaranteed to be funnier than anything else in the actual movie.

Seriously...this looks like a parody of an Adam Sandler movie. The fake trailer for The Fatties, Fart Two in Tropic Thunder looked more appealing than this. Am I just hopelessly out of touch with what is considered "funny" by modern-day audiences? How could anyone watch this and honestly laugh? Sandler, Rob Schneider, Kevin James, David Spade...why do people see their horrible movies? Remember, Paul Blart: Mall Cop was a tremendous box office hit.

I'm speechless.

[AndyDursin]

I can't vouch for the inexplicable success of PAUL BLART, but that comedy looks like Preston Sturges compared to JACK AND JILL.

This may be, finally, the movie where Sandler bottoms out. We can only hope!

BTW that scene in HARDCORE was hilarious by itself.

[Monterey Jack]

This may be, finally, the movie where Sandler bottoms out. We can only hope!

Sadly, teenagers and college-aged twentysomethings eat this crap up. The only one of Sandler's "Idiot Comedies" to tank at the box office was Little Nicky, and that was over a decade ago.

Sandler movies are so rote and predictable they're like Mad Libs. Sandler always plays an insanely wealthy protagonist (at least since Mr. Deeds) with an insanely hot wife/girlfriend, a gaggle of inexplicably multiracial children (seriously...why does one of his kids in the Jack & Jill trailer look Indian?) who are spoiled brats, and a gaggle of boorish Man Child buddies (James, Schneider, Spade, ect.). There's shamelessly incessant product placements, flailing, horribly-staged slapstick, at least one formerly Respected Actor mugging through a gratuitous cameo or supporting performance (oh Al Pacino, why...?). Lather, rinse, repeat. Punch Drunk Love is the only Sandler movie I have ever been able to stomach, and I never would have considered seeing it in the first place were it not for my admiration for the filmography of P.T. Anderson. Then again, Sandler is laughing all the way to the bank, so what do I know?

[AndyDursin]

The only Sandler film I genuinely liked was The Wedding Singer, which had some legitimate laughs and kind of relaunched Drew's entire career. Beyond that, Happy Gilmore had its moments -- but it was all downhill for me after that point, and he's been turning out a film a year since then (at least!).

Just amazing how many of his films hit the $100 mil mark, but then again, is it that surprising? He's single-handedly filling the comedy quotient at the box-office for over a decade. Growing up we had movies with Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, etc. being released steadily, and every one of those guys got paid major dollars (so did Bette Midler back at the time too). Comedy was a big genre in the '80s -- arguably the biggest -- and it's been supplanted now almost entirely by $200 million 3-D special effects blockbusters. IMO there's a large segment of the viewing audience being shut out by the fare Hollywood puts forward these days.

I'm not defending Sandler's audience, or his movies, but I think some (a lot?) of his business is casual viewers just looking for a comedy, and these days the major studios aren't giving them hardly anywhere else to go -- the alternative to Sandler's PG-13 "all ages" fare are these raunchy adult comedies like Hangover, Bridesmaids, Bad Teacher, etc. etc. So they go, pay their money and sit through any one of these recycled, crap films, and then call it a day. I wonder how many of the people who see his films actually remember them a few weeks after the fact.

Doesn't excuse the fact that his films are formula crap most of the time (and with this movie, are becoming increasingly horrid), but it's kind of sad how we used to have comedies that would often have broad-based appeal 10,20,30 years ago, and these days if you're not watching women take a crap in the street, then your only consistent cinematic alternate is Sandler.

MAKE IT STOP!! lol.

[Monterey Jack]

I suspect you're right about the state of current comedies, Andy...ever since the mid-00's ressurection of the hard-R rated comedy (starting with The 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers), we've been getting our big screen giggles in one of three forms...the profane/scatalogical Judd Apatow-style films, "chick flicks" starring the likes of Kate Hudson/Katherine Heigl/Jennifer Lopez, and the Adam Sandler/Will Ferrell style of broad, PG-13 flicks that are lowbrow and moronic, but lack just enough jokes about body functions and extreme swearing that you can safely[?] drop your fourteen-year-old off at the multiplex while you try in vain to find a good "adult" movie to see for yourself. The Apatow films were refreshing when they first started at how they ressurected the art of the dirty joke (while keeping enough "heart" to appeal to wives and girlfriends), but crap like The Hangover and Hall Pass and such have just thrown as much feces at the wall as possible while trying to see what sticks. I got more genuine belly laughs out of something like Toy Story 3 than I've got out of any Sandler movie trailer (I could never bring myself to watch one of his movies all the way through).

[mkaroly]

To me, Adam Sandler is one of hte least funny people who call themselves "comedians" I have ever seen. I saw him on SNL and he stunk; I haven't seen any of his movies as I just don't think he's funny and have no desire to see anything he's in. I don't understand why his films make money, though Andy's perspectives are the best explanation I've heard as to why.