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Don't just think of
The Wedding Singer as an Adam Sandler comedy--though it most certainly is that. But also think of it as the tip of the wave of the 1980s nostalgia craze that followed on the heels of the 1970s nostalgia craze. Set in the post-disco, new wave era, the film tells the story of Robbie Hart (Sandler), the king of small-town wedding-band singers, who once dreamt of being a rock star. But his contentment with life shatters when his fiancée stands him up at the altar. After wallowing in self-pity (by musically attacking the next wedding couple he serenades) and swearing off women, he helps a new friend, Julia (Drew Barrymore), get ready for her impending nuptials--only to find himself falling in love with her. If you're a Sandler fan, you'll enjoy him as an actual adult, though a wise-cracking one. And dig all those kooky '80s reference jokes and that greatest-hits-of-early-MTV soundtrack.
--Marshall Fine
A romantic comedy in which everything twinkles, from the credits to Adam Sandler's eyes. Sandler is Robbie Hart, who was once the lead singer of a high-school rock group and six years later, circa 1985, has risen only as far as playing master of ceremonies at Connecticut weddings. He's a sweetheart of a guy until his own fiancée (Angela Featherstone) fails to show up at their wedding; at his next gig he has a psychotic fit and serenades the newlyweds with "Love Stinks." Drew Barrymore comes to the rescue as a waitress who's worked receptions with Robbie and enlists his help in planning her wedding, to a DeLorean-driving junk-bond trader who clearly doesn't deserve her; she and Robbie-you guessed it-fall for each other. The movie is full of inspired touches as well as excessive ones: its appeal lies in the way its humor always treads the line between sendup and campy overkill. Long patches of it are hilarious, and it will make you nostalgic for life in the 'burbs, even if you grew up in the city. Directed by Frank Coraci, from a screenplay by Tim Herlihy. -Daphne Merkin
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker