The Wedding Singer
Premise - A wedding singer who has dreamed his entire life of getting married gets abandoned at the altar. A friend of his, who serves food at events where he performs, tries to convince him to find a passion for romance again by singing at her upcoming wedding. Things get complicated when the two start to fall for each other instead.
Review - Oh man, here we go. I was born in 1995. This movie came out in 1998, and I have very clear memories of watching this movie for the first time. I know it seems absurd to think that I was watching this at 3, but I don't think it was far off. I must have been 4 or 5 years old during my first viewing, and this was one of the early rom-coms that ultimately shaped my understanding of romance narratives for years and years to come. Watching this for the first time in years, it 's so odd to think about what lessons I learned from this movie, including the ones that are incredibly outdated today.
This was the film that taught me the word "misunderstanding." I remember it specifically - the scene where Julia is beaming at herself in the mirror in her wedding dress, fantasizing about marrying Robby instead. Robby sees her in the window, assuming she's fantasizing about getting married to Glenn, and gives up on his romantic hopes. My dad looked at me and said, "This is what is called a misunderstanding." At the time I thought it was such a big and fancy word, and yet I have been able to apply this simple concept to nearly every romantic comedy I have seen since. This film also taught me what the phrase "under the weather" meant, when Julia gets drunk and sick. Again, I thought it was such fancy phrase for a four-year-old.
But other than increasing my vocabulary, what other messages did the film teach me? That many men cheat and lie, and that those are the bad guys. That the good guys are the ones who are nice and sweet and kind to you. I still think these are applicable lessons today, to some degree. But, of course, with that comes a lot of problematic lessons - that it's appropriate to chase after a girl who is taken, that men who dress in drag are to be ridiculed, and that it's normalized for men to catcall and harass women. I can excuse much of the film for this because it's not trying to be profound. It is perhaps one of the simplest narratives imaginable, cartoonishly so, and is meant for pure entertainment.
Now as an adult, the film is far less overtly humorous to me, but I still got in a few good laughs, namely at Adam Sandler. I was raised on Adam Sandler movies, and didn't know that he was unlikeable in many communities until I was in my early teens. I can't speak to his personal character, which I know nothing about, but I still find his presence in films to be absolutely charming and endearing. His chemistry with Drew Barrymore is well documented, as they have starred in three films together (and 50 First Dates is one of my favorite films of all time!) It was a lot more obvious to me now how flat of a character Drew Barrymore has in this film, however, especially in comparison to Adam Sandler's complex character. Despite being a comedic lead, part of his comedic act is his portrayal of the "straight man," meaning he has a relatively normal character with comedy dependent on his reactions to the absurd characters around him. At the same time, he too gets to shine with his absurd moments, but not so absurd he loses his credibility as a romantic lead. The female role, on the other hand, is just the sweet, nice, pretty girl, but you like her anyways because she is just so charming. And that's about it.
It is impossibly to be unbiased in judging this film because of the nostalgia it carries, alongside several other Adam Sandler movies. The "Grow Old With You" song still gives me an absurd amount of comfort, and is a simple song that I will probably have memorized for the rest of my life. (75/100)
Quote - "Grow Old With You"
I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do is grow old with you
I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh, it could be so nice, growing old with you
I'll miss you
Kiss you
Give you my coat when you are cold
Need you
Feed you
Even let you hold the remote control
So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink
Oh, I could be the man who grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you
What to watch for - As I said above, probably just Adam Sandler's character's reactions to the strangest things!
If you liked this movie, I recommend 50 First Dates!
Directed by Frank Coraci
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Comments
Post a Comment