Big Daddy (October 3/01)

Surprisingly enough, Big Daddy's few tender moments don't seem terribly artificial or forced, mostly due to the low-key and subtle (!) performance by Adam Sandler. With Sandler's first couple of movies (Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, which is still his best), trying to apply a word like "subtle" to Sandler's acting technique would have been like calling an irate gorilla "harmless." That's not to say Sandler has abandoned the puerile and broad comedy that made him famous. Far from it. He's just toned it down a notch.

Big Daddy casts Sandler as a man who's content sitting around his apartment eating cereal and watching sports. But his current girlfriend (played by Kristy Swanson) wants something more out of life - so when she's away for the weekend, he adopts a kid. Through fairly convoluted circumstances, he's convinced a social worker that he's the kid's natural father and (of course) the social worker is delighted that the child will be with his birth parent. But it turns out that Sandler's girlfriend has been seeing someone on the side, and has no interest in starting a family with him. Much hilarity ensues as Sandler comes to the realization that he's stuck with this kid.

Big Daddy contains its share of big laughs (with the majority of those courtesy of the various guest stars - most notably Steve Buscemi as a semi-insane homeless guy), and also a good amount of tender moments. Look, this isn't exactly a Meryl Streep-esque examination of the relationship between a parent and child, but for Sandler, it's incredibly mature. And a lot of moments that likely got scoffed at by Sandler's more youthful fans actually play quite well. Specifically, the scene in which he finds out that he has to give up the kid - Sandler actually gets choked up and seems convincing.

But really, this is still a silly Adam Sandler comedy and it's got a lot of juvenile jokes going for it. Of note is Sandler's method for cheering up the kid (he throws himself in front of a moving car) and the duo's various exploits in causing bodily harm to strangers (Sandler tosses a stick in the path of a speeding rollerblader).

If you've dismissed Adam Sandler as a one-trick pony, give Big Daddy a shot. It may not win you over, but you just might wind up with a new found respect for Sandler.