'Sandy Wexler': What is wrong with Adam Sandler?
The misogynistic, anti-Semitic buffoon who occasionally lives in the White House doesn’t deserve praise for giving a speech that’s 40 percent less horrifying, and Adam Sandler shouldn’t get applauded for delivering a movie with a smaller quantity of racism, sexism and homophobia. Because “Sandy Wexler” still has flickers of all of ‘em, and, regardless, is yet another virtually laugh-free vehicle in which Sandler’s character learns almost nothing and expects someone to fall for him for extremely questionable reasons.
As if that weren’t painful enough, this exhausting, two-hour drag establishes the titular Hollywood manager as a father figure to Courtney Clarke (Jennifer Hudson, a long 10 years from her Oscar), then pivots to force the relationship toward gag-inducing romance. Never mind that Sandy Wexler is a dishonest and extremely uncomfortable caricature who doesn't seem like a real person and speaks like a 70-year-old man doing a humiliating "Billy Madison" impression. Why does Sandler so frequently need to do a stupid voice? This is not rhetorical. I really want to know.
On the one hand, this is the rare outing in which the actor's not playing someone presented as flawless -- a perch from which to criticize others. There are several moments in which Sandy is regarded as strange, awkward and unlikable. Except, because Adam Sandler movies still have to serve as a shameless ego boost, the movie also fawns over him, with Courtney calling him a badass—no, he is not, not ever, no way—and his neighbor (Jane Seymour) presenting an open invitation for sex as her terminally ill husband tiptoes toward death. “Sandy Wexler” opens with a revolving door of celebrities talking about him, so even when people like Lorne Michaels, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Judd Apatow toss light insults, we’re still meant to see him as a relevant player in this world. God forbid Sandler (who always co-writes the script, whether he's credited or not) play someone who actually has to work his way up or earn respect because of something he does or the kind of person he is.
No, once again, the actor is pathetic, and the movie is gross. “Sandy Wexler,” the latest straight-to-Netflix effort for a person apparently and thankfully banned from making studio comedies that play in theaters, primarily exists to bathe in its mid-‘90s L.A. setting and make really hilarious reference to Tower Records, “Moesha” and Blockbuster Video, as if this century’s gold standard for laughs is the “Hey, remember ____” approach of “Hot Tub Time Machine.”
Oh, haha, a mention of OJ Simpson, Phil Spector and Robert Blake hanging out together. (A record company exec played by “New Girl” star Lamorne Morris gets the honor of addressing OJ with the line, “What’s happening, killer?”) Its insight on the entertainment industry goes no deeper than the worst “Entourage” episode, and the emotional thread of Sandy missing a former client who outgrew him gets little traction through a character so phony and strange. Liz Lemon’s mediocre, animal-focused representation on “30 Rock” earned a lot more laughs while at least seeming like someone you’d take pity on, not just feel embarrassed to be seen with at a party.
Sandy comes off as a fourth-rate “Kroll Show” character, played by the least funny actor in every scene. Occasionally Sandy interacts with another male actor (Colin Quinn, Milo Ventimiglia) with a beautiful woman on his arm who is only occasionally given really impactful lines like “Hi” and “Nice to meet you.” Many of Sandler’s friends show up in the periodic testimonials about Sandy, including a trio of Penn Jillette, Dr. Drew and Vanilla Ice, and Pauly Shore surrounded by beautiful young women. Meanwhile, as you probably can expect, Sandy finds it funny to be rude to kids and one of his female clients finally gets a break on a commercial only to see that it’s an ad for vaginal discharge ointment. No movies have as little interest in or respect for female characters than Adam Sandler movies, with a very, very high percentage of the Happy Madison output existing primarily to allow its dudes to hang out and surround themselves with eye candy given no character or speech. It’s revolting.
There is one really good laugh, when Sandy insists on adding a triangle at the end of one of Courtney’s songs. That cracked me up. But this is just another reason to be depressed that the guy behind landfill lining like “Jack and Jill,” “Just Go With It,” the “Grown Ups” movies, "Pixels" and “Blended” gets to fart his way through a half-assed idea and call it a movie. It would seem obvious that jokes should be better than an end credit sequence involving Beavis and Butthead calling Sandy or a turning point in which a ventriloquist (Kevin James, blehhh) uses a heart-attack-stricken Sandy as his dummy. But that would imply that quality is ever the goal here. Sandy's M.O. is an annoying fake laugh unleashed regardless of the presence of funny, and “Sandy Wexler” similarly shrugs off the line between humor and its absence, so lazily sure it should be pointlessly beloved regardless. It's been a long time since this guy patting himself on the back didn't feel like telling viewers to shove it somewhere else.
D
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