It’s hard to imagine, but not that long ago, people didn’t actually like Adam Sandler movies…OK, so that’s not hard to imagine at all–and nobody remembers the bad reviews better than the Sandman.
Reflecting on his breakout starring role in 1995’s Billy Madison, Adam Sandler said, “When Billy Madison came out, me and my friend who wrote it, we were just like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re going to write about this in New York!…And then we read the first one and we were like, ‘Oh my god, what happened? They hate us.’ And then we were like, ‘It must have been this paper,’ but then 90% of the papers are going, ‘This is garbage.’”
From there, Sandler basically gave up on what critics had to say. “It’s okay, I get it. Critics aren’t going to connect with certain stuff and what they want to see. I understand that it’s not clicking with them.” Sandler previously stated, “I hope [audiences have] had a good time with my movies, with what we’ve given them and, whether you’ve liked me or not, appreciate that I’ve tried my best.”
While Adam Sandler has certainly received critical praise in his career–most notably with 2019’s Uncut Gems and this year’s Hustle (the former of which should have earned him an Oscar nomination)–his duds are notorious. The vast majority of his movies are under 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, including six at 10% or below. The aforementioned Billy Madison holds a 41%, although the Audience Score is a strong 79%. So yahoo, Billy!
Sandler recently joked about his bombs when receiving a special honor at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, saying at least Big Daddy got Rob Schneider the dental help he needed.
What is your favorite “bad” Adam Sandler movie? Let us know in the comments below!