Adam Sandler was one of the biggest names in comedy in the 1990s. Between 1991 and 1996, he appeared in some of SNL‘s most memorable sketches, like “Lunch Lady Land” and “The Hanukkah Song”; starred in the still-widely-quoted movies Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore; and released two albums, They’re All Gonna Laugh at You! and What the Hell Happened to Me?, both of which sold over two million copies. So it’s no wonder that Sandler, whose career has seen more celebrated days (his biggest fans would have trouble naming his last four live-action movies, even after being spotted The Do-Over, The Ridiculous 6, and Pixels), is heading back to the 1990s in Sandy Wexler.
In the Netflix original, Sandler plays the titular Sandy Wexler, a Los Angeles talent manager “who represents a group of eccentric clients on the fringes of show business.” (The Allen Coverts of the world, if you will.) “His single-minded devotion is put to the test when he falls in love with his newest client, a talented singer named Courtney Clarke (Jennifer Hudson), who he discovers at an amusement park.” The rest of the cast is a who’s who of Sandler mainstays: Kevin James, Terry Crews, Rob Schneider, and Nick Swardson, as well as Happy Madison newcomers like Lamorne Morris and Arsenio Hall.
Sandy Wexler is the third film in Sandler’s four-film deal with Netflix. The first two — The Do-Over and The Ridiculous 6 — have 5% and 0% “fresh” scores on Rotten Tomatoes, so maybe Sandler will pull a reverse Godfather, and have the third film be the best. (Although the fact that there’s a poster for the Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in the teaser, even though that album didn’t come until 1995 and the movie takes place in 1994, doesn’t bode well.) If nothing else, the 1990s setting will remind us of better times.
