Monday, July 1, 2019

The Ridiculous 6 (2015) and the Sandler Stable

In 1995, Adam Sandler left Saturday Night Live and began to focus on his movie career.  He didn’t really have a choice.  The show let him and Chris Farley go at the end of the 1994-1995 season.  He wasn’t going to dive back into television when Saturday Night Live had made him a household name, big enough to transition into films.  Billy Madison had just come out, showing that Sandler could lead a big Hollywood comedy.  And now that he was done at Saturday Night Live, he could follow that up with other comedic hits like Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, and Big Daddy.

Happy Madison Productions was established in 1999.  It was named after Sandler’s first two big hits, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.  This was Sandler’s big step in the direction of becoming the comedy juggernaut we now know him as.  The first movie produced under the Happy Madison banner came out the same year as Big Daddy.  Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo was a Rob Schneider vehicle that Sandler made a brief appearance in.  Since then, the studio has produced over forty films.  Many of them featured Sandler and his crew of regulars.  The Sandler Stable, you might say.

Adam Sandler frequently works with the same people.  He might swap out some co-stars and toss new people into the mix every once in a while, but there are regulars who pop up on a regular basis.  Certain actors are seen time and time again throughout Adam Sandler’s filmography, particularly in the comedies that people would consider the “Adam Sandler Movies.”  So buckle down, take a seat, and let’s go through the groups of actors who frequent Adam Sandler’s career.
The Sandler Friends
There are a few people who have shown up in Adam Sandler movies from the beginning, or near the beginning, that have become familiar faces.  They aren’t known for anything outside of the Happy Madison stuff.  They tend to work with Adam Sandler most of the time.  I assume that they’re his friends from before he got famous, or they’re people who worked with him as assistants and all that kind of stuff before making their screen debuts.  There are three big actors who fit into this category, among the many others who might show up.

Jonathan Loughran came into the Happy Madison fold in the film Bulletproof.  He went on to be in most of Adam Sandler’s movies until Sandy Wexler in 2017.  It’s quite easy to notice him in his roles because of a signature look he gives some of his characters.  He was cross-eyed in The Waterboy when he played Lyle Robideaux, one of the football players.  He was also cross-eyed in the Grown Ups movies.  Those may have been the same character, since they shared the same last name.  Loughran doesn’t actually have crossed eyes, but can cross his eyes to give any character that trait for comedic effect.

Peter Dante has become another staple of Adam Sandler’s career.  He first showed up in The Wedding Singer and made appearances all the way up until Grown Ups 2.  He has played characters named Peter or Dante a few times and quickly became a favourite of Adam Sandler movie fans.  Yes, there are fans.  His most famous role was as Dante in Grandma’s Boy, but he can be seen making recognizable appearances throughout Sandler’s comedy domination.  Grandma’s Boy will come up again in a little bit.

Finally, there’s Allen Covert, who has been with Adam Sandler since the beginning.  He played a bartender in Going Overboard, a movie that Adam Sandler made before he was even on Saturday Night Live.  Out of the three guys being looked at, Covert has done the most work outside of Adam Sandler starring movies.  He played Kenny the Cameraman in Heavyweights, one of my favourite childhood movies.  He popped up in The Cable Guy, Never Been Kissed, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared.  Out of the Sandler Friends, he had the biggest film career.  It was that ability to have enough star power to do things both in and out of the Happy Madison wheelhouse that earned him a movie that he could star in.

Grandma’s Boy was a showcase for the Sandler Friends.  It was written by Allen Covert and Nick Swardson (he’ll come up later), with help from a few other people, including Peter Dante.  It featured Allen Covert in the lead role, with Peter Dante and Jonathan Loughran having decently sized roles as well.  Even Frank Coraci, a frequent Happy Madison director, had a small role.  Grandma’s Boy was a vehicle for the Sandler friends, one of the few times that ever happened.  It gave Covert a starring role, which was rare for the people that Sandler brought up.  It let Peter Dante have one of his most memorable supporting roles.  And it was as funny as, if not funnier than, many of the Adam Sandler starring Happy Madison films.
The Sandler Family
Nepotism is big in any business, but especially Hollywood.  People will put their family in their work whenever they can.  That’s not exactly how we ended up with Sophia Coppola in The Godfather Part III, but that’s all anyone talks about when they discuss that movie.  Adam Sandler isn’t much different.  If he has a chance to include a family member, he will.  He’ll toss them into a movie in a role where there is no need to have them in that role, and then he’ll move onto the next movie.  Look at these examples to see what I mean.

Jacqueline Titone first came into the Adam Sandler world playing a waitress in Big Daddy.  She would also show up in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and Little Nicky before starting a relationship with Adam Sandler that would lead to a marriage.  She’s now known as Jackie Sandler and shows up in nearly every Adam Sandler movie.  She’s rarely, if ever, a romantic interest for Adam Sandler, though.  She had a small role in The Ridiculous 6 as Never Wears Bra, one of the questionably written Indigenous characters.  She also played a troubling role in Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.  She was a woman being harassed by a drunk mall cop at a hotel bar.  Paul Blart showed up and… defended the mall cop who was clearly harassing the woman?  I like Paul Blart: Mall Cop, but it’s hard to defend a sequel with things like that in there.  Jackie Sandler’s most notable role was probably in Sandy Wexler.  She played one of Sandy’s clients, an aspiring actress with children.  It was one of her biggest roles in an Adam Sandler film.

Then there’s Jared Sandler, Adam’s nephew.  He is promoted as an up-and-coming comedian, but he’s listed as opening for Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Nick Swardson on the stand-up circuit.  Basically, he is being brought into the business by Adam Sandler and his pals.  His first movie appearance was, fittingly, as Jared in Big Daddy.  It wasn’t until Grown Ups 2 where he became a recognizable part of the Sandler movies as Frat Boy, alongside Taylor Lautner and Patrick Schwarzenegger.  He was one of the villains of the movie, the many frat guys of the town who were harassing the middle-aged men who lived there.  His biggest role, however, probably came in The Ridiculous 6.  He played Babyface Patch, a member of the left eye gang.  He got multiple scenes, multiple lines, and was an important character until the end of the movie.

Rounding out the main family members who end up with roles in the Sandler movies are the Sandler Daughters.  Sadie Sandler was born in 2006 and Sunny Sandler was born in 2008.  Sadie Sandler made her debut in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan in 2008.  Her biggest role was probably as the little league announcer in Blended alongside the late Alexis Arquette.  Sunny frequently had a role alongside her sister but got a notable role in the Hotel Transylvania movies as Winnie, the daughter of Wayne, a werewolf.  The two sisters might not have big roles in the movies but they’ve been making appearances since they were able to walk.  Sandler movies are in their blood.
Saturday Night Live Alumni
Adam Sandler’s big rise to fame was through Saturday Night Live.  He joined the cast in 1990 and became one of the biggest stars they had in a great early 90s cast.  With characters like Opera Man and Canteen Boy, he was a force to be reckoned with.  That’s why it was such a shock when he was let go in 1995, alongside Chris Farley.  They were the biggest stars on the show and NBC just got rid of them.  Adam Sandler wouldn’t go back to host the show until 2019, twenty-four years after being fired.

When he transitioned to films, he took many of his Saturday Night Live friends with him.  Chris Farley showed up in Billy Madison for a little bit.  Kevin Nealon had a role in Happy Gilmore.  The Wedding Singer featured Jon Lovitz as another wedding singer.  The Saturday Night Live Alumni were already showing up in his movies.  The founding of Happy Madison would skyrocket the Saturday Night Live performers into always being in movies.

Rob Schneider was the first, and one of the most successful, Saturday Night Live Alumni to be in the Happy Madison stable.  His starring vehicle, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, would be the first Happy Madison film.  He would make a sequel, as well as The Animal, The Hot Chick, and The Benchwarmers.  Rob Schneider also appeared in many of Adam Sandler’s movies, in sometimes horribly racist roles.  He played an Asian man in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and a heavily accented Mexican man in The Ridiculous 6.  The last one he showed up in was Sandy Wexler, and there’s likely a reason for it.  He has been politically outspoken the past few years.  Particularly, he has been outspoken about anti-vaccination, which is a touchy subject.  That might be influencing Adam Sandler to push him away from the Happy Madison brand for fear of bad press.

David Spade was another major Happy Madison produced Saturday Night Live Alumnus.  The third movie produced by Happy Madison was Joe Dirt, a Spade-starring vehicle.  It would get a sequel on Crackle in 2015, the same year that Adam Sandler began his Netflix deal.  David Spade also starred in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Father of the Year, The Do-Over, and The Benchwarmers.  He even had a Happy Madison produced television show, The Rules of Engagement, for seven seasons on CBS.  It was one of those shows where it would get picked up as a safe midseason replacement for whatever comedy failed that year.  David Spade frequently shows up in Adam Sandler’s starring movies as well.  He’s easily noticeable as General Custer in The Ridiculous 6 and in a troubling role as a woman in Jack and Jill.  I really wish someone else had filled that role.  Maybe a woman.  Oh well.  David Spade is what they gave us.

The other big Saturday Night Live Alumnus to get the Happy Madison treatment is Chris Rock.  Clearly, he’s good friends with Adam Sandler from back in the day.  He hasn’t been pushed in the same way as David Spade or Rob Schneider because he’s had his own success outside of Happy Madison.  He’s had movies like I Think I Love My Wife, Down to Earth, and Top Five that weren’t Happy Madison films.  But he does come back sometimes to star with Adam Sandler.  He played one of the main characters in The Longest Yard and played one of the main characters in The Week Of.  He was also a part of the ultimate Saturday Night Live Alumni franchise, Grown Ups.

The two Grown Ups movies were filled with former Saturday Night Live stars.  The main cast of the first film was Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Kevin James.  Kevin James wasn’t a Saturday Night Live Alumnus, but when the film was originally supposed to be made, Chris Farley was in that role.  They were joined in the first film by Maya Rudolph, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, and Norm Macdonald.  That comes to a total of eight cast members who had been in the Saturday Night Live cast.  The sequel dropped Rob Schneider and Norm Macdonald but gained many more Saturday Night Live cast.  Jon Lovitz, Cheri Oteri, Ellen Cleghorne, Melanie Hutsell, Andy Samberg, Bobby Moynihan, Taran Killam, Paul Brittain, and Will Forte joined up for the sequel.  That made for fifteen Saturday Night Live cast members.  Seventeen if you count Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, who frequently appeared in the Lonely Island digital shorts.  When it was released in 2013, that was the second most in one movie, behind only Coneheads.

It should be noted that Adam Sandler doesn’t only bring in Saturday Night Live cast members from his generation of the show for regular appearances.  Will Forte and Andy Samberg have become regulars of his movies, being two cast generations past Sandler’s.  Dan Aykroyd, one of the cast members of Saturday Night Live when it began, has also appeared in more than one Adam Sandler movie.  Even Jon Lovitz came from the generation before Sandler’s own.  He brings in people from all Saturday Night Live generations to play roles in his films because they went through something that few other people have.  They went through the Saturday Night Live gauntlet.
Other Actors
Adam Sandler has built a solid group of other actors who repeatedly appear in his movies, too.  These actors weren’t people that were his friends before his acting career.  They aren’t members of his family.  They weren’t part of the Saturday Night Live cast.  They were just actors who worked with him, then continued to work with him through various movies in their careers.  Most of them have found success outside of Adam Sandler movies, as well as within the Happy Madison world.

The 2015 film The Ridiculous 6 was filled with many of these actors, old and new.  On the older side of things were people like John Turturro and Steve Buscemi.  Buscemi first appeared in Airheads, alongside Sandler and Brendan Fraser as part of a band who hijacked a radio station.  He then showed up in Billy Madison, Big Daddy, Mr. Deeds, The Wedding Singer, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2, and the Hotel Transylvania movies, among others.  In The Ridiculous 6, he showed up in one scene as a barber/dentist/veterinarian.  John Turturro played the inventor of baseball in The Ridiculous 6.  He first began his Adam Sandler stable tenure in Mr. Deeds.  He would go on to be in Anger Management, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, and The Ridiculous 6.  He wasn’t as prolific as Steve Buscemi in his Adam Sandler work, but four movies aren’t anything to scoff at.  Of course, there’s Henry Winkler as well.  He came into the Adam Sandler fold in The Waterboy.  He would follow that up with Little Nicky, Click, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Sandy Wexler, and the Happy Madison produced Here Comes the Boom.  Not bad for the Fonz.

Adam Sandler also brings back his leading ladies once in a while.  Drew Barrymore appeared in three Adam Sandler movies, with two of them being ones that people consider classics.  She started in The Wedding Singer, reappeared in 50 First Dates, and would later show up in Blended.  Jennifer Aniston came into the Adam Sandler world in Just Go With It, then came back for the recently released Murder Mystery.  And if we take a look at Happy Madison as a whole, there’s Salma Hayek.  She was in both Grown Ups movies, as well as Here Comes the Boom.

There are some newer actors that have found their way into the Sandler Stable.  Terry Crews made his Sandler movie debut in The Longest Yard as Cheeseburger Eddie.  He would go on to be in a bunch of Adam Sandler’s movies including Click, Blended, The Ridiculous 6, and Sandy Wexler.  Taylor Lautner is another actor who has appeared in multiple Adam Sandler movies.  He played the leader of the Frat Boys in Grown Ups 2, one of the few redeemable parts in that movie.  He was poking fun at his Twilight role, using his physicality, and perfectly playing the part of a jerk fratboy.  Then he played one of the brothers in The Ridiculous 6, a horrible, annoying role that he played well.  And, of course, this section wouldn’t be complete without Nick Swardson.  The guy got his own Happy Madison movie with Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.  Before that, though, he had been in Click, The Benchwarmers, Grandma’s Boy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, The House Bunny, Bedtime Stories, and Just Go With It.  After Bucky Larson, he showed up in Jack and Jill, That’s My Boy, Grown Ups 2, Pixels, Hotel Transylvania 2, The Ridiculous 6, The Do-Over, and Sandy Wexler.

The only person that could give Nick Swardson a run for his money is Kevin James.  He had a small role in 50 First Dates as a factory worker, and that was the beginning of a special friendship with Adam Sandler.  He got his first starring role in a Sandler movie with I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.  He ended up being one of the main five in the two Grown Ups movies and played a main role in the three Hotel Transylvania movies.  He played the President in Pixels and one of the clients in Sandy Wexler.  Kevin James also got four Happy Madison movies of his own.  He starred in two Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies, Zookeeper, and Here Comes the Boom.  That’s a pretty prolific filmography for a guy who came into the Sandler Stable in 2005.
Other Celebrities
For the last category of the Sandler Stable, there are the other celebrities that Sandler frequently brings into his movies.  These are the non-actor celebrities.  Or, maybe more accurately, the celebrities who are known for doing something other than acting more than they are known for acting.  There’s a reason that the distinction must be made, and that distinction is Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq is known for his basketball career more than anything.  Sure, he made the movie Steel, and he’s a part of that whole Shazam/Kazaam Mandela Effect conspiracy, but his basketball career is the reason he became a celebrity.  And well after he had found that stardom, he came into the Sandler Stable.  He first popped up in the Happy Madison movie The House Bunny.  That one wasn’t an Adam Sandler vehicle, but it was produced by the Sand Man.  A few years later, he was in Jack and Jill, Grown Ups 2, and Blended.  He was fully integrated into the Happy Madison world.

A few years before Shaq came into Happy Madison, another athlete was putting himself out there for the Sandler brand of comedy.  John McEnroe usually played himself in Sandler’s movies.  It all began with an important part in Mr. Deeds, where he ruined the reputation of the small town man in the big city.  That was my introduction to McEnroe since I wasn’t so big on tennis, his sport of choice.  He would appear as himself again in Anger Management, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, and Jack and Jill.   It seemed like he and Sandler had a good friendship going that had him popping up in movies for a decade.

Athletes weren’t the only ones getting in on it, though.  Musicians sometimes got into the Sandler Stable as well.  The most notable of the musicians was Dave Matthews of the band with his name.  His connection to Adam Sandler began when Crash Into Me was featured in Joe Dirt.  Where Are You Going would then be on the soundtrack for Mr. Deeds.  These music uses would turn into a few acting roles in the movies I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, and Just Go with It.  Their collaborations didn’t continue after that, for whatever reason, but nothing lasts forever.
The Sandler Stable is filled with many people from many different areas of the show business.  Adam Sandler likes to bring people into the Happy Madison world and collaborate with them time after time.  Whether they are his friends, his family, people from his Saturday Night Live days, or other actors or celebrities, if he enjoys working with them, he’ll keep working with them.  He’ll push them to find their own place in show business.  He’ll have a good time making movies with them.

Next time you watch an Adam Sandler movie, if you ever watch an Adam Sandler movie, take a look at the faces you see on screen.  Many of them will be familiar.  It might be that you simply know them from something else.  More often than not, though, they could be seen in another Adam Sandler movie.  Look at The Ridiculous 6 as an example.  I’ve mentioned many connections that it had to other Adam Sandler movies, but there were some that weren’t mentioned.  Steve Zahn played a member of the left eye gang.  He had previously been in Strange Wilderness.  Harvey Keitel showed up for a bit as the owner of a saloon.  He was also in Little Nicky.  Vanilla Ice played Mark Twain after playing himself in That’s My Boy.  And there was even Blake Clark, who was in Little Nicky, Joe Dirt, Mr. Deeds, Eight Crazy Nights, 50 First Dates, The Benchwarmers, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Strange Wilderness, Bedtime Stories, Grown Ups, and That’s My Boy.  There are lots of recognizable faces that will be familiar to anyone watching Adam Sandler’s movies because he has built a stable of people he likes to work with.

Sometimes a director or producer will have a few people that they work with on a regular basis throughout their career.  They trust the people to get the job done, and they have a good time working with them.  Few filmmakers have a stable as prolific as Adam Sandler’s.  He has a wide variety of actors and celebrities that he pulls from to fill out the cast of each movie he makes.  It’s like his own comedy troupe, which is what helps to make his movies so comforting to so many people.  The Sand Man knows what he’s doing, who he’s doing it with, and is able to put out a bunch of movies with those people.
Now it’s note time, where I go over the Sunday “Bad” Movies familiar faces:

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