BIG DADDY
US, 1999, 93 minutes, Colour.
Adam Sandler, Joey Lauren Adams, Jon Stewart, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse, Josh Mostel, Leslie Mann, Allen Covert, Rob Schneider, Christy Swanson, Joseph Bologna, Steve Buscemi.
Directed by Dennis Dugan.
Big Daddy came immediately after The Wedding Singer which made a shift in tone for comedian Adam Sandler. He had appeared as something of an airhead in such films as Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. However, with The Wedding Singer there was a blend of sentiment with the comedy. This continues with Big Daddy. He was then to make Little Nicky and to be a very successful star in the ensuing years. Direction is by Dennis Dugan, former actor, who directed Sandler in Happy Gilmore as well as I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and You Don’t Mess With Zohan.
Sandler portrays a slacker, a lazy law school graduate who finds a young child at his doorstep. In order to make an impression on his girlfriend who wants to leave him, he starts to take care of the child – and gives it a very poor example in parenting. However, as might be expected, when the authorities want to take the child away, Sandler becomes more responsible and becomes a Big Daddy to the child.
The film has a very good supporting cast including TV host Jon Stewart, comedian Leslie Mann and Sandler’s friend, Rob Schneider. There is a funny cameo by Steve Buscemi as a homeless man – just as he had a cameo in The Wedding Singer.
1.The popularity of Adam Sandler? His comic persona? Screen presence? Visual humour, pratfalls, the lazy slacker, the airhead? Verbal humour?
2.The title, father and son themes? The American style? A portrait of the 90s? The dedication of the film?
3.The New York setting, authentic, the apartments, the streets? The songs?
4.Adam Sandler, the deadpan comedy, timing, having to grow up and take responsibility, relating to adults, to children?
5.Sonny (and the significance of this name for the immature man)? The credits, the stills, his father? His experience, study, lazy? His relationship with Vanessa? The surprise? The bet about Kevin and the engagement? His being a loser?
6.Julian’s arrival, Sonny not knowing about the child, his reaction? Letting the child stay? His relationship with Vanessa? Her wanting to leave? The comedy with the boy, the pathos of the boy and the man? Age five versus thirty-two? Their experiences? The personality of the boy? The attempts to be a father – but with a sense of freedom? Frankenstein? Eating, urinating? The friends? Toys, clothes, games? Exasperation and wet? The vomiting? The character of the kangaroo? The laughter, the car hit? The bonding? Telling the truth? Vanessa, the sunglasses? The supernatural and the cans, Hooter?
7.The school sequences, the kids at school, drugs and the playground? Sonny meeting Layla, sharing with her? The stories?
8.Sonny and his range of friends, the gay friend and his presentation, the cards, Phil?
9.Rob Schneider as Nazo, his comic presence, style?
10.The cameo of Steve Buscemi as the homeless man? Comic?
11.Vanessa, Sid, Hooters?
12.Sonny, the authorities wanting to take the boy away, the decisions? Brooks and the arrest? Preparing the boy to go?
13.The court case, the farcical aspects, the team, the judge, the witnesses? His final decision?
14.The aftermath – and hopes for the future? The comedy touches, the comic characters? The realistic characters and the important themes of parenting and adoption?
