Frank Coraci

One of the directors of the Sandler-Herlihy films.

The Wedding Singer (1998) -- One of my least favorite in the Sandler/Herlihy collection, but apparently one of everyone else's favorites. They like the charm, I don't. They like the 80s jokes, I don't. In fact, I think that this movie mostly suffers from being one 80s joke after another, none of which are particularly funny, since they aren't really jokes so much as pointing out thing--the best (worst) example being "Hey, do you like Flock of Seagulls?" "I can tell you do." One thing good that came out of this movie (at least I assume) is that people saw that Sandler is a good actor who has a lot more going on than funny voices, and this fact lead to Sandler's best movie and perfect role, P.T. Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love.

The Waterboy (1998) -- Say what you will, this is a funny movie. Not quite as surreal as Billy Madison or as absurdist as Happy Gilmore, this movie still allows Sandler to show off his strengths with a goofy character, pent-up anger, and man-child innocence. Add to that a wonderful performance from Henry Winkler and you got a movie about as good as something in this genre can be.

Click (2006) -- The premise is interesting enough: a remote control that controls everything. But, unfortunately, the writers (the same ones who did the equally-dumb Bruce Almighty) don't take advantage and instead blow it by focusing on the fast-forward button and the idea that people often coast through life on auto-pilot waiting for the next big thing to happen. (Even the logic of the fantasy doesn't work, by the way: when you fast-forward it skips you yourself through time, but when you rewind it allows you see your past.) And when the rest are used, they're just for dumb jokes (muting the dog barking, slow-motioning the bouncing breasts, using the color adjust to turn Sandler into the Hulk, etc.). It begins stupid and gets stupider, digressing into Sandler in a computer-animated fat suit saying he's got "juicy titties," weird sexual jokes about being turned on by dogs humping and references to his daughter's boobs (have you noticed the breast obsession?), and schlocky moments that are meant to make you sad but which simply seem out of place in a retarded movie. It tries to be It's a Wonderful Life, but fails on almost every level (even the level of farting in David Hasselhoff's face).