The Wedding Singer

The Wedding Singer is Adam Sandler's most poignantly clever and heartfelt straight comedy. It lacks the silly nonsense of later films, playing things almost entirely straight while delivering some of the funniest bits and sharpest lines of his entire filmography.

Sandler's Robbie Hart is just that, the heart of the story. A good guy trying to do good in the world while the world keeps piling on. His fiancée no-shows him. His friends are scumbags. His family is useless. And the girl of his dreams is just out of reach.

Watching Robbie interact with everyone around him, consistently acting with moral clarity, humility, and genuine respect, is the film's greatest sustained pleasure. It's never called out or announced. It's just there, Robby's a good guy, at no point is Robbie anything but a perfect gentleman. And when he finally realizes he can't let Julia go, he works up the courage to tell her how he feels, then sees her through her window smiling and happy, and he simply leaves. To spare her hurt and pain he takes it upon himself. That's not a hero moment, that's just a good person making a selfless call. There's several examples sprinkled through the film of just such actions, look for them next time, it's impressive.

Julia's conscious choice to marry Glenn for safety rather than feeling is an admirable writing choice that the film handles with more nuance than it gets credit for. It's outside forces, including her own parents, that tell her to ignore her gut. And it's Holly, her "promiscuous" friend played by Christine Taylor, who becomes the moral key to unlocking what Julia actually wants. Holly has a job, a social circle, real loyalty, and genuine love for her friend. Your choice of corner says a lot about you. The film makes that argument quietly and bucks the tradition of tradition.

The ending is the closest to schlock the film gets, everyone converging on the same plane to Vegas, Billy Idol helping save the day, Robbie and Julia riding off into the sunset. It's inoffensively sweet without being sappy.

The soundtrack is great. Pure 80s nostalgia mixed with some of Sandler's best original songwriting since his early stand-up albums. The film is committed to that era completely, right down to the fashion crimes and cultural references.

The Alexis Arquette writing requires more than a passing mention. George, the trans backup singer in Robbie's band, is both a product of its era and something more progressive rolled into one. Arquette was trans herself and transitioned publicly. Playing a character who exists partly as comic relief, the butt of jokes and smirks, while also being included consistently and lovingly in Robbie's inner circle is contradictory. The character should have had more depth and interaction. At the same time the visibility mattered and Arquette's personal history with the role adds a layer that makes it impossible to reduce to a simple verdict.

The other Sandler mainstays are here in full force, Allen Covert, Kevin Nealon, Peter Dante. As mentioned in other reviews, you have to respect the man for keeping faith with his people and honoring where he came from.

The biggest easter egg happens when you think about the career of wedding singer as metaphor. Think about what the job actually is. You're in service of other people's love stories. You're the narrator of moments that have nothing to do with you. But you also shape those stories, through the energy you bring, through what your performances reflect about where you are emotionally. When Robbie's world collapses, the songs change. When he finds something worth fighting for, the music finds it first. Sandler is in service of his friends, Robby is in service of everyone else, a wedding singer is someone hired to provide a service. It's easy to overlook but it's standing front and center.

In the end, Robby's sacrifices are unseen. This isn't a Say Anything boom box declaration. Robby's sacrifices are unseen, it's not a "Say Anything..." declaration of love, Robby LEAVES Julia's window, sacrificing his happiness for hers. So, by the time Robby makes his intentions felt (thanks again Billy) he's already earned it, the universe is just catching up.