Take a trip through space, time to see Sandler’s serious side
An upside to Adam Sandler’s long-standing business relationship with streaming behemoth Netflix is that it’s given the beloved funnyman room to experiment. Over the course of his deal with Netflix, he’s turned in several of his silly ensemble comedies with his best pals, but the Sandman has increasingly turned to more diverse content.
Just last year, he premiered the animated feature Leo, and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, starring his daughters Sunny and Sadie, and wife Jackie. But what’s more fascinating is when Sandler turns away from comedy, embracing the more dramatic side of his performance range.
One of the best examples of this recent phenomenon was the excellent basketball flick Hustle, in which Sandler plays a Philly sports agent who recruits a wunderkind street baller from Spain (Juancho Hernangomez).
This warm domestic drama directed by Jeremiah Zagar showcases Sandler in a nice, low-key performance register. Stream it — where else? — on Netflix.
But Sandler goes even more serious and withdrawn in his performance in Spaceman, streaming on Netflix Friday. Adapted by Colby Day from Jaroslav Kalfar’s 2017 novel Spaceman in Bohemia, Spaceman is directed by Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck (Chernobyl), and features Sandler as “the loneliest man in the universe,” playing a Czech cosmonaut exploring the outer reaches of Jupiter’s clouds. He worries about his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), and spends his time chatting with a possibly imaginary giant spider on his spacecraft, voiced by Paul Dano.
This is lo-fi sci-fi of the chillest register, far more concerned with Jakub’s emotional journey, and it’s a moody tone poem centred around Sandler’s hangdog expression. Still, it’s fascinating to see him in a project that pushes his talents into such a different register.
In 2020, Sandler won an Independent Spirit Award for his performance as inveterate gambler Howard Ratner in the Safdie brothers’ 2019 thriller Uncut Gems. This edgeof-your-seat stress test follows New York City diamond dealer Howard as he makes a series of increasingly risky gambles with a rare gemstone. It’s an unforgettable wild ride. Stream it on Netflix.
A decade before that, Sandler also showcased the sad side of funny in Judd Apatow’s Funny People, about a standup comedian contending with a cancer diagnosis. The film also stars Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza and many, many more funny people. Rent it on digital platforms.
One of Sandler’s best roles comes in Noah Baumbach’s 2017 dramedy The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). Sandler plays one of three siblings contending with the legacy of their father, an aging but egoobsessed artist (Dustin Hoffman). The film is quite deft at cutting between drama and comedy. Stream it on Netflix.
Of course, the first time Sandler surprised audiences with his dramatic chops was in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2002 absurdist romance Punch-Drunk Love. Sandler plays a socially awkward toilet-plunger salesman who gets scammed by a phone sex operator and her team of heavies and falls in love with a woman (Emily Watson) whom he meets through his sister.
The film, and Sandler’s performance, stand the test of time. Stream it on Prime Video.