By Robert Scucci
| Published
There’s no denying just how powerful Adam Sandler was in the 90s. He was operating in God mode. From 1995 to 1999, he jammed out Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Big Daddy, and, my personal favorite, 1998’s The Wedding Singer. Out of all the streaming services I have access to, whether I’m paying for it or piggybacking off the in-laws, The Wedding Singer is nowhere to be found. It’s peak Sandler, firing on all cylinders, but if I want to watch it, I have to throw down four dollars for an on-demand rental.
Honestly, for that price, I’m about to hit up the nearest Goodwill and see if I can grab a DVD copy of The Wedding Singer for the same cost. It’s not that I’m cheap (I am), but if I’m paying for a movie I’ve already seen 100 times growing up, I want some sense of ownership to get me out of bed in the morning. I learned that mentality from Shark Tank, even though their accounting doesn’t exactly apply here.
Sandler Firing On All Cylinders
What’s not to love about The Wedding Singer? Moderately successful wedding band frontman Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) gets left at the altar by his fiancée Linda (Angela Featherstone). He falls for a waitress named Julia (Drew Barrymore), and we all learned pretty quickly how great Sandler and Barrymore complement each other in comedies. Julia is engaged to Glenn Gulia (Matthew Glave), a boozing, womanizing yuppie who only cares about sex, money, and conspicuous consumption. Meanwhile, Julia’s cousin and best friend Holly (Christine Taylor) catches feelings for Robbie, not realizing how strongly he feels about Julia.
The Wedding Singer’s setup alone has all the ingredients for a perfect rom-com, and then it gets pushed to the next level by how quotable it is at every turn. Wedding attendees yelling “YOU SUCK!” at George (Alexi Arquette). Rival wedding singer Jimmie Moore (Jon Lovitz) getting wide-eyed and scheming as the curtain closes. Rosie (Ellen Albertini Dow) paying Robbie for music lessons with loose meatballs she scoops directly into his hands. And, of course, Sandler belting out “Oh somebody kill me please!,” which I still sing to myself whenever I anticipate being mildly inconvenienced for a couple of hours on any given day.
Not On Streaming, But Worth The On-Demand Rental
Everything you need to know about peak Adam Sandler can be found in The Wedding Singer. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy lean heavily into slapstick but still have some heart. Big Daddy has all the heart, but feels a little lighter on the gags. The Wedding Singer hits the sweet spot. It’s anchored by classic rom-com beats, then elevated by its 80s throwback aesthetic, with a steady stream of pop culture references doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
Say what you want about Adam Sandler, but his run in the 90s was legendary. With the clout he has now, especially through Netflix, it’s baffling that all of his heavy hitters aren’t readily available to stream in one place. It’s borderline criminal that I can stream Hubie Halloween whenever I want, but have to pull out my wallet to watch one of his best movies.
The Wedding Singer is available on-demand through YouTube, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.
