The Wedding Singer (1998)

So a few weeks ago I saw the musical Rock of Ages, which is a very 80's hair metal kind of time featuring many fun songs from that period. It got me way in the mood for The Wedding Singer musical (which has been gone for years) so I watched the movie while I was packing. The story follows Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler), a kind and popular wedding singer in small-town NJ. When his fiancée Linda (Angela Featherstone) leaves him at the altar, he's devastated and finds himself so sickened by weddings that he can't sing for them anymore and is limited to bar mitzvahs and other celebrations.

His venue's new waitress Julia (Drew Barrymore) is planning her own wedding and enlists a reluctant but knowledgeable Robbie to help her out, and they become close friends. Her growing attraction to him makes her question her relationship with fiancé Glenn (Matthew Glave), while Robbie can't bring himself to break up an impending marriage to tell her his feelings. Of course it turns out Glenn is a dick, and Robbie and Julia are meant for each other. Yay.

Despite starring Adam Sandler and being a comedy, I wouldn't really categorize this as an "Adam Sandler comedy". He didn't write it, which I suppose is why the jokes are generally less juvenile and his character doesn't act like a child. The focus is on the love story and various homages to the time period, from big hair to Billy Idol to the advent of CD players. The soundtrack is excellent, and there are some fun musical sequences with Robbie's wedding band. Also I like when Drew Barrymore tries to sing along to "99 Luftballons".

The cast is very likable, with good turns from Christine Taylor as Julia's flirtatious cousin and Sandler regular Allen Covert as Robbie's Michael Jackson-obsessed best friend. I generally dig Drew Barrymore and she is quite cute and funny here, successfully emitting that "girl next door" vibe without overdoing it. Sandler is pretty good, for the most part avoiding weird voices and excessive mean-ness. He's just a regular guy with a mullet and that thing that makes you unable to always control the level of your voice. It happens.

The Wedding Singer is the kind of casually funny, cute and cliche romantic comedy that's enjoyable enough once in a while. It's nothing special, but it's never boring and makes me nostalgic for the 1980's despite the fact that I only lived through 2 years of the decade. Hmm. Also it makes me remember how much I liked the stage musical with Stephen Lynch. It was quite silly.

3.5/5

"Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Presidents of the United States of America (Buggles cover)
"Grow Old With You" by Stephen Lynch and Laura Benanti (stage musical version)