Are we in an Adam Sandler-ssance?

25:00Are we in an Adam Sandler-ssance?

Adam Sandler's latest Netflix film, You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah, follows best friends Stacy and Lydia. The pair have always dreamed about having epic bat mitzvahs, but things start to go awry when conflict over a boy and other school drama threatens their friendship.

For this week's wrap panel, culture critics Ashley Ray, Morgan Campbell and comedian Natalie Norman join Elamin to discuss the latest addition to the Adam Sandler Cinematic Universe.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, where the panel discuss Noah Lyles' comments on the NBA and Ontario's ban on celebrity gambling endorsements, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Ashley, this is a family affair for Adam Sandler. Both of his daughters join him in the lead roles. His wife, Jackie, is in it. What would you make of the chemistry of the Sandler family on screen? 

Ashley: I mean, I think they have amazing chemistry together. Beyond this movie, they've done so many together at this point. They also were in Hubie Halloween, a few others. And I think Adam Sandler keyed in on the fact that he loves his family so much, he won't act with any other family; he just knows it works with them. I think his daughters clearly appreciate comedy. They've come up and really understood Adam Sandler's way of doing it, and it shows. They're really, really strong for teen actors, and that's what made me really love the movie. I truly related to these girls. It took me back to middle school. I loved it almost as much as I love Pen15. 

WATCH | Official trailer for You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah:

Elamin: I do first of all, Ashley, want to note that it does not go unnoticed that you are one of five people who watched Hubie Halloween. Congratulations on that.

Ashley: Thank you. Thank you. 

Natalie: I actually saw it too.

Elamin: Alright, we got six. That's incredible. 

Ashley: It's the start of the Sandler-ssance, OK? Adam Sandler is a new era, and it started really with Uncut Gems, into Hubie Halloween, and now with You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. It's a trilogy of who he is today.

Elamin: I have to say that every once in a while, I encounter a new person who watched Hubie Halloween and I go, "I think actually, I'm in the wrong here." Because everyone who's seen it is like, "Yeah, it was a great movie. You should enjoy it."

Ashley: It's amazing. It's one of Ray Liotta's last roles. It's so hilarious in a corny way for kids, but also knows adults are watching. I love what Adam Sandler is doing with his career, and that his family really is a core part of it.

Elamin: Natalie, let's get into this. At this point, the Sandler kids have been in upwards of 10 Adam Sandler movies. Is it fair to criticize them as nepo babies, or are they actually just so good that they circumvent that criticism? 

Natalie: Well, they're obviously not so good. 

Ashley: Oh, come on.

Natalie: But that seems to be what Hollywood does, so I guess it's fine. I mean, for this movie, I do like it because it's a family movie about something that they actually experienced — a bat mitzvah. So I think it's OK for this one. The rest of them? There's other actors. We could work with others. 

Ashley: I think it's the kind of nepotism I like. If someone is a car mechanic and their kid starts fixing cars at two years old, I trust that; they've been doing it for a long time. That's how I feel about the Sandler kids. 

Elamin: Morgan, I've got to say, every time we talk about nepo babies, people act like they wouldn't do the same if they were suddenly famous and they could just cast anybody in any role…. Of course I would do that. Why wouldn't you want to do that? Is that a fair criticism, though? 

Morgan: I have a tough time getting worked up about nepotism in the movies. We're all adults here…. Despite what we're told our whole lives, a bunch of this stuff is not a meritocracy. It's about whom you know, who your parents are, who your cousin is, whatever.… And there is also a difference, too, between pure nepotism and someone just being born into a business, into a craft, right? 

Elamin: Of course. They're around the craft all the time. 

Morgan: Yes. Your dad is an actor. You do this all the time. You look at the Toronto Blue Jays, they have all these people that just grew up around baseball. Is that nepotism? Did their dads get them jobs necessarily? No, but they just grew up around this sport and so they hit the ground running.

Natalie: Yeah. Aren't we all waiting for our nepotism moment? 

Elamin: In fact, I feel like I've been denied it, you know? Ashley, I want to talk to you about the Adam Sandler/Netflix combination. 

Ashley: The Sandler-ssance, yes. I think we all agreed to call it that. 

Elamin: We are coining the Sandler-ssance. I'm on board with this, but you're totally right…. We know that Netflix paid Adam Sandler a boatload of money to keep making movies with them. Would you say it's too early to call this combination a winning one?

Ashley: I think he has done it; he found a way to update his Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy humour to a modern audience. He found a way to get his whole family paid…. Honestly, these movies are movies I would return to. If I had a 12-year-old girl, I'd want her to watch this. Same with Hubie Halloween, which I do rewatch every Halloween because it's just that fun. So I think he's really established himself as one of the people who made good on his Netflix deal — and thank God he did, because it's incredible stuff.

Elamin: Natalie, where are you at with the Netflix deal? 

Natalie: I don't feel the same way. I'm going to be honest, I particularly love the Murder Mystery films. 

Elamin: What is happening? I feel like I've entered another universe where people are watching Adam Sandler movies that I've never even heard of.

Natalie: It's the one with Jennifer Aniston, and it's everything I want from an Adam Sandler movie: it's silly, it kind of makes no sense, he's complaining, and I love those ones. This one, because it's family-oriented, doesn't relate to me. I just want more old Adam Sandler.

Elamin: Ashley, do you think of him as a little bit more serious now because of the Netflix deal? 

Ashley: I do. At the same time, he achieved that with Uncut Gems, and now he's at a part of his career where he doesn't have to prove himself to anyone. I think he knows that he can take on the serious role. He's been doing that since Punch-Drunk Love…. I don't even think he's worried about nepotism baby charges because he's so genuine to comedy, to how he's raised his kids in this. 

I think also in the movie you do see him putting on a lot of younger, up-and-coming comics. Sarah Sherman plays the rabbi, who started on SNL a couple years ago and she's absolutely incredible in it. So with nepotism, he's also always like, "Let me get some other people in there." I think he's doing a lot for comedy. 

Elamin: One thing that's remarkable about this movie is that Adam Sandler shows up in basketball shorts and Hawaiian shirts, which is exactly the outfit that he's photographed in in real life. This man had a wardrobe budget of $0.

Ashley: He's not acting.

Elamin: Not at all. Not acting whatsoever. He's just in his regular clothes, and I'm very happy for him.

Natalie: He's just like a real Jewish dad. 

Elamin: And he plays that role so perfectly.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show, where the panel discuss Noah Lyles' comments on the NBA and Ontario's ban on celebrity gambling endorsements, on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender.