冒牌老爸 Big Daddy review by James Berardinelli

There's a certain sameness to all Adam Sandler movies. They're comedies, but the filmmakers employ a lame dramatic underpinning with a twofold purpose: to make the characters more likable and better rounded, and to give us the sense that we're watching a coherent movie rather than a set of disconnected skits. Unfortunately, considering the poor quality of the dramatic aspect, it might be better to settle for the latter option. Big Daddy is the suddenly-hot comedian's latest effort to fall prey to this problem. The film offers its share of big laughs, but the serious side is sunk by mawkishness and sentimentality. It's laughable to recognize that there's a scene when director Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore) thinks he's going to make us cry.

Almost like a fungus, Sandler grows on viewers. I have liked him a little more in each of his films (irrespective of the quality of those efforts). Over the course of the last two years, he has grown to rival Jim Carrey for the title of Comedian With The Most Box Office Clout. In the process, Sandler's on-screen personality has undergone a partial re-invention. When he broke on the scene, he was loud and obnoxious. However, beginning with The Wedding Singer, he introduced audiences to a kinder, gentler version of himself. This is the Sandler who dominates Big Daddy: an acerbic, politically incorrect guy with a heart of gold.

The plot isn't exactly Shakespeare, nor would anyone expect it to be. Sonny Koufax (Sandler) is a professional layabout. He spends one day a week working as a toll booth collector; during the other six, he sits around at home, doing nothing. His girlfriend, Vanessa (Kristy Swanson), fed up with his lack of initiative, dumps him, and his roommate, Kevin (Jon Stewart), goes on an extended business trip to China, leaving Sonny all on his own - until Julian (played by twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse) literally shows up at his door and adopts Sonny as his big brother/surrogate father.

Julian is actually Kevin's boy - a son he never knew about. Following the death of his mother, Julian has nowhere to go, so Sonny reluctantly allows the five-year old to stay with him - and promptly falls in love with his pint-sized roommate. He and Julian start doing things together, like going to Central Park to watch the roller bladers take tumbles (and, when they don't fall on their own, Sonny has a way to help them out). There are drawbacks, however. Julian has a bedwetting habit and his constant need for attention interrupts Sonny's sedentary life. "Having a kid is great," he remarks, "As long as his eyes are closed and he's not moving or speaking." Julian's presence in Sonny's life helps him get his act together and allows him to meet a new girlfriend named after an Eric Clapton song (Layla, played by Joey Lauren Adams). But, when Social Services learns of the situation, Sonny not only faces losing Julian, but risks a jail term as well.

As is typically the case with Sandler's movies, the level of humor is of the least-common-denominator variety. It's all very dumb, sometimes very gross, and occasionally very funny. About one quarter of the jokes relate to urine, vomit, saliva, and body odor. Another quarter deal with and breasts. There's no doubt that the film earns its PG-13 rating, and parents who are concerned with what their children see should take note. Along with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, viewers have a one-two punch of off-color comedy available to them.

The thing that irritated me about Big Daddy is its failed attempts to manipulate the audience's emotions. Only the best written comedies have a chance of succeeding in this area, and Big Daddy falls far short. While the bonding scenes between Sonny and Julian are adequate to establish the characters and set up the storyline, they don't generate any deep attachment, and the ending, which wants to make us weep one moment and cheer the next, is hopelessly corny. There are, of course, people who like this kind of stuff. I'm not one of them. If you thought the finale of Never Been Kissed was perfect, you'll be thrilled by the resolution of Big Daddy.

A favorite sport engaged in by critics this summer has been bashing the performance of Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace). However, those who thought Lloyd would do better trying out another profession are hereby warned that, as child thespians go, he's a far better actor than the duo of Cole & Dylan Sprouse (who combine to portray Julian). The Sprouse twins are insufferably cute, but their faces are constantly frozen into a half-pathetic, half-vacuous expression. Those in search of a good performance by an under-10 actor in the same kind of role should check out Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire.

Big Daddy also gives us an opportunity to witness two helium-voiced actresses vying for who can cause greater aggravation. The contenders in this contest are Leslie Mann (George of the Jungle), who plays Kevin's finac閑, and Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy). The one saving grace is that neither of them has a great deal of dialogue, and they're only together in a few scenes. Beyond these two, the supporting cast is sparse. Rob Schneider plays an immigrant delivery man trying to master the English language and Steve Buscemi has a brief-but-funny turn as a homeless man whose hair looks like it's the result of an aborted electrocution.

Those who have become fans of Sandler during his relatively short career (his first real success came in 1991 as a Saturday Night Live cast member) will almost certainly enjoy Big Daddy. However, despite the comments made by Columbia's publicists, this is not a breakthrough role for the comedian; it isn't his Truman Show. Nothing in the part of Sonny Koufax stretches Sandler's range. It's possible that, given the right role, he might be able to turn in a decent performance, but the soft, sloppy drama of Big Daddy is not it. Go to this movie for the cheap laughs and bodily fluid jokes - those are its strengths.

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