You have just made me aware of that movie’s existence for the first time.
I have great affection for Adam Sandler, especially since his rep indicates him to be one of the famously nice guys in the business, but I definitely miss more of his movies than I see.
That said, Mr. Deeds was underrated.
Too many people underestimate the sneakiness.
Kevin Nealon was a fool to turn down the “10 singing lessons for one business card” offer.
Speaking from an earlier generation I’d like to put in a plug for the late 70s/early 80s “dumb” comedies
The Jerk
Animal House
Stripes
Caddyshack
Porkys
Ghostbusters
Airplane
Blues Brothers
Vacation
Trading Places
Police Academy
Revenge of the Nerds
This is leaving out the cop movies, the teenage angst movies (Porkys being the notable exception), etc.
Friday is tier 1 for me, and I love the sequels too.
Kingpin
Nutty Professor
Blue Streak
Half Baked
Lebowski
Office Space
bunch of those are 98 and 99
I finally looked up the plot of the movie and now understand the tag on the poster.
The first Friday is untouchable. So good.
My most recent viewing of Airplane convinced me that it’s the single best slapstick comedy ever made. Many 40-year-old comedies lose a lot with age, but that one is truly incredible.
Funny you mention The Blues Brothers; I was planning on watching that for the first time tonight.
Some dumb ones maybe some not?
Okay yeah, Office Space and Lebowski for sure. Those would both be Tier I. And I love Kingpin also to a lesser extent.
Oh, and Swingers. I was late to the party in seeing that (first saw it in the early 00s), but I see it’s 1996. That’s another top-tier 90s comedy.
I think we need to define “dumb movies” as being objectively bad movies that are enjoyable to some. More of the movies above are classics.
Never Been Kissed was 1999
Yeah you’re right, my mistake. What a wretched movie.
Oh hell yeah, you are in for a ride. Blues Brothers is top tier 80s shit.
Loved all of these but Half Baked. I think I might have seen it but am not sure.
Blue Streak is peak Martin and not to be missed if you like him.
I had to watch Kingpin at least a dozen times at work. Often gross, but really enjoyable overall.
Office Space obviously elite. I remember when we did the home video film transfers two things:
There was no bass in the left channel. We pointed it out, surprised it got missed. They troubleshot it and the error was on the dub stage. Someone had applied a Hi-pass Filter to the left channel. Oops. In case you don’t understand, that means it played in movie theaters that way.
Whenever the final online would happen for a version, a bunch would gather to watch it in the editor’s room. Most of us were in our 20s, and he was probably a little over 40. He was baffled why we all liked it so much.
I resisted The Big Lebowski for a long time because of the bowling opera scene. The scene that destroyed me was the pencil and pad scene.
The Murphy skewering Chapelle scene was hysterical in Nutty Professor. I think I saw the movie 3 times in the theater and everything landed every time.
I got to watch it 8 times at work
“Dumb” usually means something more like “low brow” in this context. While the jokes of a Happy Gilmore or Austin Powers are smart, there are also jokes about poo or whatever.
Uncut Gems is great because it proves unequivocally that Adam Sandler could have been making serious, critically-acclaimed movies this whole time but he preferred to make goofy comedies like Happy Gilmore.
Massively underappreciated 90’s comedy, ought to be right up there with Happy Gilmore.
There’s no question of Sandler’s talent, but even when he tries to do serious shit he sometimes ends up doing Spaceman (currently my clubhouse leader for worst movie of 2024). He does a LOT of movies, many of them not good, in multiple genres.
That said, no great stretch to imagine him winning an Oscar one day.
I’ve wondered if Sandler and Rob Schneider hold the record for most movies worked together without repeating characters.