Adam Sandler, His Movies, Mitch Albom

I have seen several very funny Adam Sandler movies but if you ask me whether Adam Sandler is funny I would say no.

Happy Gilmore is on my list of movies with lines that make me laugh when I just think of them. A kid of mine knows that the answer to "you want a piece of me?" is always "No, I want the whole thing." It's even better because Bob Barker was one of the first names I knew as a kid. The circle of life watching television.

Billy Madison has some great parts. The James (Jim?) Downey role as the emcee for the Jeopardy-like contest was beautiful. Steve Buscemi's list of people to kill has inspired me over the years.

Adam Sandler movies I have seen many times: HG, BM, 50 First Dates, Wedding Singer.

But Adam Sandler, I don't know.

Looking through IMBD, I may have found the answer to my question. IMDB lists for 2010: "Untitled Mitch Albom/Adam Sandler Project". I should just say 'words fail' and not show the failing words. But I can't not talk about it. How is it possible that someone who has worked with actually funny people like James Downey and Tim Herlihy and Robert Smigel could conceive of working with Mitch Albom? I can only hope the title becomes "The Three People You Meet In Hell" (with Harvey Keitel reprising his role in that atrocity "Little Nicky") or "Fridays with Henry Winkler".

But what really abominates about the Mitch Albom movie is that Mitch Albom is schmaltz. He is sentiment. He is learning lessons that make you a better person. That is not funny, it is something you make fun of. And Adam Sandler could only do something with Mitch Albom because he secretly loves the lesson-learning, heart-warming, and ball-shrinking. "Click" is schmaltz. 50 First Dates is kind of schmaltz.

The solution would be to add Larry David to this Albom/Sandler venture as a Morrie-like figure, but one who is a horrible racist who makes fun of rap music, hip-hop culture and anyone who speaks Spanish. At the beginning of the movie, Larry David defeats the efforts of Adam Sandler's character to open up a local libary for poor ethnic kids in his neighborhood. And he and Sandler find themselves talking and hanging out and Sandler becomes a horrible racist. That's a funny movie.