Adam Sandler’s Netflix special is half dumb, half sweet: Review

There are two Adam Sandlers.
One is the in-your-face, lowest-common-denominator, fart and penis-joke guy you know (and maybe love, depending on your comedic tastes). The other is getting a little bit older, a little bit more romantic and very nostalgic.
Those two men meet in an odd, dysfunctional marriage in Sandler’s new Netflix special “Adam Sandler: Love You” (now streaming, ★★½ out of four). The hourlong special is a faux-off-the-cuff event directed by one of Sandler’s “Uncut Gems” collaborators, Josh Safdie. It mixes more odd penis and sex jokes than you would expect with a bit of melancholy and softness, plus some unreality pretending to be real.
Altogether, it’s a little jarring, sometimes off-putting but also kind of sweet. It’s complicated and contradictory, much like Sandler himself, who at 57, still churns out predictable Netflix movies that critics deride, but also occasional indie performances that get Oscar pundits chattering. Despite some nice moments, “Love You” is nowhere near the heights of his last special in 2018, “100% Fresh.” That outing was full of energy and newness. The light has dimmed somewhat since that special debuted. But hey, I’d say a lot of our lights have faded in the tumultuous past half-decade. We’re not all doing our happiest, best work.
Filmed at the Nocturne Theatre in Glendale, California, last winter, “Love You” opens with Sandler driving a car with a shattered windshield into an alley. He’s instantly overcome by fans and gets a hoodie from a stranger. It’s meant to be raw footage, a cinéma vérité of Sandler’s preshow routine. But in reality, it is clearly scripted to be weird and off-putting, complete with a random ventriloquist as Sandler’s opening act. It stinks of Safdie’s involvement, as films from Safdie and his brother Benny, including “Gems” and “Good Time,” are known for their stressful, slightly off-kilter version of the world.
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It doesn’t really work here. Nor does a series of technical glitches after Sandler takes the stage that might have been real but also come off scripted (and considering the special filmed over four nights, that’s the most logical conclusion). Coffee in hand (which he demands to be sweetened with stevia, and not a different artificial sugar), Sandler begins a roll call of middling jokes about life, veering from the mundane to the fantastical (genies, talking balloons, among other mythical characters). He’s never been the kind of comedian to invite the audience into his actual personal life, even if some of his experiences as a husband, father and celebrity sneak into his storytelling.
There are many, many of his typically less-than-tasteful jokes: Kids walking in on their parents having sex. A genie tricking Sandler into performing a sex act in an airport bathroom. Songs about old guys with kids. The list goes on. The line between funny and vulgar is crossed more than once, but that’s nothing new for Sandler.
But then there are the simple, folksy kind of jokes that hit without inducing cringe. Sandler’s longtime friend and collaborator Rob Schneider appears in an Elvis Presley get-up to do a really solid impersonation of the King as Sandler sings along. It’s not really a joke so much as a solid musical interlude. Then there’s the sentimental ending, a tribute to the very idea of comedy with clips of greats from Richard Pryor to Gilda Radner to Sandler’s contemporaries David Spade and Chris Farley to current comedy like “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live.” His earnestness can shine amid all the gags about a wife who’s not really his or kids who don’t really exist.
Sandler’s actual wife, Jackie, escorts him off the stage and into his car as the special ends, seemingly to a quiet night at home. It’s nice to imagine that our aging comedy idols can step out to do a few jokes and then drive home without much effort.
Maybe a little more effort in this one might have helped. But we’ll always have the image of Schneider in a sparkly cape.