Generation Xers get to claim Adam Sandler whether they like it or not. Sandler was discovered by Saturday Night Live alum Dennis Miller in the late 1980s. At that time, a Brooklyn native, Sandler was a fish out of water, struggling as a young comedian in the Los Angeles stand-up comedy scene. The then 24-year-old funny man joined SNL in 1990 and became one of the show’s biggest stars during some of the series’ stormiest seasons. Sandler made a name for himself with one-note characters like “Opera Man” and “Cajun Man,” and his original musical performances of “The Thanksgiving Song” and “The Chanukah Song.” Sandler partnered with cast member Chris Farley for sketches that sometimes read — for better or worse — like inside jokes at a frat party bash. Fans got the dumb-is-funny bits, but many viewers and fellow comedians didn’t get it. Sandler’s SNL cast member Janeane Garofalo was an outspoken critic of the show and called Sandler’s comedy “childish.”
Sandler was fired from SNL in 2005, but his success and dubious humor carried him seamlessly into a movie career with films like Billy Madison (1995), The Wedding Singer (1998) and the Cajun gridiron masterpiece, The Waterboy (1998) — a bayou Rudie drenched in spicy rage. It might have all been gags and gimmicks for Sandler, but the actor was nothing short of a revelation in his first dramatic role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002). The film re-contextualized Sandler’s innocence-and-id gimmick as a realistic character in a romantic drama that Sandler delivered straight as an arrow. Nowadays, Sandler’s tireless comedy film releases are regularly interrupted by remarkable dramatic turns in films like the underrated Reign Over Me (2007). Sandler’s role as a gambling addict in Uncut Gems (2019) won him rave reviews, a wave of award season nominations, and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor.
The actor made a home for his movie productions on Netflix, but Spaceman isn’t another streaming comedy. In fact, I thought Spaceman was going to be the most cosmically far out science fiction movie since Darren Aronofsky’s whacked masterpiece, The Fountain (2006). Spaceman is based on Jaroslav Kalfař’s novel, Spaceman of Bohemia. It’s a movie about a Czech astronaut who becomes estranged from his wife when he leaves her and his young daughter to explore a dust cloud beyond Jupiter. Waiting to connect with a team from South Korea, the astronaut, Jakob (Sandler) befriends a space spider and they develop a therapeutic friendship. Jakob shares his loneliness with the large arachnid before it abandons Jakob. Things get interesting when Jakob arrives at the dust cloud, and sometimes even Czech science fiction stories about the cold black loneliness of existence can have less than tragic endings.
When Sandler is allowed to carry the one-man-movie he’s watchable and engaging even in silent, still space scenes. I don’t think Sandler gets all the screen time he could use here. Spaceman deploys lots of flashbacks and the spider, Hanuš (a great voice performance from Paul Dano) to fill-in the blanks here. But, as a viewer I just wanted to stick with Jakob and his loneliness. And I think this movie would have been much stronger, mysterious and weird if it just made the choice to stick with Sandler and be a really weird film. It’s like director Johan Renck wanted to make The Fountain, but had to hedge his bets. And who can blame him? Almost nobody likes The Fountain besides the people who love The Fountain. I don’t think Spaceman is going to win such fanaticism, but if you love cinema about actors acting you really gotta see this new Adam Sandler movie.
Spaceman is streaming on Netflix
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.