The Reel Rejects - BIG DADDY (1999) MOVIE REVIEW! FIRST TIME WATCHING!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Introducing the new Volvo Xc90 with seven-seat versatility, Google built-in, and advanced safety features for all your precious cargo. The new Volvo XC90, designed for life. Visit volvocars.com slash us to learn more. Are you ready to dairy-free your mind? This summer, melt away your dairy-free expectations with so delicious dairy-free frozen desserts. Enjoy mind-blowing flavors like salted caramel cluster, chocolate cookies and cream, cookie dough, and more. For over 35 years, So-Dilies has been cooked.

Starting point is 00:00:30 cranking up the flavor with show-stopping products that are 100% dairy-free, certified vegan by vegan action, and are so unbelievably creamy, your taste buds will do a double-take. Dairy-free your mind. Visit so-dilicious dairy-free.com. Did you know that at Chevron, you can fuel up on unbeatable mileage and savings? With Chevron rewards, you'll get 25 cents off per gallon on your next five visits. All you have to do is download the Chevron app and join to start saving on fuel. Then you can keep fueling up on other things like adventure, memories, vacations, daycations, quality time, and so many other possibilities. Head to your nearest Chevron station to fuel up and get rewarded today.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Terms apply. See Chevron Texcorewards.com for more details. This video is sponsored by Shopify. Yo-hoo! But without further ado, did you appreciate Papi Grande? Papi Grande Yes I did

Starting point is 00:01:30 I did appreciate Papi Grande I did That I did That I did I like this movie I like this movie a lot It had a lot of heart

Starting point is 00:01:38 And all the performances Were very genuine And I don't know I really enjoyed the relationship Between our little man And Sunny And I just wanted to Revelling it more

Starting point is 00:01:50 You know Because it was just such It was such a lovely sweet experience No I think yeah and in its totality I thought this was really funny I liked all of the little pranks and gags we had going on

Starting point is 00:02:10 I thought it had some interesting things to say about like you know father-son relationships and watching him kind of mature because he realized he needed to step up for this kid and this kid kind of finding a sense of home within Sunny and yeah it was it was a lovely time John what did you think as I formulate more thoughts I thought it was a lovely time too I've been sitting here wondering if they named him

Starting point is 00:02:37 sunny Kofax so as to evoke the name Sandy Kofax who is a you know I believe a notable baseball player I don't know Adam Sandler always be mixing sports stuff and here he's watching hockey and things so I'm like is this a reference or not But that's beside the point. No, I enjoy this quite a bit. This was an interesting one because, like this one, while it feels like a very natural vehicle for an Adam Sandler-type performer, it doesn't feel as much like – it's weird. There are ways in which it feels like a quintessential Adam Sandler movie, and there are other ways in which it doesn't as much, or it doesn't feel like what I would come to – and I forget where we are on the timeline. We're in the 90s at least.

Starting point is 00:03:20 So, like, you know, we're still kind of building to what the, you know, definitive kind of Adam Sandler movie would be. But, yeah, I thought this was really charming. And, yeah, it has that perfect quality of, like, oh, this guy who's a man child is, you know, completely over his head. But also those tendencies are probably what's going to help him really bridge the gap and bond with this kid. And I mean, like, there's more, I appreciated that they didn't completely shy away from, like, the implications. of the actual, like, scenario that they're playing out here. I feel like I would be curious to see what this movie would have been, had it been made maybe at a slightly different moment in time

Starting point is 00:04:01 because I feel like now, you know, we live in a moment where people are going to be asking a lot more questions about the premise in general. Like, this is one of those movies where I could see somebody not being able to, oh, that's a nice little dedication. This movie is dedicated to our fathers. Thanks for putting up with all our crap. We love you. note to cozies

Starting point is 00:04:20 Adam also enjoys your hamburgers They got a shout out But yeah This it was interesting To see this concept play out Because I can imagine certain people Certain types of viewers Being very hung up on the logistics

Starting point is 00:04:38 That get us to him Essentially It's like if he didn't call back with cold feet He would just be this kid's legal garden And like nobody would Follow up or be any of the wise So, like, there are things about that, but, but, you know, being in the era that this is from, you know, it wasn't too distracting to me. And yeah, like, even though there are aspects of this that did make me wonder and, and you can see kind of multiple directions a movie like this can go in terms of what the circumstances are going to be and how it resolves itself. Yeah, like this, I thought, I don't know, I was trying to find like the exact words to describe it. And I don't feel like I have. have found him yet because yeah I really enjoyed the cast and this definitely feels like a 90s

Starting point is 00:05:24 romantic comedy of sorts and it does have its focus kind of split between like you have to do him bonding with the kid and and sewing the seeds for us kind of watching him grow into an actual father figure but there's also like a romantic comedy element uh you know with the sister and all that stuff and uh and yes like this isn't an overly it's not any longer than it's not any longer than a traditional romantic comedy or comedy would be. So part of me feels like maybe it could have done with like an extra 10 minutes or something just to flesh a couple of those things out.

Starting point is 00:05:57 But for what we're here for. I mean, I thought the cast was all really charming. It's fun to see like John Stewart in you know, a role and Leslie Mann of course. And who played, it was Christy Swanson who was his ex who he was like obsessing over. But who

Starting point is 00:06:13 was the sister? Because that was a thing that like was. Yeah, I thought it was Jennifer Tilly, but it was not. She's got that kind of a voice and like that was a charming detail to me uh because like lela is joey loren adams goodness i i know i must have seen her and some other stuff but uh but yeah like that was an element where where i thought they were really endearing and i think that you know there's often a romantic comedy element to a sandler joint and i thought the two of them had really lovely chemistry that sold a lot of those scenes and and yeah once you get to the sort of wrap up and you're in the

Starting point is 00:06:46 courtroom. It's like this kind of, it falls in the middle for me in terms of like how it wraps itself up because you think to yourself this can go one of two ways. Either we can find some kind of impossible set of circumstances that will legalize this scenario and he'll get to keep the kid or which was more of what I was expecting would be them to do something kind of like this where they go to court and they confront the actual legality of the scenario. and come out thinking, oh, well, you broke, like, you broke the law beyond your ability to be a good dad. So, like, this probably isn't going to work out exactly how you want it, but there will be some way that you guys can still be in each other's lives. So, like, it ultimately goes

Starting point is 00:07:29 there, which is, which is the thing I was expecting more than I appreciate. It's going for that nuance. Although at the same time, it's not doing a whole lot to be like, here's the sober reality. And now, you know, we're getting to some kind of bittersweet resolve. It's, it's, you know, the lightest feel-goodest version of it, which I don't be great. Brudge movie like this. But yeah, it just makes at least a viewer like me think of like all the different alternatives that

Starting point is 00:07:54 could have happened in a story like this. But the nuts and bolts of what we're here for, the important parts, you know, watching Sandler and little Cole Dillon Spouse, you know, watching them bond and everything and just the fun little sketches and sets I guess you call it a set piece.

Starting point is 00:08:11 There's nothing really super elaborate, but you know, like the little bits and things that happen are super charming and that core relationship is very endearing and I feel like that's the main thing that's important and then you have all the other like you know random supporting characters yeah yeah no I definitely agree I feel like this movie asks you to forgive a lot because there is some stuff that seems sort of unrealistic in the sense of like how he was able to go so long without the legal system getting involved over the course of this hour and a half because you think you need an ID to like verify and paperwork and whatnot.

Starting point is 00:08:46 I just snorted it. I don't know. This is one of those things where part of me is like in real life this would be way more complicated but then I think to real life scenarios where I find myself going

Starting point is 00:08:57 I thought this would have been more complicated like there should be more safeguards. So yeah. It's a feel good movie, you know? Sure. I felt good while watching it. You know, it does tuck at the heartstrings.

Starting point is 00:09:07 It does do that thing that it's supposed to do. Sure. Yeah, it's a light movie and it's funny watching this because the last movie John and I watched as of recording this was Happy Madison,

Starting point is 00:09:16 seeing like the parallel on the type of characters that he would play. Happy Gilmore. What did I say? Happy Madison. Fair, I mean, fair,

Starting point is 00:09:24 because Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore fused to make the production company name. Right, right, right, right. Okay. Yeah, but I would say there's a lot of similarities and type of characters that he plays.

Starting point is 00:09:35 And, you know, at this point in his career, like that, that kind of character works for him. And it's, I don't know, it was interesting watching that after watching this last movie.

Starting point is 00:09:44 And, you know, I, in a realistic sense, like, maybe he probably wouldn't get the kid. But, like, I'm happy that he did because you see, you know, that they kind of teach each other something in a sense. You know, he teaches him about maturity. And then, you know, he, the kid teaches Adam Sandler to be more mature. And then Adam Sandler teaches him about, like, the facts of life, you know, in his own man-child kind of way. Yeah. Yeah. It made him find a new place.

Starting point is 00:10:14 of new sense of home you know because prior to this movie he lost his mom you know and he was like this kid that was lost and like he was scared and like this guy made him feel loved and even though he was doing it for the wrong reasons at first because he wanted his girlfriend back he found he found like the love of the sincerity and like what and he learned to not be selfless or not to be selfish yeah and yeah like i love characters who can go through an arc of you know doing something that's higher than themselves because, you know, it's, I feel like that's what life should be, you know, just finding something that's, that's greater than your own, your own needs. Okay, this is 99 Sandler.

Starting point is 00:10:53 So this is like, we're actually kind of, it's interesting. This, this to me felt like it could have been earlier than some of the other ones just because the, like the other ones that we've seen thus far, I think, skew more broad and more high concept. She was chasing Amy. That's where I've seen her before. I have never seen chasing Amy. It's a great movie. But, I mean, I think that's an interesting note of this because, yeah, it's like you look at a waterboy or a happy Gilmore or any of these things.

Starting point is 00:11:22 Like, there's a broadness to the comedy of this movie most certainly, but it almost felt a little less broad than some of the other things that I'm used to seeing up until this point. And I feel like this could also be kind of hailing maybe a slight shift toward, you know, the more dramatic Sandler that would eventually kind of arise. because even though he has his sort of like wise-ass personality that he often has in this movie. It's not like as cranked up as a lot of his other characters are. And I think that's an interesting thing. He's still playing a character, not a caricature. Yeah. And I mean, it's still relatively familiar for like it's, you know, a version of an Adam Sandler essentially.

Starting point is 00:12:02 But at the same time, yeah, there's like an earned, I think the real nice thing about this movie is like, I feel like a lot of the other ones we watch are. surprising you with the earnestness despite how broad it is. And certainly this has that quality, but I thought this was more earnest, more directly, more of the time than a lot of those other ones where like the earnest thread will like pop out and surprise you. Whereas here, it felt kind of like a natural curve into that and like pretty much right away you see the good nature in this guy coming out or at least the fact that like, yeah, he's got this hairbrain scheme to get.

Starting point is 00:12:40 his girl back by adopting a kid but the whole time he's still pretty concerned with the kid's well-being and teaching him stuff and like not losing his patience and whatever like there are a couple moments where like oh yeah he wants to keep sleeping so he puts a kid on newspapers but like there's so many opportunities where it could have gone like oh you know he snapped at him and he went too far and he yelled at him and other kids like you know there there are certainly like a lot of cliche things they could have done with like the actual father-son dynamic that i think they avoided that were nice um and yeah like once you get to the end it is at least that thing of like okay there's a i think there's a bit of a muddling of like the emotional payoff and like i thought that thing with

Starting point is 00:13:22 his dad in the courtroom was really nice and that whole thing of like yeah i want you to come up here and cross-examine me and prove why i shouldn't be as sort of a philosophical demonstration of understanding of like the sacrifice and the nuance it is to like be apparent and like those things I thought were really nice. And coming to that emotional resolve of like, man, this dude really does deserve to have the kid, like, I think that's a good thing. It's a nice thing, but I think there's like a tempering you could do. And it's like the movie still does the tempered version by the end because you're watching

Starting point is 00:13:54 as Julian is learning to, you know, play with and learn from his actual dad, John Stewart. And that's like a nice, lovely little moment they leave us off on while it's, you know, we kind of understand that Sunny will be the kid's uncle, essentially. and then he's got his own baby at the end um yeah it's it's i'm trying to figure like i feel like there's a thread i could that oh continue keep going there's a i feel like there could see a movie a version of this movie that's more that has a little bit more drama in it like i was interested even though it was played for comedy until it's sincere at the end there was this interesting relationship we could have explored more between sunny and his father sure

Starting point is 00:14:34 and you know why he turned out the way he did because like he just dropped a bomb at the end of the movie or a minor bomb, but the fact that he chose to to hang out with his friends and then he missed the death of his aunt and her funeral. Yeah. What's going on there? Like, why, what was that all about? Yeah. You know, how did

Starting point is 00:14:52 his relationship with his dad play into the kind of man that he became? Like, how is he the one slacker dude in this group of lawyers? Like, what's that about? You know, how did that come to me? Yeah, and they're all, like, all of them are lawyers. Everybody in his life and then everyone in his life by the end of,

Starting point is 00:15:08 is representing him somehow, or at least involved in his case? Yeah, yeah. So I thought that was interesting. Yeah. And... Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring, which is what we use for our merch store and is our game-changing partner in e-commerce. You don't need to be tech savvy to understand.

Starting point is 00:15:25 It allows individuals and businesses to create and manage online stores, offering tools for sales, payments, marketing, and inventory management. It's worth trying out because of its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, comprehensive suite of features that cater to businesses of all sizes. Their checkout system unmatched. It's 36% more effective at converting visitors into buyers than other platforms. And let's not forget, Shopify magic. The AI tool that elevates your business with minimal effort.

Starting point is 00:15:49 But seriously, reflecting on our journey using Shopify for www. Rejectnation shop.com, it's been transformative. The transition, smooth, growth, exponential. Thank you again, Reject Nation. From simplifying sales to scaling our offerings, Shopify has been a cornerstone of our success. And Shopify isn't just for us. It powers 10% of U.S. e-commerce, backing businesses big and small and over 175 countries. There are award-winning support always there to guide you.

Starting point is 00:16:15 So ready to join the revolution? Sign up for Shopify at only a dollar a month at Shopify.com slash rejects. All overcase, Shopify.com slash rejects. Start your Shopify success story now. Let's grow together with Shopify team. I guess it's because that stuff is so quick. It's like we get to the... I guess I could imagine a version.

Starting point is 00:16:35 of this were like the legal passage. It's weird. It's like everything I come up with that's like an interesting kind of note of the experience or even things that I would have wanted more of or I would venture to like critique about the movie are all things where I'm like I get why it's not proportioned this way. Although part of me is like I feel like especially the legal stuff could have taken a bit more time just to like really kind of not that it needs to become like a legal thriller But just to get you, like, I forgot about Julian in that scene until he comes out at the end.

Starting point is 00:17:08 And I was like, oh, that's right. That's what we're here for. And, yeah, and then, like, it's fun to get all your little wrap-ups and stuff at the end. You know, I don't personally, as if you were, need the punch down on the Christy Swanson character or just the meme of Hooters being, like, yeah, most everything. Most everything is, yeah, is on point. But, yeah, like, that was a thread. Having the gay friends, I thought, was an interesting one because they make a lot out of it. And like, whenever they talk about it, everyone's like, how are you adjusting to our friends being gay?

Starting point is 00:17:41 Yeah, I like that. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, I like that the joke wasn't the fact that they were gay. And I liked the fact that it was like, it was weird, yeah. Yeah, because it wasn't like. It wasn't making a bunch of gay jokes and it wasn't making a bunch of jokes that they're like, it seemed like the movie wanted to be like, yeah, they're gay, so what? But at the same time. Yeah, it was doing it like ahead of its time. trying to integrate people being gay into like into mainstream movies and like not have it be a big deal and I thought that was very cool yeah yeah and it's interesting to see that circa 1999 where you're like okay this if this was happening today this would be handled with more finesse because again it's like once you find out they're gay pretty much everyone's like I don't know everyone is just constantly sharing flashbacks of like remember when they used to not be gay you know which is fine but it's just one of those things where

Starting point is 00:18:31 I'm like, oh, it's a strange beat because, yeah, half your brain is like, oh, it's cool, because, yeah, there are just their friends, they're all supportive, they're here for him, and they rib each other, but, you know, whatever, that's cool. But at the same time, like, the tone of voice and the way we incorporate that stuff, I think, has changed, certainly. So I think, like, they make an odd strain of comedy out of it, even though it seems good-natured and less, like, objectionable than a lot of other gay jokes and a lot of other movies and stuff. and then uh and then yeah just like the constant dogging on hooters i'm like ah we can move past that now like we live in a game excessive we live in a day in time where like hooters does not it doesn't pack the same punch as like being a dead end for your life you know like we all recognize the the hooters as an institution is a bit problematic but also like people are out and and yeah people out there you know are making it work for themselves and and you know like

Starting point is 00:19:26 there's everything under the sun so like you know that that's an uh a joke part of me has to imagine that they paid for that although i always wonder it's like brands have gotten more savvy especially in like the yeah as as like s and stuff has gotten more viral they've been more apparent that brands are like yeah you know use us for comedy make jokes at our expense even but you know we still sponsored this and that's kind of how this feels with hooters but also i'm like but they are kind of like using it as the butt of jokes whereas like there's a ton of other product placement that is just product placement. Okay, I think that's what I was

Starting point is 00:20:01 trying to say earlier. Like, yeah, even though they would make reference and, and comedy about the fact that their friends were gay, I don't think they were like trying to be like being gay is a bad thing. They weren't making them the butt of jokes. Exactly. I never felt like they were punching down. I feel like they were like

Starting point is 00:20:17 not, plus me laterally doesn't make sense. It just, it just seems like, yeah, they can be like, for the times because I feel like a lot of people at that time weren't publicly out. so for them to have them as characters in the movie, but then address it how people in the 90s I felt probably would because they weren't used to it in a regular basis.

Starting point is 00:20:36 I felt like it didn't feel like out of pocket. For the moment in time, yeah. And yeah, for the moment in time, I'm like, this could have been so much worse. Because, yeah, it is like, it's not like anyone's really joking about them. It's just everyone's sort of being like, strange. We got these gay friends now and they didn't use, we didn't use to know this.

Starting point is 00:20:56 Yeah. Crazy, right? But then they treat them as characterly. They're just like on the lawyer's hand. Yeah, like at least good nature seeming kind of way. Yeah. I will say that it's funny because I feel like the biggest buy for me in the movie was because the sister and Adam Sandler had good, I think they had good chemistry, but I felt like it was

Starting point is 00:21:15 kind of funny that he went from, remember with the girlfriend's original job? What did they ever say? I forget. Okay. But the fact that he went from dating her and she's like, you need to do something with your life to then him dating like a busy ass lawyer. Yeah. I felt like I feel like it didn't

Starting point is 00:21:32 not that it didn't make sense but I feel like a woman of that position would have similar concerns to the last girlfriend. It's one of those things that yeah because of the time economy of a movie like this and because we can't get overwrought about certain things and because the movie is being a couple different kinds of movie at the same

Starting point is 00:21:47 time you don't get to flesh that stuff as much. And like part of me is like fine, cool. We don't need to draw this out because it is is like he happens upon her in the park and at first i'm like well he must have known that she would be there because we've seen this character before but then it seems like oh no this is just an authentic attempt at using this kid to pick up chicks but it also just happens to be you bro watch a thing back so great let's let's do that and then like and yeah it's like that could

Starting point is 00:22:16 have been its own romantic comedy but because we're in this other scenario it basically has to be that we see only the most basic beats of like yeah we're going to see how we're going to him try to do the ruse realizes her they're going to hit it off eventually they're going to kind of mom and dad roll the kid and then you know they'll actually get together oh my god thinking back at this whole thing i'm like because because she didn't want to be a part of this from the beginning like she was when they meet her at the park she's like no i got to work then he uses the kid okay i'll go back to your place and then she didn't want to kiss him and then they go on the date and then she's like no i still don't know if i want to kiss you and it's like come on

Starting point is 00:22:52 I'm funny. He's like, okay, he'll kiss you. And then they go to, he goes to her job after he loses the kid. He's like, I got this job thing. I got to go do. But my job and my kid. And then she shows up. And then a year later, she gets pregnant.

Starting point is 00:23:04 I was like, dang, I feel like home girl would have like a whole life ahead of her. Had Adam Sandlin had inserted himself into it. It does seem, yeah. Yeah, there's just little questions like that and little things that I think, again, I'm willing to let go of for. Not to say that she can't still have a life, but I'm just saying just the way that they wrote the character felt like she was very much about her career. And it wasn't like this mutual falling in love thing. It was like Adam Sandler kind of like like,

Starting point is 00:23:27 come on like charming her way into like her apprehension for them to be together. Yeah, it's like I think that that for the wrap around for the ending moment, like them having a baby, it works for the image. You know, it works for like the kind of ending you want to have. But yeah, it's like in the details of the movie. And without having like an extra 10 minutes to hack some of this stuff out, you are like, oh, interesting. Like I could have seen them getting to.

Starting point is 00:23:52 together and maybe planning to have kids down the line or a little further down the line than they are right now because yeah, she does have. And he says that thing about like, you know, I got, you know, someone who earns. And in 1999, you know, things were probably more rough than they are at this point in time. And in this point in time, things are already not great for, you know, moms having careers trying to balance both. And who knows, you know, maybe he's the stay at home dad like i guess that's what i would my head cannon would say i know we're leaving realism at the door here but sure homie became a lawyer in like a year is that possible can you just do that well he went to law school and stuff what i'm guessing is he did all the study at the beginning

Starting point is 00:24:37 he went to law something like that yeah he graduated law school and then it's probably like he just needs to brush up and then pass the bar or something like that is my guess but yeah it's like it's all there and there are certain elements where you're like oh yeah i could have used a little more flesh on this or that or yeah things that you're kind of left to fill in at the end what my guess is that she probably works and he raises the kid um but yeah all in all this was quite charming it was quite heartwarming i thought yeah the relationship between sunny and julian was quite dear and and yeah enjoyed a lot of the supporting characters too a lot of the you know sandler regulars uh you know robsdiner playing another you know uh i can't remember how many times he's played like a middle

Starting point is 00:25:17 Eastern guy or I'm always curious about like he's always showing up in like a different ethnicity or some kind of wildly different thing. Yeah, he played something else in Waterboy, right? He's like, he's that guy. And then we just, I saw Click just recently and he was like a Saudi Prince or something in that movie. Yeah, he's an old bunch of the Sandler's. Then obviously, Steve Bishimi was a nice surprise.

Starting point is 00:25:41 And then yeah, Leslie Manon here and all that stuff. And Christy Swanson was nice to see her for a hot second there. and just all the other main supporting characters again his friends just everyone I thought was quite charming his dad like that was a nice thing because we see him like the once and then we come to the very end of the movie and it's like

Starting point is 00:25:59 oh we're having like a really touching heartfelt scene and so yeah this movie had a nice blend of all the things in some variety I think like you know again this is one of those movies that gives me a bunch of different views of if you just tweaked one element or another element it could look a slightly different way but for what it is and again what the point is i still

Starting point is 00:26:20 thought this was very charming very funny and uh and yeah i can see why a lot of people like would really embrace this movie in particular i'd probably give it like a like a six and a half yeah i'll go like a seven you know seven yeah seven yeah yeah i feel like i'm curious like because again now the more we see of these the more we're going to have to like rank them up that's true this one i think i'm going to have to maybe chew on because it's not quite as like all the other ones I've seen so far are sort of what I expected in terms of like intensity

Starting point is 00:26:49 of energy and this is the most sort of different than the attitude I was outwardly expecting in that. Yeah, I think I was going into it expecting like a balls to the wall comedy but it had like more heart than that and like it was still comedy but you know it had a decent balance

Starting point is 00:27:06 you know especially towards the end but yeah guys it was a fun time did you guys like watching this movie like watching this reaction tell us what you guys think in the comment like, comment, ring that bell. And yeah, we look forward to seeing guys

Starting point is 00:27:18 in the next one, guys. All right. Well, with that being said, adios, y'all. Peace.

Your Ad Here

The Reel Rejects - BIG DADDY (1999) MOVIE REVIEW! FIRST TIME WATCHING!

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.