How did "The Wedding Singer" evolve from just another slapstick comedy into a
beloved blockbuster hit? Here's what went into making Adam Sandler's retro rom-com.
According to "Wedding Singer" screenwriter Tim Herlihy, there wasn't a conscious effort
to make the film drastically different from "Billy Madison" or "Happy Gilmore."
The formula had been working for both the fans and the box office receipts,
so there wasn't a need to reinvent it. But as work got underway on the pair's third film,
it ended up naturally evolving into a more grounded and more romance-focused film.
Herlihy credits the fact that he had recently gotten married as part of the
reason why the script began to become more of a grown-up romantic comedy rather than another
silly romp about a bumbling man-child. He also says that the change was inspired by Sandler's
terrific chemistry with Drew Barrymore, and the fact that test audiences didn't
mind scenes where her character was the focus and Sandler wasn't on screen at all.
The latter was deemed unacceptable by test audiences of the previous two Sandler films,
forcing those movies to cut almost any scene that Sandler wasn't in.
Adam Sandler wisely surrounds himself with fantastic character actors in his films,
and one of the best that he ever worked with was Alexis Arquette. While Arquette's Boy
George-obsessed "Wedding Singer" bandmate could have easily been extremely one-note
and only useful for a single punchline, George Stitzer proved to be an effective and ongoing
presence throughout the film and was responsible for just as many warm moments as funny ones.
It seems obvious enough that Arquette's performance came from a place of affection
for the singer, but it isn't always clear how the person being parodied is going to take the
impression. However, during a concert with his band Culture Club the day after Arquette passed
away in 2016, George paid tribute to Arquette, saying she played him, quote, "very hilariously"
and that he enjoyed Arquette's work in the film. He then dedicated his performance of his classic
song "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" to Arquette, as that was the song she got stuck singing over
and over again to an increasingly frustrated audience in her biggest scene in the film.
"You suuuuuuck!"
If you need a character to have a real woman's voice,
you often need to get a woman to write her words. That is exactly what happened when
none other than Carrie Fisher was brought in to do uncredited script doctor work on
"The Wedding Singer," specifically to tweak the dialogue of Drew Barrymore's character.
"I don't need a big wedding."
In fact, Fisher had been doing that very thing for years, and she's worked on a
number of different movies. Her earliest examples of uncredited dialogue work came
in the original "Star Wars" films. She grew frustrated when Harrison Ford's rewriting of
his own Han Solo dialogue began to have a negative impact on Princess Leia's lines,
so she decided to rewrite hers as well. George Lucas liked her work so much that he asked her
to write an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and also help him with
the dialogue in the "Star Wars" prequels. Fisher eventually became a sought after script doctor,
doing script work on such films as "Last Action Hero," "Hook," "Scream 3," and "Coyote Ugly."
Adam Sandler movies, at least the ones that he either co-wrote or were written
specifically for him, have rarely been a hit with the critics. It's only when he
appears in a movie that he merely acts in — like "Punch-Drunk Love" or "Uncut
Gems" — that critics manage to appreciate his work. Considering he has a net worth of almost
half a billion dollars and was eventually deemed worthy of $20 million-per-movie
paydays that are typically reserved for blockbuster action stars, it's clear that
the moviegoing public doesn't see eye to eye with the critics. He's probably just fine with that.
With all that being said, not all Adam Sandler movies have been met
with unanimous disapproval from critics. In fact,
even "Happy Gilmore" managed to just squeak by with a "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
But "The Wedding Singer" comes in at a respectable 69%, making it the highest-rated of films he's
penned, and fifth overall of his movies to date. While a few of the higher-rated
movies have comedic elements, they are just as equally dramas, and the case can
easily be made that "The Wedding Singer" is the highest-rated pure comedy of Sandler's career.
"Is it your confidence? Are you nervous about your penis?"
Adam Sandler movies were basically an annual event in the '90s. Every fall
meant a new Adam Sandler comedy — until New Line Cinema messed that up when they decided
that "The Wedding Singer" would work better if it was released close to Valentine's Day.
So they pushed it from its originally-planned fall 1997 release into February 1998,
in hopes that couples would see it as part of a romantic dinner and a movie date.
It's hard to tell how much more business the new release date actually drove to the movie and how
much of it was just Sandler's huge star power at that time, but the box office tallies no doubt
made New Line very happy. Still, the side effect was that 1997 saw zero new Adam Sandler movies,
while 1998 saw two: "The Wedding Singer" in February, followed by "The Waterboy" in November.
Moviegoers clearly didn't have Sandler fatigue at that point, as "The Waterboy" was also a huge hit
— much bigger than "The Wedding Singer" in fact, with more than double its domestic box office.
Combined, Adam Sandler movies brought in roughly $242 million at the box office that year just
in the U.S.. With only two comedies, that's an impressive figure no matter how it's distributed.
"Is it true that you're in the middle of a nervous breakdown?"
"No!"
It's impossible to deny what a wonderful onscreen couple Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore make.
Their chemistry is palpable from their very first scene together in "The Wedding Singer," and it is
very easy to see how quickly they are able to fall in love despite the obstacles that stand
in their way. Barrymore claims that she could tell she and Sandler would be great together
even before the two met. She says she approached Sandler and revealed that she believed them to be
"cinematic soul mates," a claim which she admits must have sounded crazy to him at the time.
As crazy as it might have sounded, it proved to be accurate. Not only were the two great
together in "The Wedding Singer," but they reteamed on "50 First Dates," which was yet
another example of how well they clicked on-screen. It would also be the first time
that Sandler revisited a female co-lead, something he typically does only in direct
sequels like "Grown Ups 2." In fact, the duo couldn't resist making a third movie together,
which they did in 2014's "Blended." That one might have failed to recapture the magic of
their previous pairings, but it definitely speaks to how well the two actors get along.
"I think I'm in love with her."
With so many scenes in "The Wedding Singer" taking place at weddings,
the movie is full of crowds of people that are difficult to keep track of. Among those crowds
is an actor who was at the time mostly known only to stand-up comedy nerds,
but would soon be familiar to mainstream audiences as well.
During Robbie's bitter performance of "Love Stinks," he goes around and gets various
eclectic members of the crowd involved — from a woman with sideburns to a man stuffing his
face to an entire table of people he regrettably refers to as "mutants." Among the group of people
at table nine that Robbie is cruel to is comedian Brian Posehn in his first film role. He's easy to
miss at first, but once the entire table belts out "love stinks!" in unison he's much easier to spot.
Prior to "The Wedding Singer," Posehn previously appeared in "Mr. Show with
Bob and David," and he also landed cameos in "Friends" and "NewsRadio."
After "The Wedding Singer," he scored a recurring role on "Just Shoot Me!"
and a steady stream of TV and movie appearances after that.
Billy Idol's appearance in "The Wedding Singer" likely was a surprise to audiences at the time,
but it was a pleasant one. Idol showed up as himself, a rock star
flying first class who would end up helping Robbie win Julia.
Idol would later admit that the main reason he did the film was that his son was a huge Sandler fan,
and he reasoned that if he was going to have to see the movie anyway, he might as well be
in it. He showed up during the pivotal scene where Julia finally officially picks Robbie over Glen,
and it ended up being good for his career. The cameo introduced him to a whole new
generation of fans who Idol says continued to follow him for years after the fact.
"Sir? Is that Billy Idol?"
"I believe it is."
Although Robbie sings a lot in "The Wedding Singer," both as part of his gig and just
in impromptu performances for Julia, it isn't technically a musical. But it
became one when screenwriter Tim Herlihy teamed with Chad Beguelin and Matthew
Sklar to adapt it into a full-fledged Broadway production. After previews,
it officially opened in February 2006 and ran until the end of the year on Broadway
before becoming a touring production in 2007 and beyond. Versions of the "Wedding Singer" musical
have been performed in at least 30 cities in the U.S., as well as Canada, Europe, and Australia.
While "The Wedding Singer" movie was never going to rack up any Academy Award nominations,
the musical was much better respected by the live theater counterpart. The show was
nominated for five Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score,
Best Choreography, and Best Performance of an Actor In A Leading Role in a Musical.
It didn't end up winning any of those awards, but it's still impressive that
the "Wedding Singer" musical can proclaim that it's a five-time Tony Award nominee.
These days, we take for granted the ability to stream music,
but it wasn't that way in the '90s. In the case of "The Wedding Singer," buying the soundtrack
was an easy and affordable way to instantly own a collection of a dozen or so classic '80s hits
all in one place. A lot of people jumped at that chance, as the soundtrack went double
platinum in the U.S. and also sold very well in Canada, Australia, and the U.K.
The soundtrack for "The Wedding Singer" was so successful, in fact, that it was the rare example
of a movie soundtrack later having a "Volume 2." The second installment included songs from the
movie that weren't among the first batch, like Adam Sandler's "Grow Old With You." In fact,
both "Wedding Singer" soundtracks are so well loved that they've even since been
re-released in vinyl format, which is fitting for a collection of '80s tunes.
As Adam Sandler built up his resume of lead roles in the '90s,
there was a time when each movie did better than the last at the box office.
"Billy Madison" grossed $25 million, "Happy Gilmore" topped that at $39 million,
and then "The Wedding Singer" blew them both out of the water with an $80 million domestic
box office tally. Needless to say, Sandler had arrived as a bankable comedy movie lead.
"Sir, one more outburst I will strangle you with my microphone wire, you understand me?"
But what "The Wedding Singer" also announced was the arrival of Adam Sandler as a global
superstar. While his previous two films barely did any business outside of the U.S.,
"The Wedding Singer" added a combined $43 million in its global release, pushing him over the
$100 million mark worldwide for the first time. Granted, he had no trouble passing $100 million
just in the U.S. on his next handful or so of releases, not counting notable early outlier
dud "Little Nicky." But it's still important to take note of the movie that first got him into the
nine figure club and extended his reach beyond the States, and that movie was "The Wedding Singer."
Adam Sandler movies reuse a lot of the
same actors, but he's also been generous when it comes to finding parts for some of his old pals,
including Allen Covert, Peter Dante , and Jonathan Loughran, giving them roles both in
front of and behind the camera. Loughran has also served as Sandler's assistant,
while Covert has been a producer on basically every Happy Madison production to date.
Early in his career, Sandler initially didn't have the clout for this, but on "The Wedding Singer,"
Sandler could finally pull the strings needed to not only get Covert a major part as Robbie's best
friend, but he also brought Peter Dante into the fold with a minor role in the beginning. Covert,
Dante, and Loughran would go on to have bigger roles in subsequent Sandler movies,
and have even forged careers outside of Happy Madison as well.