Adam Sandler's Highest Rated Film Is His Daughter's Netflix Hit
Since 1989, Adam Sandler has been one of the busiest men in Hollywood. Not only is he a prolific funnyman on screen, but he's also got his own production company, Happy Madison, that has cranked out over 25 feature films. Sandler inked a lucrative exclusivity deal with Netflix a few years back and has been churning out films for them to varying degrees of success. (I'm personally one of the folks who will die on the hill that "Hubie Halloween" is good, actually, but even I can't go to bat for "The Ridiculous 6.")
Sure, Sandler has made some sophomoric films, and many include questionable casting choices/characterizations that don't hold up in our contemporary culture (like every role Rob Schneider has ever played), but he's also been unfairly used as a punching bag by snobbish cinephiles despite the overwhelming evidence that he's a comedic genius. When he won Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards following his egregious Oscars snub for "Uncut Gems," his acceptance speech included the now-viral line, "I'd also like to give a shout-out to my fellow nominees, who will now and forever be known as the guys who lost to f***ing Adam Sandler." He's fully aware of how the world views him and his movies but keeps making the kinds of stories he wants, often with his friends.
But the latest Happy Madison production is a family affair, with Sandler taking the back seat to let his daughter, Sunny, shine in the Netflix teen comedy "You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah," which boasts a 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest rated film in Adam Sandler's filmography. (Yes, even above "Hustle," "Uncut Gems," and "The Meyerowitz Stories.")
'Adam is doing everything right'
"You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah" is based on the book of the same name by Fiona Rosenbloom, and directed by Sammi Cohen from a script from Alison Peck ("Ugly Dolls"). Cohen was responsible for one of last year's best teen girl films, the queer rom-com "Crush," starring Rowan Blanchard and Auli'i Cravalho. It's a delight to see Cohen have back-to-back hits, especially because both films center around aspects of their own identity: Queer and Jewish.
In the Netflix film, Sunny Sandler plays Stacy, the youngest daughter of the Friedman family (Idina Menzel, Adam Sandler, and real-life older sister Sadie Sandler) who is approaching her bat mitzvah. In the weeks leading up to the big day, Stacy and her best friend Lydia (Samantha Lorraine) have a falling out over a boy, but their friendship breakup is kept hidden from their parents, with Lydia's parents (Sandler's real-life wife, Jackie, and Luis Guzmán) operating as if all is well ahead of Lydia's also impending bat mitzvah.
"And there's this sense of ease and show up as you are," Cohen told Entertainment Weekly. "When you feel like you're around family, you can just be more yourself. And that, I think, elicits funnier jokes and there's less of a filter on everything." Cohen continued, "Adam is doing everything right. He's producing, he's acting, he's being a dad." There's a moment in "YASNITMBM" where Adam and Sunny are in the car together, and she's pouting about her broken friendship. As a means to cheer her up, Sandler goes to give her a cup of coffee and pretends to dump it on her, but it's empty. Sunny flinches with genuine laughter, a moment that looks less like acting and more like an organic look into what life is like in their family ... and it's delightful.
An unapologetic coming-of-age story
2023 has been a big year for coming-of-age films, and specifically, Jewish coming-of-age films. Kelly Fremon Craig's adaptation of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" deals with a young girl struggling to find her place with interfaith parents, and while "Bottoms" isn't explicitly a Jewish film, director Emma Seligman — fresh off the success of her debut feature, "Shiva Baby" — is a queer Jewish filmmaker who doesn't write stories through the lens of the dominant culture. All three of these films are completely different in tone and approach to telling a teen girl story, a reminder that no identity community is a monolith.
Unfortunately, as antisemitism reaches new highs in the U.S., that bigoted hatred has flooded onto "You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah." The film has a phenomenal critical rating but is being review-bombed in places where user reviews are permitted. And it's not just those filled with hate for the Jewish community, but also transphobes who take issue with the film's inclusion of a b'nai mitzvah, a gender-neutral mitzvah at the start of the film (director Sammi Cohen is non-binary), as well as the garden variety misogynists who can't stomach the idea of Adam Sandler's most critically acclaimed film being a teen girl story.
But "You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah" deserves to be Sandler's highest-rated film, because it's a masterful, personal addition to the teen girl movie canon. It's frustrating that films that center on teen boys like "Rebel Without a Cause" or "Stand By Me" are considered outright classics, but teen girl films are constantly having to fight off the scarlet letter of the "chick flick" label. This is a film that will not only allow generations of young Jewish kids to feel seen in a genre that is overwhelmingly cis, white, straight, and Christian, but also allow other kids to step inside a world and a culture that they might otherwise never be exposed to seeing.
Sunny and Sadie Sandler have a bright future in the family business if they choose to pursue it, and if "You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah" is any indication, the Sandler legacy is in great hands.