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The Wedding Singer: The Totally Awesome Edition

April 24, 2006 - Mark Keizer, DVDFile.com

Adam Sandler has done a lot of bad movies and, arguably, is synonymous with bad movies, even more so then Rob Schneider is synonymous with bad movies. But Sandler has his moments and one of them is The Wedding Singer. The movie plays to Sandler’s strengths as an actor, which is that he really has no strengths as an actor. However, he does have strength as a humorous reciter of dialogue and as a comic willing to look like an idiot for a joke. In most of his films, he scores points with his inviting and self-deprecating ability to play the fool (i.e., get beaten up by an elderly Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore). In The Wedding Singer, he scores points a new way: by being sincere. Or at least his half-assed approximation of being sincere. However you slice it, it works.

Here, he plays Robbie Hart, an ‘80s era wedding singer. As a singer, he’s okay. But his real gift is to keep any wedding ceremony upbeat and fun in sometimes difficult circumstances, like when the drunken brother of one groom (played by Steve Buscemi in a cameo) starts spilling state secrets during a toast. Robbie performs at some sort of community venue, whose wait staff includes Julia (Drew Barrymore), a cute blonde engaged to slick womanizer Glen (Matthew Glave). Sandler and Barrymore make a good pair. They’re very light together and project the air of a brother and sister filming silly home movies in their garage with dad’s new video camera. They keep this light comedy floating like a paper airplane. And this joie de whatever helps enormously because, let’s face it, Tim Herlihy’s script is nothing great. The movie features about three-dozen songs from the ‘80s. Remove those songs and there’s not much left.

With the songs, director Frank Coraci gets to have fun with costumes and set design and unfairly relies on our nostalgia for Hall and Oates. For instance, Robbie’s friend shows up to a party in a red leather jacket and wearing one glove, like Michael Jackson. Robbie tells his on-again, off-again fiancee to take off the Van Halen t-shirt or she’ll jinx the band and they’ll break up. At the start of the film proper, this fiancee, a leggy, puffy-haired harlot, gets the plot rolling when she leaves Robbie at the altar because she doesn’t want to be married to a wedding singer. “That’s a piece of information you could have told me years ago�, he screams. Despondent, he begins to fall for Julia and Julia begins to fall for him, although her marriage to Glen is imminent. So imminent, that Robbie helps her shop for wedding-related items.

So really, The Wedding Singer is one of those romantic comedies where you know these two crazy kids are going to wind up together. Success depends on how well the filmmakers can kill ninety minutes until that happens. The answer is: well enough. Sandler is able to instantly switch between venomous sarcasm and aw- shucks sincerity. It serves him well, since his audience won’t stand for the latter unless there’s plenty of the former. The Wedding Singer is like one of those tiny little pastry hors d’oeuvres you eat at, ironically enough, weddings. It’s light, cranked out by machine, and has no nutritional value, but in the end, you can’t resist it.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

This 1.85:1 anamorphic picture is quite good looking. It’s depressing to call a film that takes place in 1985 a “period piece,� but that’s the truth. And all the period details, like the costumes, are rendered brightly. The reds and the blues look saturated and rich. Blacks are firm and the scenes in the darkened clubs and bars have nice shadow detail. The print looks terrific, without a flaw or edge halos in sight. The overall picture is above average in sharpness. This is a satisfyingly bright and clean picture.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

New Line provides tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0, and a brand new DTS 5.1. Suffice it to say, all other considerations pale as long as the songs are properly rendered. And for the most part, they are. Bass is deep and the surrounds are given a moderate workout during the songs. The DTS and the Dolby are almost identical, but if I had to choose, I’d give the DTS a tiny advantage in terms of better integrating the aural elements and slightly deeper bass. But really, it’s a wash. My only quibble with the tracks (less of a problem on the DTS) is a constant need to ride the levels, especially when the songs kicked in. Dialogue is clean and without edge, even when Sandler transitions from a whisper to a yell in the same sentence. Overall, a very respectable mix for a romantic comedy.

There are no foreign language tracks, but there are English and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Disappointing. No gag reel. No deleted scenes. No Easter Eggs. I’m not sure what’s Totally Awesome about this edition, other than it’s not the previous edition.

A useless promotional featurette that probably accounts for 98% of the reason this DVD was even released, A Backstage Look at The Wedding Singer on Broadway is a look at the stage bound version of the film. Screenwriter Tim Herlihy is interviewed along with the show’s composers and producers. There’s a lot of background footage of the production and, well . . . um, you know what? I can’t write anything else about this supplement, because the whole thing is such a puff piece, a 10-minute commercial, that I regret having to watch it.

Next is ‘80s Mix Tapes. Here, all the vintage songs played in the movie are listed. Click one of the titles and you’re magically whisked to the scene in the movie that features the song. Each title is “written� on an audio cassette case and labeled with a handwritten piece of trivia. It’s stupid.

Finally, there are some trailers, including The Wedding Singer, Wedding Crashers, Monster in Law, and Dumb and Dumber.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

Pop this puppy into your PC and get some weblinks and other stuff I can’t view because I own a Mac. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world of peace, flowing fountains of chocolate syrup, Viagra dispensed from gumball machines, and DVD-ROM content viewable on a Mac? May we live to see the day.

Final Thoughts

So thin it’s almost transparent, The Wedding Singer is nevertheless a well-meaning, sweet little nothing that skates by on charm and affability. This new DVD is a disappointment. The biggest extra is a terrible promo piece for the Wedding Singer Broadway production. If you have the old DVD, keep it. If you’re interested in buying the film, you may as well buy this new iteration. Just don’t expect much.

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