DVD REVIEW: WEDDING SINGER, THE (TOTALLY AWESOME EDITION)

The Pitch

“Do you remember when? Our hearts were together then.”

The Humans

Adam Sandler (Bulletproof), Drew Barrymore (Poison Ivy), Alexis Arquette (Bride of Chucky), Christine Taylor (A Very Brady Sequel) Ellen “Rappin’ Granny” Dow; unbilled cameos by Steve Buscemi and Jon Lovitz

The Nutshell

The Wedding Singer (1998) casts Sandler in his favorite type of role: an underachiever with an oversized work ethic. Here, he’s Robbie, a small-town entertainer who plays his audiences like a Vegas headliner. After his own wedding implodes, however, he starts working the crowd in a different way. Can sweet but unavailable waitress Julia (Barrymore) restore his faith in humanity?

This is the Star Trek IV of Adam Sandler movies—the one title in his catalog that fans and non-fans can enjoy equally. The ‘80s setting helps a lot by placing its cartoony, exaggerated star in a candy-colored, big-haired world where he fits right in. The period songs, from groups ranging from J. Geils to The Psychedelic Furs, are well chosen and are integrated into the story in creative ways. Credit must also go to Ms. Barrymore who, in addition to being something of an ‘80s icon herself, is simply adorable as all hell.

Totally Awesome Edition? Generally Agreeable Edition is more like it. This may be the first double-dip DVD to actually have fewer extras than the original release—there’s no Karaoke option, no trivia game, and no photo gallery. Aside from the new DTS track, the main bonus is a puff piece on the Broadway musical adaptation, currently onstage as of this writing—fancy that. The film itself is claimed to contain five minutes of added footage, but you’ll have to trust your memory: the alterations aren’t marked or identified in any way.