It’s time to take Adam Sandler seriously (2024)

Like fine wine or a round of artisanal cheddar, some things get better with age. And that includes people. Take Adam Sandler, for example. He’s been performing for nearly 40 years, growing and maturing into the actor he is today. But we’re still surprised when he shows us yet another new side of him. In his new film Spaceman, Sandler takes on the role of a lonely astronaut who communes with an alien at the edge of the solar system. The film’s meditational tone and art-house aesthetics allow him to channel the kinetic intensity he often brings to his roles, even the comedic ones, in a new direction—inward.

In case you haven’t been paying attention to his work lately, Sandler is no stranger to Netflix. Since his production company Happy Madison Productions first signed a deal with the streamer in 2014, he’s been involved in more than a dozen films, both as a star and a producer. They haven’t all been critical successes, but Sandler has always been one of those actors who’s more popular with movie fans than critics. His Netflix releases consistently find an audience, and some have even set viewing records. Even if you don’t care for him as a performer, you have to appreciate his savvy moves behind the scenes. He’s set himself up in a position where he can do whatever he wants to do, whether it’s a stand-up special, an animated musical, a romantic comedy, a Safdie Brothers crime drama, or an artsy sci-fi film about isolation.

It didn’t happen overnight. Sandler has spent decades in the entertainment industry proving himself. After gaining widespread recognition as the guy who sang silly songs on SNL, a string of comedy hits turned him into a bona fide movie star in the 1990s. And then, in 2002, he teamed up with Paul Thomas Anderson for Punch-Drunk Love, his first serious leading role. His acclaimed performance as a socially anxious salesman with anger management issues who falls in love hinted at something darker beneath the surface that audiences hadn’t really seen in him before. Without the mask of his go-to affectations and funny voices, he showed us something vulnerable and true.

The film opened a lot of doors for Sandler, and from this point on he would bounce back and forth between the kinds of comedies he’d become known for and more serious projects. For example, in 2007 he appeared in both Reign Over Me, in which he played a guy struggling with depression after losing his family on 9/11, and also I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, a comedy about two firemen who pretend to be a gay couple in order to qualify for insurance benefits. He cruised for a while in that mode, and even became an unlikely romantic lead opposite Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Aniston, both of whom have worked with him three times now.

Sandler’s recent body of work has continued to defy consistency. He appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Dustin Hoffman in Noah Baumbach’s well-received family drama The Meyerowitz Stories in 2017, and also the widely panned comedy Sandy Wexler. Just two years later he wowed everyone once again with his performance as jewelry dealer and gambling addict Howard Ratner in the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems. It’s a tension-filled high-wire act that puts you on edge for more than two hours straight, one that not many actors could have pulled off. But Sandler nimbly locks his familiar easy-going comic persona behind the fortress of Howard’s sleazy desperation. There was talk of an Oscar nomination for the role at the time, but it never materialized. Sandler won an Independent Spirit Award for it, though. And just last year he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Those are some pretty impressive accolades for someone who’s received 37 Golden Raspberry Award nominations. His nine wins put him in second place for the most Razzies awarded to any actor, just behind Sylvester Stallone’s record 10.

Never one to let himself be pinned down, Sandler followed Uncut Gems with the simplistic but fun Hubie Halloween in 2020, dusting off the manchild schtick that made him famous. For those who preferred the more mature and refined Sandler, you can see that version of him in 2022's Hustle, about an NBA scout who pins his hopes on a young basketball player from Spain. Before Spaceman, his most recent role was as an animated iguana in the family musical Leo. It seems like the only thing these projects have in common is Sandler himself.

Actors come and go, but one of the keys to Adam Sandler’s lasting popularity—besides his inherent likability, of course—has been his stubborn refusal to be constrained by convention or the whims of Hollywood. He’s weathered industry upheavals and scathing criticism and come out on the other side with the power to control his own destiny. And like that premium aged cheddar we spoke about earlier, he may grow in complexity, but there will always be an essential element of cheese. There’s some comfort in that.

Spaceman starts streaming on Netflix beginning March 1.