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Boys and Toys
My father taught me long ago by example that adulthood was a fairly grim calling -- a state of mind that allowed for very little joy or spontaneity, that was mainly about duty and drudgery and -- although he's been in AA since the mid '70s -- a fair amount of drinking on weeknights and weekends. So I've been fairly averse to the idea of fulfilling my father's idea of adulthood for most of my life.
from Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan
But sometimes I feel as if the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, as N.Y. Times critic A.O. Scott points out in this piece about perpetual male adolesence as exemplifed by Adam Sandler's screen roles.
Adam Sandler, who will turn 42 on September 9th, "did not invent the archetype of the overgrown man-child, which has been around at least since the silent era," Scott writes. "Nor has [he] been alone, over the past 15 years or so, in turning male infantile aggression into the basis of a lucrative and long-running movie career. The male rejection of adulthood is now the dominant attitude in Hollywood comedy, even (or perhaps especially) in movies whose sexual frankness makes them officially unsuitable for children.
"Occasionally you will see a functioning if beleaguered dad, usually a widower, like Steve Carell's character in Dan in Real Life. And sometimes, as in Little Miss Sunshine, a coeducational, multigenerational ensemble will carry the therapeutic and satirical burdens of the genre. But far more often the center of attention will be a guy, his buddies and his toys. He will, most of the time, be nudged toward responsibility, forgiven for his quirks and nurtured in his needs and neuroses by a woman who represents an ideal amalgam of supermodel and mom.
"It would be hypocritical of me to dismiss the appeal of this fantasy and silly to deny that a lot of these movies manage to be both very funny and disarmingly insightful about the male psyche. But I suspect I'm not alone in growing weary of the relentless contemplation of that psyche in its infantile state, and of the endless celebration of arrested development as a social entitlement."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 3, 2008 at 10:55 AM
comment #1
The Bandsaw Vigilante
says ...
You know who Sandler oughta use in all his movies?
Allen Covert.
Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante
at May 3, 2008 12:06 PM
comment #2
Feathers McGraw
says ...
It's even worse than Scott thinks out there. Not only has the ascendance of the man-child as Hollywood lead crowded out the leading man, in a lot of cases it's crowded out authentically kid-centric movies as well. It's apparently become conventional wisdom among a lot of studio executives that kids don't want to see movies with child leads (Harry Potter's quadrillion dollars nonwithstanding), so screenwriters that pitch or write kid-centric films get told "Is this a script that would work with Jack Black in the main role instead?" It's awful.
It's also one of the reasons why Don Murphy is a monumental douche for cackling over the failure of Zathura. Zathura was actually a very good, well-made family film, and its unfortunate failure to find an audience convinced a lot of executives that the very concept of child leads in family films was no longer viable. As a result, you'll see a lot fewer Stand By Mes and Goonies and a lot more Game Plans and Pacificers. Thanks, Don.
Posted by Feathers McGraw
at May 3, 2008 12:12 PM
comment #3
typical4136
says ...
At one point of your article, I thought I was reading about Iron Man. Point taken.
Posted by typical4136
at May 3, 2008 12:12 PM
comment #4
Jay T.
says ...
Jeff, you should really catch up with the show Mad Men when it hits DVD on July 1st... and no, this is not an off-topic suggestion, as the other side of this is a huge theme of the show.
Posted by Jay T.
at May 3, 2008 1:07 PM
comment #5
62Lincoln
says ...
"But far more often the center of attention will be a guy, his buddies and his toys. He will, most of the time, be nudged toward responsibility, forgiven for his quirks and nurtured in his needs and neuroses by a woman who represents an ideal amalgam of supermodel and mom."
Isn't this also a reasonable description of Apatow's approach to stories?
Posted by 62Lincoln
at May 3, 2008 1:16 PM
comment #6
Aladdin Sane
says ...
I can't believe it hasn't been said, but why even bother? Clearly you don't mess with the Zohan.
Posted by Aladdin Sane
at May 3, 2008 2:14 PM
comment #7
Legowombat
says ...
so screenwriters that pitch or write kid-centric films get told "Is this a script that would work with Jack Black in the main role instead?" It's awful.
...and then there's endless scenes of them coming to terms with their 'emotional baggage', which is boring for kids and patronising for adults.
You end up with movies like 'A Night At The Museum', which really should have starred an unthreatening 'everyboy' 10 year old, his fat 'n' sassy motormouthed friend, and a cute female love interest. Instead we get Ben Stiller, and the 'bait and switch' implication that it's not a kid's movie, even though it obviously was.
Still, it made money, so what would I know?
Posted by Legowombat
at May 3, 2008 5:23 PM
comment #8
lipranzer
says ...
"its unfortunate failure to find an audience convinced a lot of executives that the very concept of child leads in family films was no longer viable"
Unless it's adapted from a popular book, like the Narnia movies.
Posted by lipranzer
at May 3, 2008 6:36 PM
comment #9
Mgmax
says ...
You know what movie fits this description perfectly? American Beauty.
Kevin Spacey gives up being an adult so he can live in the basement, smoke dope with a teenager, and make smartass remarks while lavishing hatred on his wife for working to get ahead and listening to grownup music. Talk about a tribute to immaturity; you're never to old to be The Graduate again.
Posted by Mgmax
at May 3, 2008 9:16 PM
comment #10
vp19
says ...
It's as if we've stumbled into a scary, bizarre alternate universe where the most influential silent comic wasn't Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd, but...Harry Langdon!
Posted by vp19
at May 3, 2008 11:59 PM
comment #11
Cadavra
says ...
Langdon was in fact more influential that most people give him credit for: for example, look at Stan Laurel's early films, where he's a brash go-getter in the Harold Lloyd mold--a character he abandoned to emulate Langdon, resulting in the meek Stan we all know and love.
But back to the topic at hand: the industry today is in the hands of arrested development-types: 20-something execs purchasing scripts from 20-something agents representing 20-something writers. We get Sandlers and Ferrells and Rogens and Stillers because that's all these people know and understand. Artists like Sayles and Mamet might as well be from another planet.
Posted by Cadavra
at May 4, 2008 11:02 AM
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