Despite his apparent propensity for making objectively bad movies, Adam Sandler continues to enjoy a successful career spanning over 30 years (and counting), and there's a good reason why. Since first breaking onto the scene as a cast member of Saturday Night Live in 1990, Adam Sandler has continued to build upon his success year after year. He's now one of Hollywood's most recognizable comedic actors, having also put in notable dramatic performances in films such as 2002's Punch-Drunk Love and 2019's Uncut Gems.
However, Sandler has made more than his share of bad movies. For example, Adam Sandler's Netflix movies are notoriously bad, despite having boosted his estimated net worth up as high as $420 million. This has earned Sandler a reputation as an actor capable of making truly terrible movies, despite being genuinely talented. As a result, Sandler has his share of both ers and detractors, making him a particularly divisive figure.
There is often discourse surrounding Adam Sandler and some of his more questionable creative choices. As he almost always has a hand in the production of his own movies via his company Happy Madison Productions, Sandler has continued to deliberately make movies that are often derided both by audiences and critics alike. In spite of this, Sandler has continued to grow his success, and it's mostly thanks to the areas in which he is particularly consistent. Despite often making objectively bad movies, Adam Sandler is the perfect entertainer, and that shines through in his continued career success.
Sandler Has Developed A Comforting Movie Formula
Part of Sandler's success stems from his predictability. Though he's proven himself to be deceptively diverse as a performer, Sandler's movies often fall into distinct patterns that make them comforting fare for audiences. This is something that has been compounded by the length of Adam Sandler's career, as he's been making comedies with similar elements for decades, meaning that there are parts of his audience that have literally grown up on his particular brand of humor and storytelling.
Some of the most predictable Sandler tropes have become long-standing elements of his movies. These include his willingness to employ low-brow humor, straightforward stories with very little in the way of subtext or deeper themes, and Adam Sandler regularly collaborating with his friends for his movies. Though these elements of Sandler's career are often cited as proof of his apparent laziness, they actually make Sandler's films both easy to watch and distinctly comforting to many. Though the films that fit these patterns may not be Sandler's most well-loved, they do provide safe and predictably entertaining movies that help Adam Sandler secure continued success within his career.
Adam Sandler Is Multi-Talented
Another quality that has contributed to Adam Sandler's success and is often overlooked is how diverse his talents really are. Of course, his impressive acting ability has been showcased on a handful of occasions (with Uncut Gems, in particular, contributing to a recent reappraisal of his talent), but there are numerous other skills that he regularly employs to ensure the success of his movies. Though some of these may not have as obviously contributed to Sandler's impressive career as others, his multiple talents have proven invaluable.
Of course, Adam Sandler's comedy and drama movies prove his range as an actor. However, Sandler's talents as a writer and producer are often overlooked: as well as producing many of his own films since 1998, Sandler has screenwriting credits on many of his most successful comedies. These include Big Daddy, The Waterboy, Little Nicky, and Grown Ups, and though they may not be Adam Sandler's most well-regarded films, they have all achieved lasting success and popularity (in some cases, despite critical panning). Sandler has also proven that he's still a talented stand-up comic with a return to the stage in Netflix special Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh in 2018. In addition, Sandler's musical talent is well-documented, which is something incorporated into both his stand-up and many of his films, helping his continued success.
Sandler Remains Relatable In Spite Of His Success
The underrated career of Adam Sandler has made him a global megastar reportedly worth over $420 million, but this isn't something that seems to have affected Sandler's personality. Examining the consistency of Sandler's sense of humor over his career so far shows that the actor hasn't changed much since becoming a star, and the successes of his early career seem to have helped inform every subsequent movie in much the same way. In this, Adam Sandler has been incredibly consistent not just in his work but in his approach to it, and that's something that makes him incredibly relatable to his audience.
Repeatedly working with friends is one of his most obvious career habits, and it proves one of Adam Sandler's best qualities. Sandler does what most people would do in his situation, making his career choices consistently relatable even when the resulting quality is relatively low. This has been particularly evident in Sander's Netflix movies, which have been critically panned but still reasonably successful for the actor. There are also other qualities of Sandler's career that make perfect sense to his audience, but they all boil down to the same basic idea: Sandler's work is a source of fun to him above all else, and this translates into almost every movie he makes.
An Impressive Work Ethic Has Defined Sandler's Career
Though Adam Sandler's movies are most often considered bad, his consistent output has helped him remain relevant for over 30 years. Adam Sandler's war with critics has seen him regularly bashed and labeled as talentless, but his ability to ignore the hate and keep making the movies he wants to make is perhaps his greatest triumph. Since breaking into film in 1989, Sandler has appeared in over 60 movies, meaning that he has averaged roughly 2 acting credits per year since his career began. This is in addition to his work on Saturday Night Live, his stand-up comedy, his music, and his role as a writer/producer on other projects.
Adam Sandler's work ethic has ensured his continued presence on screens around the world. This is something that has helped Sandler overcome the negative critical opinions of his work, as he has come through seemingly unscathed and unchanged by it. Adam Sandler's apparent bad movie curse hasn't hurt his continued popularity, and his persistence and resilience have combined with his talent to ensure his career success in spite of his most vocal detractors.
