Adam Sandler & Idina Menzel with Idina Menzel and a few other past costars
Adam Sandler reteams with Idina Menzel and a few other past costars for a YA comedy, part of his overall deal between Netflix and Happy Madison. Adam Sandler will reunite with his Uncut Gems co-star Idina Menzel in a new Netflix comedy from Happy Madison. Sandler's production company has had a lucrative deal with the streaming giant since 2014, which was again extended in 2020 to include four more movies. Unlike all his previous efforts, 2022 saw two serious-minded Happy Madison releases on the streamer, with Sandler starring in both the basketball drama Hustle and the upcoming Spaceman.
Returning to the realm of comedy, Deadline reports Sandler and Menzel, will reteam for You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. The film is an adaptation of a coming-of-age YA novel by Fiona Rosenbloom set in the very early-2000s. The story concerns a young girl named Stacey Friedman, whose bat mitzvah plans comedically unravel and threaten to ruin one of the most important events of her young life after she catches her best friend kissing her crush, Andy Goldfarb.
Home Team Proves Happy Madison's Netflix Movies Need Adam Sandler. Home Team's frosty reception and lack of spark prove Netflix needs Adam Sandler to star in his own Happy Madison productions on the platform. Netflix's Home Team proves Happy Madison's movies on the platform need Adam Sandler to truly thrive. Produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison, Home Team has been another critical Netflix flop for the comedian's production company, with the based-on-a-true-story comedy sports drama failing to inspire either the laughs or heartwarming moments its premise promises. The presence of several new faces in leading roles such as Twilight's Taylor Lautner and SNL's Chloe Fineman are seemingly orchestrated to shake up proceedings, yet Home Team still feels as if it is crying out for Adam Sandler's presence from start to finish in the same way past Happy Madison productions have.
The film will be directed by Sammi Cohen and written by Alison Peck, who both have experience in the YA sphere. Cohen directed Crush for Hulu, while Peck wrote Work It for Netflix. Sandler is reteaming with several co-stars for the role, as he often does. Besides Menzel, who played Sandler's wife in Uncut Gems, the film will co-star Luis Guzmán, who appeared in Punch-Drunk Love with the Sandler, alongside Sandler's real-life wife Jackie Sandler and teen daughters Sadie and Sunny Sandler. SNL star Sarah Sherman will also have a supporting role. Though not confirmed, Sandler and Menzel will likely play the protagonist Stacey's parents for the Neflix/Happy Madison production.
Home Team follows suspended NFL head coach Sean Peyton (Kevin James), who returns home following his part in the infamous Bountygate scandal in 2012. Initially dejected, Peyton begins to re-connect with his 12-year-old son by coaching his middle-school football team at Liberty Christian High, with his win-at-all-costs mentality quickly returning. Yet under the direction of the Kinnane Brothers, Home Team feels shorn of the complexities that made Sean Peyton's real story so engrossing, with the result being a diluted family comedy that largely misses the mark.
Home Team unequivocally proves that Happy Madison's Netflix movies need Adam Sandler to work. For all his comedic talents, Kevin James cannot single-handedly carry the zany Happy Madison formula in the same way its creator can, meaning any production not containing Adam Sandler feels hollow in comparison. Sandler's prior Netflix and Happy Madison collaborations as an actor are further proof of this, with movies such as Murder Mystery proving a streaming hit in 2019 despite a lukewarm critical reception.
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