Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) is an unsuccessful law student who leads a boring, carefree life as he works only one day a week as a tollbooth operator. All is fine till one day when his girlfriend Vanessa (Kristy Swanson) leaves him for being irresponsible and not doing anything with his life.

When 5-year-old Julian (Cole & Dylan Sprouse) shows up at his door under the possibility of being Sonny's best friend, Kevin's (Jon Stewart), son, things begin to change. Sonny tells the social services he's Kevin to protect Kevin who just got engaged to his girlfriend. Sonny also realized he could show Vanessa he's responsible by having Julian in his care. Thus begins a long hard road as Sonny loses Vanessa, tries to return Julian, decides to keep him and tries to raise him as a single father.

This could have been an awesome movie. But don't get me wrong, I have to admit I really liked the film. But like with most reviews I write, I have some gripes with the film...

Big Daddy is a semi-typical Hollywood comedy with what I shall call "The Liar Liar Twist." I define The Liar Liar Twist as a 90s Hollywood comedy filled with objectionable material, but with a decent-to-good message and some heart to the film. Allow me to elaborate.

In 1997's Liar Liar, starring Jim Carrey, Carrey plays a lawyer who can't lie for a day due to his 5-year-old son's birthday wish (that he couldn't lie for a whole day) coming true. The film is laden with the typical swearing and sexually-related humor. But the underlying message of the film is anti-lying and pro-family. In 1999's Big Daddy, a film in some ways more offensive (I'll explain shortly), Sandler's character Sonny learns responsibility and love through caring for Julian, resulting in a touching ending that, although doesn't seem right for the rest of the film's content, is rather needed to overcome the negative, crude humor.

The thing that offended me most about the movie were the two gay lawyer friends of Sonny's. In the beginning of the film, these two guys actually kiss before departing a party. And whenever they're shown throughout the film, the audience is reminded in some way each time that they are gay (whether they're comparing themselves to Brad Pitt, or having their arms around each other). Although played for comedy, it's a trait about the film that really could have been absent rather than included.

The language was pretty heavy with frequent use of the "S" word (at least a dozen), and plenty of "a" words, which some were even used by the 5-year-old boy, Julian. Also, whenever Sonny and Kevin's fiancé' was engaged in conversation, they were always bickering and calling each other names, and Sonny relentlessly reminded her of her previous job at a Hooters restaurant (now with her being a dentist). So the terms "hooters," "boobs," and "hooterific" were used many times. Also, two characters flashed the middle finger at two different times during the film. In addition, sexual innuendo/content was unfortunately present, especially when Sonny finds out Vanessa is cheating on him. And, on another disappointing note, sex is treated pretty trivially, with Sonny and Vanessa seen in bed together (just sleeping, but implying they have sex), Vanessa staying with another man, and Kevin admitting to having sex with a girl in Toronto after getting drunk at a party. They're all things that hindered the film from being better than it should have been.

In spite of all that, the movie was very funny and enjoyable, and the presence of Julian never got annoying, but actually garnered plenty of "awwwww"'s from the crowd due to his relentless cuteness. Gross humor prevailed once again, however, from Julian vomiting and it being shown falling to the floor and splattering, to several scenes of Julian, occasionally accompanied by Sonny, peeing on a wall or a tree. And in the first scene where Sonny teaches Julian to do this, we see their urine streams, from behind them, running down the wall and pooling beneath them.

One plus to the movie was three cameos during the film. Rob Schneider was great as Sonny's immigrant delivery friend. Steve Buscemi was also great as a homeless man on the street. And Jon Stewart's role as Sonny's best friend was unfortunately short. I would have loved to see more screentime for each of them.

Overall, the movie was rather good and entertaining, however, due to the sexual innuendo, cussing, and other objectionable content, I can't grant this film more than somewhere around 3 stars, even though I would like to give it a higher rating.

- John DiBiase, (reviewed: 6/30/99)

 

 Sex/Nudity: Aside from conversations with some lewd comments and innuendo - including references to sexual encounters, cheating, etc, there isn't any sex/nudity; Sonny uses a neon sign that reads "Live Nudes" as a nightlight for Julian.
 Vulgarity/Language: 12 "s" words, 16 "a" words, 2 "a-h*le," 2 "g*dd*mn," 13 h*lls, 6 "d*mns," 1 "banging," 3 s*cks, 4 "cr*p," 3 "Oh my G-d," 12 uses of "G-d."
 Alcohol/Drugs: Lots of people drink wine; Sonny accuses Julian's 5 & 6 year old friends of drinking and doing drugs; a homeless man mentions doing drugs, a guy in a bar is drunk, etc...
 Blood/Gore: None. Just gross-out humor like: peeing, vomiting, etc.
 Violence: Throwing things, hitting people, tripping people, etc.

 

Disclaimer: All reviews are based solely on the opinions of the reviewer. Most reviews are rated on how the reviewer enjoyed the film overall, not exclusively on content. However, if the content really affects the reviewer's opinion and experience of the film, it will definitely affect the reviewer's overall rating.

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