Blood is thicker than water, they say – but is it thicker than The Waterboy? For years, Adam Sandler has been one of Hollywood’s foremost proponents of benign nepotism. Since founding his own production company, Happy Madison, in 1999, the American actor-comedian has cast his friends and family in pretty much every project to bear his name. He’s thrown Rob Schneider more bones than a voodoo priestess. Sandler’s latest project, the Netflix comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, may be his most transparent act of nepotism to date – Sandlers dominate the cast list. Both his daughters star in the film, as well as his wife, the actor and former model Jackie. Yet cries of “nepotism!” have been few and muffled. For once, it seems no one cares.
At least, it’s clear that Netflix viewers have been unfazed by the filial casting. Fuelled, presumably, by Sandler’s name on the mantle, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah – let’s squash it to YASNITMBM for the sake of the word count – has rocketed straight to No 1 on the streaming service’s Most Watched chart. It’s been roundly praised by critics and currently sits as the highest-rated feature film of Sandler’s career on aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, Sunny plays Stacy, a Jewish teenager on the cusp of nominal womanhood. She clashes with long-term bestie Lydia (Samantha Lorraine) over a dalliance with a boy; their bitter falling out is the movie’s main jeopardy. Jackie Sandler plays Lydia’s mother, while Idina Menzel (Wicked) plays Stacy’s. Adam Sandler is Danny, Stacy’s overprotective father. It’s something of a cakewalk for the Uncut Gems star, who doesn’t really have to do anything more than show up and offer a bit of fatherly charm. Danny even dresses like Sandler, down to the oversized basketball shorts and brightly coloured sneakers.
