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Adam Sandler — news, coverage & facts — IJR

1995–2014: Commercial success

Sandler starred in Billy Madison (1995) playing a grown man repeating grades 1–12 to earn back his father's respect and the right to inherit his father's multimillion-dollar hotel empire. The film was successful at the box office despite negative reviews. He followed this film with Bulletproof (1996), and the financially successful comedies Happy Gilmore (1996) and The Wedding Singer (1998), his first collaboration with Drew Barrymore. He was initially cast in the bachelor party-themed comedy/thriller Very Bad Things (1998) but had to back out due to his involvement in The Waterboy (1998), one of his first big hits.

According to Billy Madison director Tamra Davis, Sandler told her in advance of the film's dodgeball scene that he planned to throw the balls hard and genuinely hurt the children. He did so, with parental permission, and she described the resulting scene as "a full-on assault" adding that every shot needed to be cut because the children were crying.

Sandler continued making successful comedy films including Big Daddy (1999), Mr. Deeds (2002), Anger Management (2003), 50 First Dates (2004, his second collaboration with Drew Barrymore), The Longest Yard (2005), and Click (2006). He also formed his film production company, Happy Madison Productions, in 1999, first producing fellow SNL alumnus Rob Schneider's film Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. The company has produced most of Sandler's subsequent films to date, and is on the Sony/Columbia Pictures lot in Culver City, California. Most of its films have received negative reviews from critics, with three considered among the worst ever made yet most have performed well at the box office.

Although his earlier commercially successful films did not receive favorable critical attention, Sandler started to receive more positive reviews beginning with his more dramatic role in Punch-Drunk Love in 2002. Punch-Drunk Love's writer and director, Paul Thomas Anderson, had an "obsession-level" love for Sandler's previous movies and wrote the film with him in mind. Sandler was intimidated to work with Anderson after viewing his previous film Magnolia (1999), but these fears were alleviated when he received the script from Anderson. Roger Ebert's review of Punch-Drunk Love concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts and characters with no development. Ebert noted that Sandler's character still maintained the "childlike, love-starved" persona from his previous films, but was shown in a new light as the "key to all Adam Sandler films". Sandler was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance. The film marked the beginning of Sandler moving outside the genre of slapstick comedy to take on more serious roles, such as Mike Binder's Reign Over Me (2007), a drama about a man who loses his entire family in the September 11 attacks and then struggles to rekindle a friendship with his old college roommate (Don Cheadle).

Sandler starred alongside friend Kevin James in the film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), and headlined You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008). The latter was written by Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel, and directed by Dennis Dugan. That same year, Sandler starred along with Keri Russell and English comedian Russell Brand in Adam Shankman's children's fantasy film Bedtime Stories (2008), as a stressed hotel maintenance worker whose bedtime stories he reads to his niece and nephew begin to come true. It marked Sandler's first family film and first film under the Disney banner.

In 2009, Sandler starred in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, a comedy drama about a famous comedian (Sandler) with a terminal illness. The film was released on July 31, 2009. After its release, Funny People and Punch-Drunk Love were cited in the June 2010 announcement that Sandler was one of 135 people (including 20 actors) invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In 2010, Sandler appeared in Grown Ups, alongside Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and Maya Rudolph. Sandler and Dickie Roberts scribe Fred Wolf wrote the script and Dennis Dugan directed. Sandler's later comedy films, including Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2, received largely negative reviews. Reviewing the latter, critic Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times remarked that Sandler had become the antithesis of Judd Apatow; he was instead "the white Tyler Perry: smart enough to know better, savvy enough to do it anyway, lazy enough not to care." In 2011, Sandler starred with Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy film Just Go with It. He also voiced a capuchin monkey in Kevin James's Zookeeper, released on July 8, 2011. In 2012, he starred in That's My Boy, as a man who fathered a son (Andy Samberg) with his teacher (Eva Amurri) in high school. In 2013, he guest starred in the Disney Channel Original Series Jessie as himself in the episode "Punched Dumped Love". He and Jessie star Cameron Boyce had worked together in Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2; Sandler's 2020 film Hubie Halloween was dedicated to Boyce's memory. Sandler next reunited with Drew Barrymore for a third time in the Warner Bros. romantic comedy Blended, which was filmed in South Africa and released on May 23, 2014.

2014–present: Final theatrical films and switch to Netflix

In October 2014, Netflix announced a four-movie deal with Sandler and Happy Madison Productions. Also that year, Sandler co-starred in the drama film Men, Women & Children, directed by Jason Reitman. He was considered for the voice of Rocket Raccoon in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy but Bradley Cooper was cast instead.

In 2015, Sandler released his last theatrical film, Pixels, based on French director Patrick Jean's 2010 short film of the same name, before transitioning into a distribution deal with Netflix.

Sandler's first original film for Netflix was the Western comedy film The Ridiculous 6. Despite being universally panned by critics, on January 6, 2016, it was announced by Netflix that the film had been viewed more times in 30 days than any other movie in Netflix history. Sandler also starred in another Netflix film in 2016, titled The Do-Over.

Sandler starred in the 2017 Netflix film Sandy Wexler, in which he plays a talent manager who falls in love with one of his clients. He returned to dramatic territory in 2017 with Noah Baumbach's family drama The Meyerowitz Stories. In the film, Sandler plays Danny Meyerowitz, who is unemployed and separated from his wife, and who is experiencing dysfunctional relationships with his brother (Ben Stiller), his sister (Elizabeth Marvel), and his father (Dustin Hoffman). The film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival where his performance received favorable notices from critics. Peter Debruge, film critic for Variety, wrote of his performance, "With no shtick to fall back on, Sandler is forced to act, and it's a glorious thing to watch".

In 2018, Sandler starred in the Netflix film The Week Of alongside Chris Rock. He also starred in a Netflix stand-up special Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh, which was part of his company's Netflix deal and marked his first stand-up film in over two decades. The special was directed by longtime collaborator Steven Brill, while portions of the special were filmed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which marked Sandler's first project with Anderson since Punch-Drunk Love sixteen years prior.

On May 4, 2019, Sandler made his first appearance as host of Saturday Night Live, ending the episode with a tribute to his friend and fellow former cast member Chris Farley. Sandler received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for his hosting stint. In June 2019, he reunited with Jennifer Aniston in the Netflix film Murder Mystery, which broke the record for the biggest opening weekend in the company's history, and spawned a sequel, Murder Mystery 2, in 2023.

In December 2019, Sandler starred in the crime thriller Uncut Gems, directed by the Safdie brothers. The movie and Sandler's acting received critical acclaim and many end-of-year awards from critics, who noted this role as a career best for Sandler, for which he earned the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.

In January 2020, Netflix announced a new four-movie deal with Happy Madison Productions worth up to $275 million. Sandler starred in and wrote the 2020 Netflix film Hubie Halloween. In addition he voiced Leo the lizard in Netflix's animated coming-of-age musical Leo (2023).

Sandler produced and starred in the 2022 sports drama film Hustle, which received critical acclaim. His performance in the film was repeatedly singled out for praise and he received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. On March 19, 2023, Sandler was awarded the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Many of Sandler's friends and fellow performers, including Ben Stiller, Conan O'Brien, Dana Carvey, and Judd Apatow, spoke at the event.

In 2024, Sandler starred in his second Netflix stand-up comedy special, Adam Sandler: Love You, which was directed by Josh Safdie. He also starred in the science fiction drama film Spaceman, an adaptation of the science fiction novel Spaceman of Bohemia (2017), directed by Johan Renck.

Also in 2024, Sandler was named the People's Choice Icon at the 49th People's Choice Awards. In March 2024, Forbes announced that Sandler was the best-paid actor in Hollywood in 2023, earning $73 million.

In 2025, Sandler reprised his role as the titular character in Happy Gilmore 2, released nearly 30 years following the original film in 1996, and reportedly accruing over 90 million viewers via Netflix following its release. He also appeared alongside George Clooney in the drama Jay Kelly, for which both Clooney and Sandler received praise, particularly Sandler on expanding his dramatic range in the film, and nominations at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards.

On December 3, 2025, it was announced that Sandler would join Season 23 of Variety Studio: Actors on Actors alongside Ariana Grande.