When it comes to Adam Sandler movies, you can expect a few things: gross out gags, funny voices, someone overcoming some odds and finally, bad reviews. This is part and parcel of the Sandler experience, the movies are enjoyable but critics always hate them. Until now, that is, because his latest, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, is now the best reviewed movie is his long career.
Sandler’s been making movies now for almost 35 years. All of his highly rated movies over on Rotten Tomatoes have not been his comedies. Per The Hollywood Reporter, his top three are Hustle from 2022 at 93 percent, The Meyerowitz Stories from 2017 at 92 percent and the classic Uncut Gems at 91 percent.
To get some perspective on this, 2015’s The Ridiculous 6 has a zero rating. Jack and Jill from 2011 clocks in at a lonely 3 percent. Bulletproof from 1996 is still in single digits at 8 percent. So where did Bat Mitzvah land? A very healthy 96 percent.
The movie features Sandler’s real-life daughters and is based on a YA novel by Fiona Rosenbloom. Here’s the official description:
“Lifelong best friends Stacy (Sunny Sandler) and Lydia (Samantha Lorraine) have long dreamt of epic bat mitzvahs but when popular boy Andy Goldfarb (Dylan Hoffman) and Hebrew school drama come between them, their perfect plans go comically awry.”
Alison Peck wrote the screenplay and it’s directed by Sammi Cohen (Crush). It also stars Idina Menzel, Sarah Sherman from Saturday Night Live, Luis Guzmán and Jackie Sandler, his other daughter.
The movie is of course part of Sandler’s epic $250 million deal with Netflix, which have been popular for the streaming service despite being hated by critics.
Let’s take a look at what critics are saying about it. Rolling Stone called it “energetically directed and written.” CNN raves that Sunny Sandler “quickly dampens the ‘nepo baby’ asides with her winning, natural performance in a familiar but very nicely done coming-of-age story.”
Peter Travers from ABC News says it’s “an unexpectedly sweet and sassy surprise.”
This is an Adam Sandler movie! UFOs are real and Sandler is getting rave reviews for a movie. It is true that he only has a minor part in it, but maybe that’s for the best. We’ve seen a lot of Sandler over the years, and gauging of the reviews of this movie, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Sunny.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is streaming on Netflix.