The Wedding Singer
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| The Wedding Singer | |
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| Directed by | Frank Coraci |
| Produced by | Robert Simonds |
| Written by | Tim Herlihy |
| Starring | Adam Sandler Drew Barrymore Christine Taylor Allen Covert Steve Buscemi Jon Lovitz |
| Music by | Teddy Castellucci Cindy Wilson |
| Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
| Editing by | Tom Lewis |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | February 13, 1998 |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $21,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Wedding Singer is a 1998 film written by Tim Herlihy and directed by Frank Coraci that stars Adam Sandler as Robbie Hart, a wedding singer, and Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan, the object of his affections. The movie was notable for being Sandler's first romantic comedy, and was the beginning of his shift away from the lowbrow comedic material.
The Wedding Singer was later adapted into a stage musical with the same title, debuting on Broadway in early 2006 and closing on New Year's Eve.
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[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
Robbie (Adam Sandler) is a wedding singer from the town of Ridgefield, New Jersey. Engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Linda (Angela Featherstone), he meets and befriends a waitress, Julia Sullivan (Barrymore), at the reception hall where he is performing one night. Julia is also engaged, to fiancé Glenn Guliah (Matthew Glave). (Pronounced in the film "Ghoo-lia")
On his wedding day, Robbie is devastated when he is left standing at the altar. Linda later explains to him that she was in love with him when he was in a "real" band, but did not want to be married to the wedding singer he has become. Robbie soldiers on, but his despair hinders his performances. Julia tries to cheer him up, and later asks him to help her plan her wedding. Initially reluctant, Robbie eventually agrees.
Robbie and Julia's friendship blossoms as they spend more time together and become closer. Robbie admits that he should have known that Linda wasn't the one for him, because of little things; for example, when they were flying over the Grand Canyon, Linda wouldn't trade places with him to let him look out the window, even though she had seen it before.
Julia's cousin, Holly, asks to be set up on a double date with Robbie and Glenn. Julia becomes jealous when Holly throws herself at Robbie. She drinks to excess and when Holly takes her to the bathroom, Robbie discovers that Glenn is a womanizer who has been cheating on Julia for some time and doesn't intend to stop doing so after marrying her. After Robbie rebuffs her advances, Holly figures out that he has a crush on Julia. Julia and Robbie are increasingly confused by their deepening feelings for each other. Robbie finally decides to confess his feelings, and heads to Julia's house. At that moment, Julia is trying on her wedding dress in the mirror. She practices introducing herself as Glenn's wife, but becomes put off by the thought. She then practices introducing herself as Robbie's wife, and smiles broadly. Robbie sees Julia happily admiring her reflection in the mirror and mistakenly believes that she is looking forward to marrying Glenn. Heartbroken, he turns back, gets drunk, and stumbles home. Waiting for him is Linda, who says that she wants to get back together. Robbie reels and passes out. In the morning, Julia goes to tell Robbie how she feels about him, but she is astonished when Linda, wearing only Robbie's Van Halen T-shirt, answers the door. Linda introduces herself as Robbie's fiancée to a disheartened Julia, who leaves sadly. She runs to Glenn and tells him she wants to get married right away, and he happily offers to take her to Las Vegas. When Robbie awakens, he kicks Linda out.
Robbie is inspired by a 50th wedding anniversary celebration to chase after Julia. Holly tells him where Julia has gone, so he, his friend Sammy, and Holly rush to the airport, where Robbie buys a ticket on the next plane to Las Vegas. Robbie is forced to fly first class, because the coach tickets are sold out.
Onboard the flight to Las Vegas, obvious signs of Glenn and Julia's incompatibility begin to manifest themselves. Meanwhile, Robbie tells his story to his fellow first class passengers, including Billy Idol (playing himself), who are sympathetic to him. When Robbie overhears a flight attendant (Shanna Moakler) complaining about a rude man in coach, he deduces that Glenn is the rude man, and that Julia must also be onboard. With the help of Billy Idol and the flight crew, Robbie sings over the loudspeaker a song he has just written especially for Julia, called "Grow Old With You." He emerges from first class to sing to an ecstatic Julia. The flight crew, plus Billy Idol and other passengers, team up to shove Glenn into a lavatory so that Julia and Robbie can confess their mutual love.
The movie closes as Julia and Robbie get married, as the band, with Steve Buscemi on guitar and vocals, plays the song "True".
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Robbie tells Linda at one point to "Get out of my Van Halen T-shirt before you jinx the band and they break up". Although the band did not actually break up, lead singer David Lee Roth did leave Van Halen in 1985, the year in which the film is set.
- The character George is a spoof of Boy George.
- In the scene in which Robbie is left at the altar, a string version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" is played. At the end when Robbie and Julia get married, Spandau Ballet's "True" is sung by Steve Buscemi's character, the drunk best man from the first wedding, now this wedding's band leader
- The Canadian band Boys Night Out have a song called "I Got Punched In the Nose For Sticking My Face In Other People's Business," based upon the quote made by the character Glen Gulia.
- Set in 1985, the film prominently features New Wave style music, as well as various others from that era.
- In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted The Wedding Singer the 43rd greatest comedy film of all time.
- The film's two stars, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, re-teamed in the 2004 romantic comedy 50 First Dates.
- This film is number 7 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies."
- The DeLorean used in the film is missing the DMC logo on the front grille.
- Steve Buscemi and Jon Lovitz are both uncredited for their roles as the best man at the first wedding and Jimmie Moore, respectively.
- Soap opera actress Maree Cheatham, well-known for playing a nun on Days of our Lives, played the flight passenger who asked Billy Idol what the "mile high club" was.
- Allen Covert, who plays Sammy the town limo driver, dresses up like Michael Jackson when he was in "Beat It," to which Adam Sandler says, "And lose that glove, you look nuts."
- The film takes place in 1985, and Glenn and Julia are to be married on August 5th, so they would have been married on 8-5-85
- Though the interior of the plane they ride on in the climax says Vegas Air, the plane has Canadian Airlines logo on the tail.
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
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| 1998 | Australian ARIA Albums Chart | 1 |
| Preceded by Mezzanine by Massive Attack |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album May 10 - May 16, 1998 |
Succeeded by Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk by Jeff Buckley |
[edit] External links
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