10 Times Adam Sandler Proved He Can Act

Funny People is not a great film by any measure. Like much of Judd Apatow’s later output, it’s flabby to say the least, and could do with featuring more people who are funny. What it does boast, however, is a truly great Adam Sandler performance, who deals head on with his own mortality and his career regrets in this 2009 melodrama.

George Simmons is a part literally written for Sandler, a once-cutting edge comic who has to a degree squandered his talents on fluffy family fare and tawdry gross out flicks. Simmons is wealthy but desperately alone. A brush with leukemia triggers a reexamination of his charmed life, leading to him returning to the stage and attempting to reconnect with his ex-wife. The death stuff is dealt with surprisingly quickly, but Sandler sells the hell out of the fear and frisson of excitement at having to do something with his remaining days, most notably when reacting to Warren Zevon’s heartbreaking Elegy “Keep Me In Your Heart”.

Sandler was rightly lauded for his performance, but evidently learned little from his character’s plight, going straight back into the same old schlock. This wasn’t quite a new dawn for his career, but his turn as George Simmons is certainly a CV highlight.