7. Airheads (1994)
Not so much an Adam Sandler film as much as it is a film featuring Adam Sandler,
Airheads quietly came and went in 1994, making only about half its budget back, and earning a poor 22% on Rotten Tomatoes. The descriptor "demented" can indeed be used for the vast majority of films on this list - and in Sandler's oeuvre overall - but given the film blends a premise not dissimilar to
Dog Day Afternoon with the Heavy Metal crowd, it's an apt one. Airheads is a more deftly-constructed comedy than many are prepared to admit; it mocks the stereotypical "Metalhead", yet also gives them a fair due. Sandler, along with Steve Buscemi and Brendan Fraser - back when he could still generate consistent laughs - are a trio of rockers who invade a local radio station and take the DJs hostage in order to play a demo of their latest song. As well as an amusing comment on the nature of fame, the trio had sublime chemistry that made it clear why Buscemi featured as a fixture in so many of Sandler's films.