Movie review – “The Wedding Singer” (1998) ***

Charming romantic comedy which exposed Adam Sandler to a much wider audience and ushered in the third stage of Drew Barrymore stardom (she became a child star with ET then a vixen with Poison Ivy before becoming a romantic cutie with this one). In the 90s Barrymore was established in the public mind as a kind of trashy femme fetale but Woody Allen showed in Everyone Says I Love You that she was actually best suited to playing the cute girl next door – this film confirmed it. Despite the jokes about throwing up and horny old people, this has a real sweet, family feel to it – Sandler is close to his family, loves where he lives, is nice to kids and old people. It’s also got one of the brightest beginnings to a romantic comedy: Sandler singing “You Spin Me Right Round”. It ranks up there with the opening musical number in the first Austin Powers – sets things off to a brilliant start. The rest is predictable but quite enchanting in its own way.