The Wedding Singer is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds for US$18 million and grossed $80.2 million in the United States and $123.3 million worldwide. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor. It tells the story of a wedding singer who falls in love with a waitress.
The film was later adapted into a stage musical of the same name, debuting on Broadway in April 2006 and closing on New Year's Eve of that same year. Jon Lovitz would reprise his role as Jimmie Moore in the episode of the same name of The Goldbergs, set during the events of The Wedding Singer, with Sandler, Barrymore and Billy Idol appearing through the use of archival footage.
Plot[]
In 1985, Robbie Hart is a nice, charming and entertaining wedding singer from Ridgefield, New Jersey. He is engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Linda, who fell in love with him when he dreamed of becoming a rock star. He meets and befriends a waitress, Julia Sullivan, at the reception hall where she is newly employed. She is engaged to businessman Glenn Gulia and he promises to sing at their wedding.
On their wedding day, Robbie's sister, Kate, tells him that Linda has changed her mind about the wedding, leaving him emotionally devastated and humiliated. Later that day, Linda visits Robbie and she reveals that she stopped loving him when she found out that he lost his ambitions of being a rock star and instead became a wedding singer. She tells him that after talking to her friends, she realizes she can't continue lying to herself and ends their relationship. He tries to move on with his life, but despair hinders his performances. Julia tries to cheer him up and later asks him to help her plan her own wedding. He eventually agrees and their friendship blossoms. Meanwhile, as Robbie spends more time with Julia, he begins to realize just how shallow Linda is. During a double date between Julia and Glenn, and Julia's cousin, Holly, Robbie learns that Glenn frequently cheats on Julia and does not plan to stop after they get married.
Julia and Robbie are increasingly confused by their deepening feelings for each other. He tells her he has plans to retire from singing and pursue a more conventional career, thinking that will impress her. She becomes angry with him when he accuses her of marrying Glenn for his money. Dismayed, he meets his friend Sammy at a bar and says he's just going to have fun with women from now on, but Sammy says he's not really happy and those kinds of guys are doomed, so Robbie goes to tell Julia how he feels. When he sees her through her bedroom window in her wedding dress, she is happily looking in a mirror and pretending she has just married Robbie, but he assumes she is thinking of Glenn.
Heartbroken, Robbie leaves to get drunk and finds Glenn in the midst of his pre-bachelor party. After a heated exchange, he punches Robbie and proceeds to mock him. An intoxicated Robbie goes home and finds Linda waiting for him and wanting to reconcile. He passes out, but the following morning, she answers the door and introduces herself as his fiancée to a crestfallen Julia. She runs to Glenn, wanting to be married immediately. He happily offers to take her to Las Vegas.
Robbie awakens and after shaking off his hangover from the previous night, tells Linda that it's over and kicks her out. Then he attends the 50th wedding anniversary party of his friend, Rosie (to whom he has been giving singing lessons). Realizing he wants to grow old with Julia, with Rosie's encouragement, he decides to pursue Julia. Just then, Holly arrives and asks him if he is still with Linda. He reveals he ended it with her and learns of Julia's plans to marry Glenn. He, Sammy, and Holly rush to the airport, where he gets a first class ticket to Las Vegas. After telling his story to an empathetic audience in first class, which includes Billy Idol, he learns that Glenn and Julia are on the same flight. With the help of Billy and the flight crew, over the loudspeaker, he sings a song he has written called "Grow Old With You", dedicated to Julia. As Robbie approaches Julia singing, Glenn tries to attack him, but he is blocked by Billy nd a flight attendant. When Glenn threatens Billy, a burly fan forces Glenn down the aisle and a female flight attendant he tried seducing earlier pushes him into the lavatory. Robbie and Julia admit their love for each other, and kiss after Billy tells him he liked the song and plans to tell the record company execs about him.
The film ends as the scene fades to Robbie and Julia kissing at their wedding, with the drunken best man from the wedding where they met singing for them.
Cast[]
- Adam Sandler as Robbie Hart
- Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan
- Christine Taylor as Holly Sullivan
- Jodi Thelen as Kate Hart
- Allen Covert as Sammy
- Angela Featherstone as Linda
- Matthew Glave as Glenn Gulia
- Ellen Albertini Dow as Rosie
- Alexis Arquette as George Stitzer (reprised as Georgina in Blended)
- Christina Pickles as Angie Sullivan
- Frank Sivero as Andy
- Billy Idol as Himself
- Kevin Nealon as Mr. Simms
- Steven Brill as Glenn's buddy
- Steve Buscemi (uncredited) as David Veltri
- Peter Dante as David's friend
- Jon Lovitz (uncredited) as Jimmie Moore
- Brian Posehn (uncredited) as Man at Dining Table #9
- Michael Shuman as The Bar Mitzvah Boy
- Robert Smigel as Andre
- Chauntal Lewis (uncredited) as Stuck-Up Girl at Bar Mitzvah
Reception[]
The film had a budget of $18 million and received $123.3 million worldwide in ticket sales. It opened at the #2 spot in the US with $18.8 million in the United States, behind Titanic.
Critical response[]
The film received generally positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 68% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 6.21/10, saying that "It's decidedly uneven -- and surprisingly sappy for an early Adam Sandler comedy -- but The Wedding Singer is also sweet, funny, and beguiling." On Metacritic it has a score of 59 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics. Roger Ebert gave the film a negative review with a rating of one star out of four.
Soundtrack[]
Two soundtrack albums for the film, called The Wedding Singer and The Wedding Singer Volume 2, were released, both in 1998. It contained many scenes of singing at weddings, with songs performed by its cast. The soundtrack albums, for the most part, contained the original versions of these songs instead, as well as songs that were in the background during it and original songs and dialogue from it. Only for "Rapper's Delight" was its rendition (by Ellen Dow), used, in combination with the original recording.
Musical Adaption[]
In 2006, a musical adaption of the same name was released on Broadway starring Stephen Lynch as Robbie and Laura Benanti as Julia. The show has had two national tours in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 respectively. It was nominated for five Tony Awards and eight Drama Desk Awards and received generally good reviews. In this show, the airplane scene with Billy Idol was replaced with a scene in Las Vegas where Robbie meets a Billy Idol impersonator, and they and a group of other impersonators including Ronald Reagan, Cyndi Lauper and Imelda Marcos come to convince Julia to give up Glenn. In addition, Robbie's neighbor Rosie is changed to be his grandma with whom he lives and who asks him to write a song out of a poem she wrote for the 50th anniversary party. The show only ran on Broadway for 284 performances but has become a popular show among community theaters and high schools.
Theatrical Trailer[]
Wedding Singer, The (1998) - Theatrical Trailer-1