A silly, sentimental slam dunk

Five minutes and at least one potential punchline wrapped up in a casual fantasy about an encounter with a ghost outside an airport bathroom, it’s still impossible to see where Adam Sandler is taking his audience with this film. It’s the beauty of every finely honed piece in Sandler’s latest Netflix special, Love You : You never know what’s going to happen when he slams on the handbrake and veers off into a side street. Dirty but never mean—and consistently silly but overtly sentimental—Love You is another slam dunk in Sandler’s third-quarter career comeback.

Directed by Josh Safdie (who, along with his brother Benny, previously directed Sandler in Uncut Gems ), Love You opens with a deliberately chaotic sequence that tracks Sandler’s arrival at the venue all the way to his appearance onstage. The introduction recalls the captivating chaos of the Safdies’ 2019 Diamond District drama, albeit without the paralyzing dread. By contrast, Sandler’s onstage presence itself is relaxed and intimate, and he’s unhurried as he glides through a series of loose jokes, one-man skits, and hilarious songs. The venue itself—dressed as a dank, outdated theater still reliant on Windows 95—feels cozy and nostalgic. The set is occasionally slowed by constructed interruptions—like an equipment malfunction or the sudden arrival of a dog from backstage—but rather than being distractions, they serve to make Love You feel live and immediate. You really feel like you’re in the small room while Adam Sandler does his thing.

Pinballing through a parade of absurd jokes and clever songs, Sandler at one point describes the aftermath of a car crash with clowns, and the next he’s singing a very relatable country song about a father who’s constantly doing odd jobs by himself and mumbling incessantly. What seems like a heartfelt song about feeling redundant in his growing daughter’s life is comically derailed by the one thing she needs from him. A creative conversation positions “Merriam Webster” as a single man writing the dictionary while living at home with his abusive brother, whose threats are the only reason there are Gs and Hs in the word “enough.” “GH is a fuh sound, f–k face,” Sandler spits, in full character. It’s all as delightful as it is disjointed.

But perhaps Love You is most refreshing because there’s nothing in it that’s even remotely topical, or that has to do with the ongoing, annoying discourse about what comedians can and can’t do in 2024. (For more, see far too many of the specials offered under Netflix’s “Stand-Up Comedy & Talk Shows” tab.) It’s annoying to hear comedy sets regurgitate the same list of complaints about the track itself. Sandler, for his part, seems adorably unconcerned about the future of the art form, launching into a funky verse about being afraid of a suspicious guy with a backpack in a movie theater, or a back-and-forth with his dog over an indistinctly flaccid penis. The plaintive comedy may continue, but that doesn’t change the fact that Adam Sandler still manages to make a joke about an unsolicited hand job that’s ultimately harmless. He doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. Hopefully this disease is contagious.

Adam Sandler: Love You Review