Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Adam Sandler Syndrome

Sometime last year, Adam Sandler acted in a movie called Reign Over Me. This is a story about grief, family, healing, male friendship, mental health, and the meaning of love. WTF? Adam Sandler??? Yes, that was exactly my reaction when I heard about this. Over the years, we have seen Adam Sandler in a wide variety of inane comedies and can recognise an Adam Sandler movie even if we see it for half a minute and Adam Sandler is not in the scene. For instance, the following are perfectly valid scenarios for an Adam Sandler movie:

·         Adam Sandler falls in love with a woman. It then turns out that she is actually a salmon. This, however, does not deter Adam Sandler. In the beginning a lot of funny stuff happens, then sad stuff happens and it looks like all is lost, but Piscean love finally prevails in a typically romantic-comedy ending.

·         Adam Sandler is heir to a billion-dollar empire, which scares his dad for obvious reasons (would you trust Adam Sandler with your billions?). So Adam Sandler has to prove himself. So he sets up a competition with the evil management-type guy who wants his money – they have to race against electric eels in a gigantic aquarium. Expectedly the evil management-type guy employs all methods of devious trickery to cheat his way to victory, but ends up losing.

·         Adam Sandler is a good-hearted chap but has the IQ of a turnip. So the cruel world is quick to take advantage of this fact and everyone generally picks on him. Only his mother supports him through thick and thin, but mainly because she’s a bit thick. Some sort of disaster strikes the town and somehow Adam Sandler contrives to make himself the town saviour in his inimitable, comically-inept manner. The town siren falls for him in the middle of it all and they live happily ever after.

The following, however, are NOT scenarios you would associate with an Adam Sandler movie:

·         Set in the Iron Curtain in the 50s, Adam Sandler is an American diplomat whose daughter has been kidnapped by KGB agents. In a gripping saga of cold war intrigue, politics and back-stabbing, Adam Sandler does not know whom to trust as he goes about trying to negotiate the release of his daughter.

·         In this emotionally-charged movie about finding oneself and having the courage to stand up for it, Adam Sandler brings to screen the powerful persona of gay rights activist William Scott Fitzgerald. From his traumatic childhood to facing the hostility of narrow-minded adults, Adam Sandler puts in a powerhouse performance as he battles for the rights of his people.

·         In this adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel, Adam Sandler brings to life the role of the nobleman Edward Pigeonhole, who resides in his big country home in Gloucestershire, takes an hour to dress up in his fancy nobleman clothes, plays bridge all the time and says things like “Why, Miss Pennyworth! I fear that you have misread my intentions. Indeed, I must make it clear that I’m perfectly happy being betrothed to Miss Elizabeth.”

So it came as no surprise that people did not really take Adam Sandler seriously in the movie Reign Over Me, even though some critics proclaimed that it was a gritty portrayal that captured the trauma of loss and longing. The sad fact simply is that no one can EVER takes Adam Sandler seriously. This is often referred to as the Adam Sandler Syndrome, and it occurs when people stop taking something seriously. I shall now proceed to cite some more examples of situations where the Adam Sandler syndrome has struck.

Car Awards

Invariably, as soon as a new car is launched in the Indian market, it already seems to have won a host of awards. The launch ads always have proclamations such as “Voted Car of the Year, 2009 - AutoCar”, “Best B-Segment Car, 2009 – Overdrive” and “Best Manual Gearbox - B-Segment Cars, 2009 – Motor India”. Either there are too many awards being handed out, or too many car magazines being sponsored by car manufacturers. I cannot think of a single car launched recently that had not already won a clutch of awards, even though it is just getting launched. Hence no one takes these awards seriously anymore, they’re like Adam Sandler.

Film Awards

The same goes for film awards. There was once a time when film awards meant something, and only when you really won something worthwhile such as “SEVEN Academy Award Nominations” would you put it up on the DVD cover. Today, every second DVD you pick up would have a bunch of awards listed on top - “Runner-up, Sundance Film Festival”, “Winner, Best Motion Picture (Drama), Teheran Film Festival”, “Silver Balloon, Foreign Film Category, Festival D’Or, Cannes” and so on. I’m sure even an Adam Sandler movie must’ve picked up an award; no wonder people don’t take it seriously any longer!

When someone is travelling and gives a time estimate

This has happened to most of us at one point or another; and at times we’ve resorted to it ourselves. Say you have to meet a friend at 2. It’s 2.15 and there’s still no sign of that person, so you give them a call. Even though you can hear the tap running in the background and know that the friend has still not left home, they’ll tell you “Yea yea, I’m on my way. Almost there, will reach in ten minutes.” Or they’ll say they’re mid-way when they’ve just left home, and you can’t even make out because the traffic sounds the same everywhere. Like the way one would treat Adam Sandler, I’ve stopped taking these time estimates seriously.

Swipe In/Swipe Out

This is a novel method that, by most accounts, seems to have its origins in the IT industry. It allows employees the luxury of officially being in office without actually being physically present. For instance, an employee going for a morning jog can go and swipe in, and then continue with his jog, go home, have breakfast and freshen up, while the records show that he’s been in office the whole time. Again, if an employee feels like going shopping or for a movie while also being in the office at the same time, he can go out, come back and then swipe out in the evening. No one takes it seriously anymore, although in the early years carrying the swipe card around was a cool thing because it meant that you were working in a modern, new-age company. Now it’s suffering from the Adam Sandler Syndrome – nobody takes it seriously anymore.

Book Praises on the Back-Cover

“A thoroughly entertaining and magnificently written book – reminds me of Calvino in his prime!” – The New York Herald

“Brilliant. Inspired. Once you read this book, you won’t look at the world through the same eyes!” – The Washington Post

“His best work yet – enthralling, engrossing and mysterious in equal measure.” – The New Era Sun Times Herald Post

Every book that you pick up these days tends to have these kinds of sentences screaming at you. I know it’s the sales copy section and you’re supposed to lure the buyer into purchasing this book, but overdoing it has meant that people just do not care anymore as the Adam Sandler Syndrome kicks in.

I’m quite sure there are many more such cases wherein the Adam Sandler Syndrome has kicked in or is at the risk of kicking in. I invite all of you to chip in with your examples, if any. Each valid example would fetch that person a bunch of bonus points. Of course, in the spirit of things, the bonus points are a joke, like Adam Sandler!

8 comments:

Subarna said...

I never knew you sat through so many of Adam Sandler movies to know him so well. Good job. I have a lot of respect for anyone who can tolerate even 15 mins of Adam Sandler. I just cannot stand him. He is irritating from head to toe. Examples of the Adam Sandler syndrome...hmmm. Guys making promises...thats definitely one. :P

Abhinav said...

Good One, Though im surprised you spent so much time analysing Mr Sandler's movies!

The Adam Sandler syndrome scores much closer home esp during the ongoing elections campaigns.

Another obvious example is your old VP at Cranes!

Orgho said...

Subarna...guys making promises...u can come up with better ones! Nevertheless, 10 points for u!
Abhinav...good ones! That's 50 points to u!
Btw, I think I've only seen one or two Adam Sandler movies completely...the rest of the knowledge is through trailers, or watching bits of it when its being shown on TV.

Subarna said...

Guys making promises was like "top of the mind" recall. And hello? I get only 10 points for that and Abhinav gets 50 points!!! Very unfair. Btw, here are a few more:
--Sub-contest winners at the Miss India contest. There are 20 contestants and 20 sub-contests to make sure each one has a crown!!
--Infact, all kinds of beauty pageants.
--My Delivery Manager (you know enough about him, so I think you'll agree)
--Salespeople
--Last, but not the least, you talking about marriage :P
Happy?

Orgho said...

Hmmm...50 points for each of the first 4 points, and 5 for the fifth point ;)
So that's 205 points for u!!! :)

Subarna said...

Thanks. 205+10 points for my previous comment. So, total 215 points. Yippeee!! :)
That beats Booboo's by a HUGE margin!

Orgho said...

So when is the treat?

Abhinav said...

Marriage???????
Bro, please tell me advance....I need to call Shayak before i leave kolkata...