Navigate to Arts & Letters section

No. 96: The Wedding Singer

Crashing New Jersey

by
Liel Leibovitz
December 05, 2011
(New Line Cinema)
(New Line Cinema)

1998, dir. Frank Coraci. This fairy tale, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, takes place long ago (the 1980s) in a faraway land (New Jersey) and features such mythical creatures as Billy Idol. It’s also one of the most convincing depictions of menschhood in recent memory, and anyone not totally smitten with Barrymore as she lip-syncs to David Bowie’s “China Girl” is dead inside.

Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.