Score one for Adam Sandler.
The “Saturday Night Live” alum appears, by all accounts, to be a genuine good guy in the Hollywood ecosystem. He proudly shares his Jewish faith on screen, something you don’t typically see in blockbuster comedies.
When it’s time to make a new project, he calls upon his famous pals. He and Rob Schneider are rarely seen apart on screen. Loyalty matters.
Now, we’re learning how Sandler defied Hollywood ageism on his newest project. “Happy Gilmore 2” reunites much of the 1996 film’s cast, including Christopher McDonald (Shooter McGavin). It’s also set to feature Sandler’s squeeze Virginia Venit, played then and now by Julie Bowen.
The 55-year-old “Modern Family” alum expected the sequel to cast a younger, hotter actress opposite Sandler this time ’round. That’s just how Hollywood rolls.
Instead, Bowen got the call to reprise her “Happy Gilmore” character. And while she doesn’t have as much screen time as in the original, Sandler assured her how vital she is to the project.
“You’re the heart of the movie,” Sandler told her.
While the “Jack and Jill” star may seem an unlikely crusader against the industry’s double standards, it should come as no surprise to those who know anything about Sandler’s personal life.
The SNL alum has been married to wife, Jackie Titone — with whom he shares two daughters — since 2003. And not a whiff of sleazy scandal.
Which is more than we can say for many an outspoken Hollywood “male feminist.”
Perry’s scary stage SNAFU
Can things get worse for Katy Perry?
Her latest album got crushed by critics, and clips of her current tour drew social media mockery. She dipped a manicured toe in space, a trip that also generated a digital drubbing. Plus, she and her longtime steady, Orlando Bloom, just split.
Her latest indignity? A stage prop misbehaved, leaving her clinging for life midair. Her stop in Adelaide, Australia, hit a snag when a stunt involving a suspended sphere went haywire. She clung to the sphere’s bars while technicians rushed to fix the issue.
She emerged unhurt, but her ego took another hit along the way …
Star Trek: Trump Derangement Syndrome
Oh, my!
George Takei has finally cut the cord on his iconic Sulu character from the original “Star Trek” series and multiple feature films. How? He’s now a full-time Trump critic, and he proved it anew with a pathetic performance on the immersive liberal holodeck known as CNN.
He compared ICE’s deportation efforts to the Japanese-Americans rounded up during World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
They’re not remotely similar, of course. The worst part? Takei was one of those Japanese-Americans swept up in the country’s anti-Japanese fever in the 1940s. He even wrote a play about those memories.
Now, all he can do is summon them to smite Orange Man Bad. Set phasers on “stunned” …
RELATED: The technology of ‘Star Trek’
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We’d ‘Rather’ not
The very last person who should speak out about CBS’ $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over a selective editing scandal is Dan Rather.
The disgraced newsman used the “60 Minutes” brand to peddle fake news about then-President George W. Bush to sway the 2004 election. It failed, in part, because an army of citizen journalists rose up and debunked it step by step.
Rather never backed down, despite losing his plush anchor chair. A 2016 movie about the incident asked audiences to believe both that the newsman got the basic story right — and that he could be convincingly played by Robert Redford.
The title? “Truth.” That’s Hollywood.
So, naturally, Variety turned to Rather to weigh in on the Trump settlement.
“It’s a sad day for journalism. … It’s a sad day for ‘60 Minutes’ and CBS News. I hope people will read the details of this and understand what it was. It was distortion by the president and a kneeling down and saying, ‘Yes, sir,’ by billionaire corporate owners,” Rather said.
Variety couldn’t bother to tell readers who didn’t live through “Rathergate” why the Texas newsman is, to be kind, an unreliable narrator.
Then again, if anyone knows about fake news, it’s Danny Boy …
Putting the man in ‘romantic’
What can’t the patriarchy do?
Director Celine Song of “Past Lives” fame is blaming men for the death of the rom-com. Her latest film, “Materialists,” isn’t as frothy as most romantic comedies, but it loosely falls under that banner.
And it’s good!
That doesn’t mean Song’s approach to the subject is admirable. She says Hollywood stopped making rom-coms due to the patriarchy. Toxic men dismiss the genre as “chick flicks” and nothing more.
Except we never stopped loving rom-coms. The rom-com giants (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan) aged out of the genre. The newer versions offered up strained, gimmick-laden plots (“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”), and some focused on lust, not love (“Friends with Benefits,” “No Strings Attached”).
And when young, attractive stars get a chance at rom-com glory, they often hit the bull’s-eye. “Anyone But You” wasn’t “good,” but it boasted the attractive duo of Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. And it made a whopping $220 million in global theaters.
Scapegoating the patriarchy is always a woke winner, but this time, the blame falls squarely on Hollywood’s stooped shoulders.
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