Adam Sandler’s New Netflix Special Is Chaos on Purpose, Thanks to Director Josh Safdie: Review

When you watch Adam Sandler: Love You, it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. The jokes are real, for sure. Later in the show, that’s not technically Elvis Presley singing, but it is Rob Schneider doing a very solid impression. Otherwise, who’s to say what’s really going on, as director Josh Safdie (a collaborator of Sandler’s since 2019’s Uncut Gems) stages the new Netflix comedy special as 70 minutes of self-contained chaos.

Disaster looms right from the start, as Adam Sandler rolls up to the venue in a car with a busted windshield, and has to deal with contentious fans outside the theater (including an Uncut Gems cameo we all probably should have seen coming). Then, once he’s finally on stage, little and big things start to go wrong, from the monitors above the stage not working to a literal hole in the stage interrupting one of the many musical interludes. As Sandler put it during a recent Jimmy Fallon appearance, “It’s not the perfect show, and things happened that hopefully are interesting.”

Not to ruin too much of the magic, but that’s all (largely) by design. Vulture reports from a post-screening Q&A that Safdie’s intention for the location was that it be “the worst venue ever: a liminal space you feel like you know, but you don’t know.” Filmed at the Nocturne Theatre in Glendale, California, far away from more popular venues in the Los Angeles area, the setting does indeed seem familiar. Especially to those who have spent time in rundown black box theaters, the tight corners of the cluttered backstage area reeking of authenticity.

Thanks to a few moments which emphasize that “worst venue ever” vision, Safdie’s pagentry does occasionally threaten to be a real distraction. Yet the interruptions, whether planned or real, do add an energy that gives Sandler’s comedy just a little extra kick. Sandler, after all, has carved out a very comfortable niche for himself in this industry — watching him manage a little discomfort over the course of 70 minutes enhances the already solid comedy he brings to the mic.

And Sandler in stand-up mode is already pretty fascinating, because in so many ways he crafts a low-key, almost slacker-ish attitude on stage, a minor evolution on the not-a-boy-not-yet-a-man roles that made him a bankable movie star in the 1990s. However, after decades of doing this, there’s nothing slacker-ish about the craft of his delivery, his sharp attention to the audience’s engagement. His first joke, about how fame has changed him, is a perfect opening salvo, simple in its execution but masterfully told. And throughout, similar moments are a powerful reminder that he really is in a class unto himself.

A good percentage of Love You is heavily driven by music; while one of the great universal truths of the world is that all comedians deep down want to be musicians, Sandler’s always been a player in the realm of musical comedy, and at times he seems more comfortable on stage with a guitar in his hands than he does with just a microphone. Some of the songs, co-written with SNL writer Dan Bulla, feel like the silly sort of nonsense you might sing to yourself while dealing with your day. But some of Love You’s most dynamic moments come from the way Sandler involves the intimate live audience in these chords and riffs.

And then there’s the conclusion, an original song that’s essentially Sandler’s love letter to comedy and his heroes of the genre. It’s heartfelt and earnest, and not impossible to imagine getting a reprise during whatever Saturday Night Live has planned for its upcoming 50th anniversary special. (And not just because at one point Sandler rhymes “Lorne [Michaels]” with “Norm [Macdonald].”)

It’s a perfect capper for a deliberately imperfect special, one which overall stands out as much more sincere and heartfelt than it might seem on the surface. Sandler chooses to reveal real truths on stage in ways that feel offhand, easy to ignore, until days later a punchline you never realized was a punchline sneaks up on you. It’s not a perfect special, but it was never meant to be. And perfection is boring, anyway.

Adam Sandler: Love You is streaming now on Netflix.

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