It's hard to believe that Adam Sandler has been making us laugh for over 30 years. He famously starred on Saturday Night Live before starring in a string of dumb-but-funny movies such as Billy Madison,* Happy Gilmore*, and The Waterboy. His older movies are still considered classics, but we are kind of loving that Sandler is fully in his dad era these days.
Fresh off the success of his popular teen coming-of-age movie You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (starring his daughters Sadie and Sunny Sandler), Sandler is bringing another family friendly movie to Netflix. Luckily for us, CafeMom's own Momtourage hosts Ashley Hearon-Smith and Keri Setaro got to talk to the star about the new movie and his best parenting advice. Spoiler alert: Adam Sandler gives some pretty wise advice for a guy who's filmed more than a few fart jokes in his life!
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All About 'Leo'
Leo, which dropped on Netflix on November 21, is the warm-hearted story of an elderly lizard (Leo is a ripe 74 years old!) who has been living for years as a beloved classroom pet. He's also a lizard with a secret. The lizard, voiced by Sandler, can not only talk but also serves as a de facto therapist for the fifth graders who take him home for the weekend. He dishes advice and helps them get ready to make the transition from elementary school to what Sandler describes as "the big leagues" of junior high.
Sandler, who started work on the film when his daughters were younger and getting ready to make that transition themselves, shares that the movie might make both parents and kids a little nostalgic about that end of elementary school experience. Our transitions might not have included a lizard with a bucket list and a sarcastic turtle, but we're still here for it!
It's a nice time to be 'friendly and open.'
There's no question we have no shortage of bad news in the world right now, so we couldn't help but agree with Sandler that this is the perfect time for a movie that both celebrates the magic of a great teacher and the importance of learning how to be "friendly and open." Sandler tells CafeMom that even though his daughters are older now, they still enjoyed the movie and that they "feel really calm watching it and they laugh and it is just filled with, like, nice memories of elementary school."
Although there were probably hundreds of questions we could have asked Adam Sandler about his life in comedy, we also didn't want to miss the chance to find out what makes him tick as a father.
Sandler has some dad advice.
Like the rest of us, Sandler might not be a perfect parent. He laughingly tells us that he often wakes up with an Instagram meme or story from his wife that explains "what I could be doing better" as a father but also shared that his hope is to be the kind of dad who can subtly "slide in some advice" when his girls need it most.
Sandler explains that he tries to "be open, listen, don't judge too much what your kids are telling you and kind of hear what they say saying and go from there."
That is some pretty dang solid advice, right? Kids need listeners and trusted adults (and, maybe, lizards?) who aren't always going to rush in and tell them what to do but who are ready to help them figure it out.
Will there be a high school movie in the future?
Even though we are excited to watch Leo this weekend, we can't help but hope that this isn't the last coming-of-age movie that will come out of Sandler's dad era. He's tackled elementary school angst with Leo and middle school drama in You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, so will a high school movie happen in the future?
Sadly, we weren't able to get Adam Sandler to spill any beans about that, but we'll be keeping our eyes open for what he does next.
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