A celebration of oddness: Adam Sandler picks up Mark Twain Prize for American Humour

Critics have not always been kind to Adam Sandler throughout his three decade career in the film industry as an actor, writer and director, but the fans’ adoration is reflected in the box office receipts generating over $3 billion worldwide.

Despite Adam’s critically reviled history, the Hustle actor was not only recognised with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour on Sunday night, but has also seemingly entered a more serious era with his recent dramatic films.

Adam became the 24th comic to receive the prestigious prize at the Kennedy Centre, with friends and former co-stars praising him for his ‘unending work ethic’ including Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore and David Spade.

Recipients of the Mark Twain Prize are those who have made a ‘lasting impact on American history’, with Adam joining the likes of Will Ferrell and Tina Fey as previous winners.

Collecting the award, Adam said: “As I look at this goofy award, I can’t help but think that one day it just might be the weapon used to bludgeon me to death…It’s just a part of my life that I never expected to happen, and it’s nice that my family and friends get to say that goofy guy Adam won a Mark Twain award.”

The 2023 SAG nominee started out as a stand up comedian, performing five nights a week, before rising in prominence through his work on Saturday Night Live and his early movies such as Billy Maddison and Happy Gilmore.

According to his IMDB page, Adam has now starred in 86 movies as an actor and has accumulated over 60 credits as a producer and 28 as a writer respectively. 

Aforementioned, Adam’s lifetime in comedy has not always been in favour of the critics, often being dubbed as ‘juvenile’ or ‘predictably formulaic’, but the actor’s goofiness and charm has seemingly worked wonders with the audiences to make multiple box office successes.

For example, Adam’s 2013 sequel ‘Grown Ups 2’ which stars Chris Rock, Kevin James and Rob Schneider among others, was given a score of just 8% on Rotten Tomatoes but as a result of the $246 million gross funds at the box office, it bolstered the movie.

The fans’ overwhelming love for Adam Sandler can also be seen in his array of previous awards voted for by the public in addition to his impact on pop culture - in the last year, thousands of people, both celebrities and your average Tom, Dick and Harry have tried to replicate Adam’s relaxed style.

Pete Davidson, Justin Bieber and Bella Hadid have all been linked to Adam’s ‘Y2K’ style influence which has received nearly three billion views on TikTok. 

Although Adam has been a huge success with fans throughout his 30 years in the industry, the Hotel Transylvania actor has ventured into more serious pieces in the last six years which have turned his critics favour around somewhat.

Credits including Uncut Gems (2019), Hustle (2022) and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) have been ranked as Adam’s best films on Rotten Tomatoes and received critical acclaim.

Adam has been nominated for hundreds of awards since his first movie in 1989 including nods at the Golden Globes, but was up for his first SAG this year - his first major acting recognition for his performance as a washed up basketball coach in Netflix’s Hustle.

The 56-year-old, who was up against Colin Farrell, Austin Butler and Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser, tweeted at the time: “Thank you to everyone at SAG. That was real cool. And love to all.”

As Adam Sandler reflects on his successful start to 2023 with the SAG nomination and Mark Twain accolade in addition to his new film Murder Mystery 2 hitting Netflix, could this be the start to critics celebrating Adam’s ‘oddness’?