Has anyone seen The Cobbler, the Adam Sandler movie? I wanna know how it ends

Cafe Society
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The Cobbler has been getting terrible reviews. It seems like a somewhat typical Sandler movie, except for being directed by Tom McCarthy, who has directed some great movies, like The Station Agent and The Visitor. I read a spoiler about this movie that sounds so insane, and I was wondering if it was true.

Apparently his character was a ghost the whole time!

I’m somewhat fascinated by this movie, despite not having seen it, and if that crazy spoiler is true, that makes it even better. I might watch this movie with friends on TV, but I can’t wait until then to know how it ends.

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I thought the twist was that he actually was his own father. :wink:

I have no plans on seeing this movie, but based on comments made in reviews, I am curious about how it ends. Could someone who has seen it spoiler the denouement?

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Wow. There’s a new Adam Sandler movie out and I’ve not seen a single ad or a single poster or anything. If it weren’t for this Thread I wouldn’t know about it still. It’s not that I specifically try to keep up on all Adam Sandler news, but when he’s in a movie there’s generally a bit of marketing. I do not avoid media that would normally expose me to movie ads, so I’m surprised to not have heard of it.

As a general rule, I would not run out to see any new Sandler vehicle flick, but I’ve liked him in some films that weren’t specific vehicles for his comedy. Based on the director, I assume this is not a basic vehicle flick?

Very few theaters near me are showing it at all. Two of the theater are considered “art house” theaters- another point that’s got me thinking this is not a basic vehicle flick.

If it’s a bit of stretching out and trying something challenging, I’d be up for it. Even if it’s not good, I don’t mind seeing a film that doesn’t work as long as it’s interesting. Maybe I’ll see it in the next few days and report back.

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Well, apparently he puts on his father’s shoes to impersonate him and go out on a date with his mom. So weird. It sounds so bizarre, I want to know more.

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Way to go! Take one for the team.

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I am interested too. I’ll probably watch it if it comes on Netflix or something. The lack of promotion bodes ill but I don’t always agree with the corporate decision makers.

I am curious what others think, was Spanglish not outside of his usual “vehicle”/wheelhouse?

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I’d heard of this movie, but had no idea it was out either, until I happened to see Sandler promoting it on an entertainment show while flipping through the channels yesterday. Doesn’t bode well.

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In one review the writer posited there are two types of movies: Adam Sandler movies, and movies that have Adam Sandler in them.

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Thanks for starting this Thread, Sam Lowry! I wouldn’t have known about this movie otherwise.

First thing’s first: The detail about the ending that you put into your spoiler box in the OP is not correct. Not even in an up for interpretation kind of a way. It’s just wrong. JKilez, you put a winky smilie next to your suggestion of the twist so I figure you didn’t mean it seriously but just to cover all bases: no, that’s also incorrect.

Since this Thread is for people who haven’t seen it, I’ll just give general impressions.
It’s definitely not an Adam Sandler movie. It’s a movie that happens to have Adam Sandler as the lead actor. One thing I can give the guy credit for- when he’s hired on to someone else’s project (Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish, Men Women and Children), he respects the director’s vision and accepts the director’s guidance. There’s no attempt to cram his own comic schtick into the project. The same can be said for this movie.

I mentioned that, of the very few theaters near me that are showing this movie, two of the theaters are art house theaters. This movie isn’t very extreme in art house film territory. It can be easily digested by anyone who mostly only watches mainstream Hollywood movies.

I’ve never seen The Visitor but I have seen The Station Agent and I liked it. This movie is faster paced and not as contemplative. Still, it is not nearly as fast paced as a typical mainstream Hollywood comedy. Some of the comedy is “wacky” but it comes in characters responses to the magical elements of the story so the wackiness is connected to the characters and the plot. It’s not over-the-top wackiness, cheap gags, and nonsequiturs. Noteworthy: none of the comedy that could be considered “wacky” comes from Sandler himself. Method Man actually delivers some of the best comedic performances.

I definitely enjoyed it very much and would certainly recommend it. I don’t want to oversell it though. It’s a good movie. It’s not going to blow you away, I can’t imagine many people putting it on their list of favorites, but it is good and it is enjoyable from start to finish without any lulls.
Why is it getting no love in the marketing department? I don’t know. It’s possible the studio didn’t get the movie they thought they were going to get and thought “What the hell do we do with whatever this is?” It’s not arty enough to market to the art house scene and it’s not mainstream enough to market to mainstream audiences.

There’s also the Punch Drunk Love problem, people going to see what they think is going to be an “Adam Sandler Movie” then getting confused and angry at getting something that didn’t meet their expectations. At least previews for Punch Drunk Love and Spanglish presented those films in a way that they didn’t look like Adam Sandler movies. Conversely, the whole concept for The Cobbler does seem like it could be a wacky Adam Sandler movie. In fact, I just now watched the trailer (I hadn’t watched it before seeing the movie) and the trailer does make it seem like a wacky Adam Sandler broad comedy.

Maybe they’re thinking if they tried to market for a huge opening weekend, audiences would react badly at the movie not being what they had expected, they’d hate the movie for not fitting into the mold they thought it was meant for, and it would be an fast accepted fact that this movie sucks. Maybe they’re thinking instead to start small and get good word of mouth so that an audience would grow slowly as people watch based on friends’ recommendations having had their expectations properly adjusted. Is that giving marketing executives way too much credit for playing the long game?

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What was the twist?

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What if the twist was that it was a good film?

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There wasn’t a twist. There was a sideplot that had a mystery that was revealed at the end, but there was no twist.
ETA: This Spoiler is definitely guessable while watching the movie but if you have any intention of seeing it I advise you not to peek under the spoiler tag. The reveal works nicely, you’d do yourself a disservice to go in knowing it ahead of time.

[SPOILER]The magic in use in the story comes from a stitching machine that has been in the main character’s family for generations. The shoe repair shop had belonged to his father, and his grandfather before that, and his great grandfather before that.

Sandler’s character discovers the magic stitching machine packed away in the basement. His father had never told him about it, he discover it and discovers its magic on his own (and by mistake). It is said throughout the movie that his father had left the family without explanation many years earlier (this is why Sandler disguises himself as his father to give his ailing mother one last evening of dinner and dancing with the man she loved).

It is revealed that the father had gotten himself into trouble by misusing the magic. Bad guys would be after him so he felt like disappearing would be the best way to protect his wife and son.

Then we find out that the father didn’t actually go away. He disguised himself as the barber next door so that he would always be close to his son and wife and he would always be able to watch over them.[/SPOILER]

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Not a good sign that the trailer says “Coming to US Theaters and On Demand March 13”

That being said; the trailer looks like something I would see; which is pretty remarkable considering I pretty much have rule where I assume all Adam Sandler movies are really bad; and have to be convinced otherwise. The only movies that even passes my I’d-watch-it-again test would be Spanglish and possibly Happy Gilmore.

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Again, this is a movie that happens to have Adam Sandler as a lead actor, not an Adam Sandler Movie.

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nm. Sorry.

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I would guess that’s because the movie business is the kind of business that asks you, “What have you done for me lately?”

If your last movie was not a success, they don’t wanna know you. At least, they don’t wanna spend much money promoting your films.

Seems to me that Sandler didn’t do very well in the recent past. So, the movie business ain’t gonna invest very much dough promoting his films.

Very harsh business. I can’t really see that view of things. Whadda bunch of chowder heads!

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???

Sandler’s movies turn solid profits. Where did you get the idea they don’t?

The critics think they’re pure lowest common denominator (and they’re right), but they make money. That’s why he and his production company can regularly turn out 3-4 movies a year with $50M budgets - they make that money back and then some.

If one of his movies isn’t being marketed heavily, it’s almost certainly because it’s not one of his more typical (and profitable) comedies. And that seems to be the case here (e.g. the “it’s a movie with Adam Sander in it but not an Adam Sandler movie” comment).

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Thanks for the synopsis bienville, I was really wondering what the movie was like. You might have been one of the few people to see the movie according to this article. I know Sandler movies haven’t been as successful lately, but it’s strange how much this one was buried. I might watch it on Netflix, which it will probably be on very very soon.

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“Jack and Jill”, “That’s My Boy”, and “Blended” did poorly, (“Grown Ups 2”, wasn’t just a Sandler movie, like these two), so yes…Sandler is having a slump.

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I by chance just watched this on PPV last night. Completely forget that it stars Adam Sandler, it bears no resemblance *whatsoever *to his signature goofball movies. It’s actually a wonderfully sweet, little independent film with a fairly simple premise. And **bienville **sums up the ‘surprise’ ending perfectly in his above spoiler box (which, as he says, I highly recommend you DON’T read before seeing it!)…