Adam Sandler To Receive MTV Equivalent of the Nobel Prize

Look at it this way: At least nobody elected him Governor. Yet. Adam Sandler will receive a special MTV Movie Award this weekend for his continued contribution to the filmmaking community, he said without so much as a hint of irony. The Generation Award, the highest honor bestowed at the annual meaningless movie awards, will be given to Sandler, "for his amazing contribution to Hollywood," giving a new and less amazing meaning to the word "amazing." Said MTV President Van Toffler - who really ought to be concentrating on the War in Iraq right now...oh wait, that's a different President - "A 30-something water boy, a brokenhearted `80s wedding singer and a rejected hockey player-turned-pro golfer ... now that's an impressive resumé." Of course, over the past two years, Cate Blanchett has played a German prositute and spy, a teacher who seduces her teenage student, a woman slowly dying from a rifle shot, the most important female leader in Western civilization, and Bob Dylan. So I guess her award is coming next year. But if you look at it from MTV's perspective, Sandler is probably a great fit. Their awards rarely honor good films and Sandler has, likewise, rarely been in good films. Usually, he gets his movies over the $100,000,000 mark, which speaks to the power of his audience, though not necessarily Sandler himself, whose comedies have really not lived up to his own low standard since Anger Management. But there's no denying his enduring popularity. He seems like a great guy, and he knows what works for him, so you'd have to wonder why he'd ever change it up. He has tried different things over the past few years, though. I didn't like Punch-Drunk Love, but thought Spanglish was well done and even thought Click was acceptable, even though I don't think it fits the traditional Sandler mold. But fans have largely stayed away from his more serious efforts; combined, Punch-Drunk, Spanglish and last year's Reign Over Me made $40 million less than I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.