Big Daddy happens to be my first Adam Sandler movie. I'm not a comic snob and humour of any kind done well appeals to me, so that's not the reason I've not made it to a Sandler flick until now. It was just coincidence.
The plot is simple and serves as a showcase for all the one-liners and gags delivered by Sandler: Sonny Koufax (Sandler) is a slacker who has just been dumped his girlfriend for slacking too much. He adopts the child (played by twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse) of his best friend, in order to impress his now ex-girlfriend, which doesn't work out the way he expected.
Meanwhile, the child, who decides to call himself Frankenstein, learns all the "bad" habits of Sonny. However, thanks to Sonny's open minded parenting, he also earns the devotion of the boy and when push comes to shove, the boy behaves in a disciplined manner that no amount of negative reinforcement could've achieved. This happy relationship is threatened by social services who feel Sonny isn't a proper parent and a court battle ensues where Sonny fights for custody of Frankenstein.
Unlike the Austin Powers films, Big Daddy lacks the consistency and sheer tenacity of gags. There are few novel jokes here and most of the funniest ones are already shown in the previews. Like Austin Powers, the movie relies primarily on Sandler's personality and while he does a great job of carrying it a lot of the time, he doesn't always succeed. Worth renting when it comes out on video.