Adam PUNCH Sandler Drunk, Love for

The 90s in midwestern america, teenage boys setting themselves apart from their molds.  Billy madison and happy gilmore were perfect avenues to revel in taboo.  Sandler's devil-may-care, lack of the tiniest shred of concern for parental type authority, perfect.  Critical to the character was his disregard for protocol, quickness to resort to violence, his lack of concern for the concequences imposed by others, and freedom from care about others opinions or scorn.
   This fundemental character of our youth we were happily hoping ot see return and grow with us.  Water boy promised to be the next installment.  With the premise built around the opressed (bullied teen-type) finding his "fuck it" and blasting out with violent enthusiasm, it appeared to be not only embracing the character but fledging him in the best way.  But it was a lie.  As the film played, the promise of the catharsis was there, but the goods were never delivered.  to the end the water boy remained a snivling weak willed coward, crushable by an unkind word.  His hidden strength was never his, only a cute trick.
   Betrayed but not yet unmade, we went to the next installment, and the next.  Big Daddy.  The wedding singer.  Little nicki.  Certainly no grand departures from the original landmards, but still completely lacking the key compelling element. 
  By the time Barry Egan was introduced we knew him all too well.  A coward, with rage yes, but fizzling, within family set expectations and bounds, impotent.  So sandler was to play in a drama, it seemed to fit fine, since slapstick was hardly filling our need.  But then it happened.  The pieces of a film coalesced and built to a scene that we had been waiting for since 1998.  The snap that we had been wishing for for scene after scene in movie after movie happened and WHAM the crowbar hit the stomach.

Sandler has never been a great comic, actor, movie maker.  He has been horrible at times (that's my boy).  But in that moment a hero from our youth looked us in the eyes and said "I will never forget you."  Thank you, goodnight.