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Big Daddy

  • 1999
  • PG-13
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
247K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,904
683
Adam Sandler, Cole Sprouse, and Dylan Sprouse in Big Daddy (1999)
Trailer for Big Daddy
Play trailer2:26
2 Videos
99+ Photos
Buddy ComedyComing-of-AgeRaunchy ComedyComedyDrama

A lazy law school graduate adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned.A lazy law school graduate adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned.A lazy law school graduate adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned.

  • Director
    • Dennis Dugan
  • Writers
    • Steve Franks
    • Tim Herlihy
    • Adam Sandler
  • Stars
    • Adam Sandler
    • Joey Lauren Adams
    • Jon Stewart
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    247K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,904
    683
    • Director
      • Dennis Dugan
    • Writers
      • Steve Franks
      • Tim Herlihy
      • Adam Sandler
    • Stars
      • Adam Sandler
      • Joey Lauren Adams
      • Jon Stewart
    • 348User reviews
    • 75Critic reviews
    • 42Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 8 wins & 14 nominations total

    Videos2

    Big Daddy
    Trailer 2:26
    Big Daddy
    Big Daddy
    Trailer 0:31
    Big Daddy
    Big Daddy
    Trailer 0:31
    Big Daddy

    Photos297

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    + 290
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    Top cast60

    Edit
    Adam Sandler
    Adam Sandler
    • Sonny Koufax
    Joey Lauren Adams
    Joey Lauren Adams
    • Layla Maloney
    Jon Stewart
    Jon Stewart
    • Kevin Gerrity
    Cole Sprouse
    Cole Sprouse
    • Julian 'Frankenstein' McGrath
    Dylan Sprouse
    Dylan Sprouse
    • Julian 'Frankenstein' McGrath
    Josh Mostel
    Josh Mostel
    • Arthur Brooks
    Leslie Mann
    Leslie Mann
    • Corinne Maloney
    Allen Covert
    Allen Covert
    • Phil D'Amato
    Rob Schneider
    Rob Schneider
    • Delivery
    Kristy Swanson
    Kristy Swanson
    • Vanessa
    Joseph Bologna
    Joseph Bologna
    • Lenny Koufax
    Peter Dante
    Peter Dante
    • Tommy Grayton
    Jonathan Loughran
    Jonathan Loughran
    • Mike
    Steve Buscemi
    Steve Buscemi
    • Homeless Man
    Tim Herlihy
    Tim Herlihy
    • Singing Kangaroo
    Edmund Lyndeck
    Edmund Lyndeck
    • Mr. Herlihy
    Larkin Malloy
    Larkin Malloy
    • Restaurant Owner
    Samantha Brown
    • Employee
    • Director
      • Dennis Dugan
    • Writers
      • Steve Franks
      • Tim Herlihy
      • Adam Sandler
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews348

    6.4246.9K
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    Featured reviews

    7nickelodeonftwdisneyjuniorftl

    The Sprouse Twins Stole the Show

    I Remember Loving Big Daddy as a Kid, and i still Do, It's a Load of Fun, The Twins are Cute, and it's Sandler's Best Movie! I Think it's one of the Best movies of 1999.

    and The Sprouse Twins Prove It.

    This is Really Fun to Watch! I'f you're Looking for a Good Comedy Movie I'd Highly Recommend Watching It.
    8baumer

    Sandler's funniest!

    Some movies are made for us to ponder questions of morality and ethics. Some are made for us to question reality. Some are made for us to find ourselves.

    This movie is not one of them.

    This movie was made for one reason and that is to make us laugh. And it does that very well.

    Sandler plays an incredibly irresponsible derelict that has no real job or ambition in life. He gets a kid left on is doorstep and he is forced to care for him. The story needn't be described any more than that, we all know what happens. But it is what this movie does to our senses that makes it worth while. In short, it makes us laugh hysterically. This film is a whirlwind of jokes and hilarity and when it stops to let you catch your breath it still entertains you. I admire films like this. They aren't meant to be Instinct or The Siege ( two films that I absolutely love ) but all it aspires to do is entertain you; take you away from life for 90 minutes. And let's face it. Sitting in a cool theater with a bag of M&M's, a cold Coke and a funny movie is a perfect way to spend a lazy summer afternoon.

    This is a great movie and it will make you laugh. That's all it is, nothing more, nothing less. And we should be thankful for that.
    7Brogan

    Adam Sandler in top form!

    While all of the somphoric pre-teens will be giggling silly at the childish potty jokes shown in AUSTIN POWERS 2, the real adults will be laughing their heads off in a much funnier film called BIG DADDY. This is Sandler's sixth starring role feature, and it seems that the sixth time is a splending charm. This is Sandler's best work yet! Now in case you are wondering, I enjoyed both HAPPY GILMORE, and THE WEDDING SINGER. But there's something charming and wonderful on why I enjoyed BIG DADDY more. Perhaps it's seeing a over-grown kid taking care of a little boy. Or it's Sandler mixing his in your face attitude that he gave in HAPPY GILMORE with his soft-spot attiude from THE WEDDING SINGER. Whatever it is, it works, and it works very well! The simple plot of BIG DADDY is a 5 year old child is left on the doorstep of Sandler's apartment. It turns out to be the child of his roommate (Jon Stewart), who's on his way to China for a legal case. So what is Sandler to do, but to give him to the child protective service. But it's a holiday, and they are closed, so Sandler keeps him for a day, then another day, and... well you get the picture. But the plot doesn't matter much with this film, it's the laughs, and you do get plenty of those. But you also get a wonderful supporting cast. There's a good support from Jon Stewart, the always wonderful and beautiful Joey Lauren Adams, Leslie Mann, and Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer). And what's a Sandler movie like if you don't have his usual character actor friends in small comic roles; Rob Schrieder, Steve Buscemi, Josh Mostel, Allen Covert (the caddy from HAPPY GILMORE who was also the limo driver friend in THE WEDDING SINGER), and Jonathan Loughran (the lazy-eyed football player in THE WATERBOY). There's even a funny cameo role by director Dennis Dugan, as the man who refuses to answer the door on Halloween, while Sandler is taking his adopted son trick or treating. This film was a lot more funnier that THE WATERBOY, it was also funnier than THE WEDDING SINGER and HAPPY GILMORE. It was believe it or not, more touching. You can understand why Sandler doesn't want to let this boy go, since he reminds him so much of himself. And Sandler sees that being a father figure isn't only fun, but it redeems himself from the lost of his girlfriend. I have to give both Sandler and director Dennis Dugan (the same director of HAPPY GILMORE) a round of applause. They teamed up for a comedy that is not only successful, but will make A LOT of money. Sandler and Dugan are the best comedian/director team since the late John Belushi and John Landis. I'm just hoping that they will continue to do films together in the futrue. Until then, take your date, your friends, or heck just go alone and enjoy one of the funniest comedies (next to ANALYZE THIS, ELECTION, and RUSHMORE) of this year. This is a wonderful treat! ****1/2 (out of five)
    7Aaron1375

    A rather funny movie featuring Sandler.

    I am not a Sandler fan in the least, in fact for the most part I do not enjoy his movies. Still, this one was a rather funny little comedy even if it did have a rather unbelievable premise. Guy loses girl, guy tries to get girl back by taking in a kid who may or may not be a friend of his kid. So aside from that you have your funny scenes of Adam trying to raise a small boy to the best of his ability while also getting the attention of a new female in his life. Granted some of the jokes were just lame such as Sandler dressing up as the boy's favorite toy, but for the most part the jokes were hits. It did tend to get a bit sentimental towards the end, but not as bad as other movies of this type tend to get. Jon Stewart is in this one as is Sandler buddies Rob Snider. Steve Bushemi is also in it, but his appearance in the movie is rather stupid. So for a rather good comedy that isn't really great, but not unbearable like many Sandler comedies can get try this one on for size.
    6jimbo-53-186511

    I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would

    Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) is an unemployed layabout who claims that he is unable to work due to an accident he had involving a cab from 2 years ago. Sonny is a self-absorbed individual who generally thinks of no-one but himself much to the annoyance of his girlfriend. However, when a 5 year old boy named Julian (Cole Sprouse) ends up on his doorstep, Sonny claims to have adopted Julian in order to try and win back his girlfriend and prove himself worthy of her affections. Whilst Julian is in Sonny's care, Sonny does some growing up himself in the midst of some rather questionable antics as a caretaker parent.

    The marketing for this film was always questionable; the film poster shows Sandler and the boy standing in front of a door and urinating against it. In this respect it does itself no real favours as there may be many people that decide not to watch it because it looks like it's going to be crude and juvenile from the poster. In fairness this isn't completely inaccurate as there are some aspects of the film that are a bit juvenile and crude, but the actual bulk of the film is quite charming and sweet and fairly enjoyable and I'm just puzzled as to why a fairly sweet-natured film was marketed so poorly. Anyway I digress...

    Sandler's comedy films have sometimes proved problematic because some of the characters he has portrayed have been unlikeable or unsympathetic. In Big Daddy though, as things progress it becomes fairly obvious that Sonny's actually an OK person that just needed a bit of a kick up the backside. Looking after Julian gave Sonny a purpose in life and as mentioned it gave him the kick up the backside that he'd needed for the last 2 years. The chemistry between Julian and Sonny was also really good and the two of them share both funny moments and tender moments - I thought that Sonny telling Julian that wearing sunglasses meant nobody could see him was a funny idea and quite sweet as well.

    There are some weaknesses to this film; firstly a lot of the acting here is rather mediocre (although Steve Buscemi was good fun in the limited screen time that he was given). The film was also a little too light on laughs for my liking - although the warmth and charm of the picture compensate slightly for the slight lack of humour. The film also gets very soppy towards the end and I also found some of the character shifts to be a bit dubious. The script offers few surprises and is fairly predictable, but I always say it doesn't matter if you know outcome B at point A as long as you generally enjoy everything in between and that pretty much sums up my feelings about this film. It's hardly Oscar-worthy, but it has some funny moments, it has some charm, and it surprised me by being better than I expected it to be.

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    Related interests

    Steve Martin and John Candy in Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
    Buddy Comedy
    Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (2018)
    Coming-of-Age
    Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane in Ted 2 (2015)
    Raunchy Comedy
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      While filming, The Waterboy (1998) came out and was a huge success. Noticing the box office, Sony sent a memo to the set, letting the production team and Adam Sandler know that they had extra money to film or expand scenes they felt were lacking. This allowed smaller characters played by Rob Schneider and Steve Buscemi to have greater roles.
    • Goofs
      When the skater coming down the path in the park hits Sonny's stick, he careens down the hill into the pond between two large rocks. The smaller rock on the right lifts and floats a little to the right.
    • Quotes

      Julian: ...but I wipe my own ass, I wipe my own ass!

    • Crazy credits
      This movie is dedicated to our fathers. Thanks for putting up with all our crap. We love you.
    • Alternate versions
      When aired on TV, some scenes were altered, like:
      • When Sonny finds out McDonalds stopped serving breakfast at 10:30, his scream of "horseshit!" was changed to "Noooo!";
      • The word 'ass' was changed to 'butt'; the word 'shit' was altered or worked around;
      • The names of Sonny's snacks when he's watching hockey were blurred out; Sonny's line of "the money I got in the cab accident is kicking ass in the stock market" was altered.
    • Connections
      Edited into The Clock (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      Passing Me By
      (LP Version)

      Written by Slim Kid 3 (as Trevant Hardson), Imani (as Emandu Wilcox), Bootie Brown, Fatlip (as Derek Stewart), J. Swift, Steve Boone, and John Sebastian

      Performed by The Pharcyde

      Courtesy of Delicious Vinyl

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    FAQ20

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 25, 1999 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Un papá genial
    • Filming locations
      • Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA(Hooters)
    • Production companies
      • Columbia Pictures
      • Jack Giarraputo Productions
      • Out of the Blue... Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $34,200,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $163,479,795
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $41,536,370
      • Jun 27, 1999
    • Gross worldwide
      • $234,801,895
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 33m(93 min)
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby
      • SDDS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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