Big Daddy review

Remember Mr James Carrey? Stand-up comedian turned movie superstar who had only to pull comical grimace for people to scream genius? How his rubbery mug must have fallen with the advent of Adam Sandler.

For here's a lovable goon that can do no wrong. And though early golfing outrage Happy Gilmore remains - to date - the finest showcase for his everyman anarchy, Sandler bounces back from the flat Waterboy with little shortfall in juvenile exuberance.

Despite his father's constant nagging and the years creeping into the early thirties, Sonny Koufax's (Sandler) law school degree remains buried and unused beneath the piles of takeaway pizza boxes strewn across his shared bachelor-pad floor.

Flatmate Kevin's (Jon Stewart) engagement to girlfriend Corinne (Leslie Mann) - the moment superbly scuppered during a surprise party when Sonny blurts "you're not gonna propose, are ya?" - only reinforces his grip on responsibility-free existence.

And then there's something of a shock arrival in the small, five-year-old shape of a boy called Julian (Cole & Dylan Sprouse), the son Kevin never knew he had.

With a long-term business trip looming, Julian's also the son Kevin can't have now, and Sonny agrees to take care of putting the lad up for adoption. But Sonny's own girlfriend Vanessa (Kristy Swanson) has threatened to walk, and somewhere in Sonny's mind, a woefully misguided plan is hatched: he'll pose as Kevin and take custody of Julian himself, thereby proving his prowess as a grown-up.

Sonny's approach to parenting, however, is not exactly orthodox. As ever, the world in this latest instalment of Sandler-branded comedy is that cartoonish, safe reflection of reality.

At least, you've got to hope so, for while there's a satisfying clatter to upending roller-bladers in the park, if this is really how the American legal and social services system operates, then chaos is surely just around the corner.

And the narrative formula is constant: Sandler's dysfunctional comedy hero has his fun in the first half, only to discover (here's the moral, kids) that responsibility for a young life requires some examination of his own. It works because all this noisy, American loutishness is tempered by a rather vigorous, everyman charm, and that transfers very effectively to an audience.

Within this format, the humour is consistent and juvenile with the odd flash of outrageousness, although the need to round-out the story's father-son relationship themes is handled with an excruciatingly clumsy courtroom finale that's devoid of even a inkling of irony.

This aside, the Sprouse siblings manage a remarkably irritation-lite dual performance as Julian, support players Joey Lauren Adams (as Sonny's replacement love interest) and Rob Schneider (as the fast food delivery guy who virtually lives at Sonny's flat) do their bit well, and it all bundles merrily along.

A strong entry in the Sandler catalogue, in fact, and one that will certainly cement its star as - for the time being at any rate - a very bankable box office commodity.