Big Daddy, more Sketches of Frank

From The Movie Snob:

Big Daddy (C). Has Adam Sandler ever made a really good movie? I have avoided some of his most successful movies (The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison), being convinced that watching them would kill many more brain cells than I can afford to part with. But the ones I have seen have pretty much left me cold too (Anger Management and Spanglish come to mind). Only The Wedding Singer sticks in my memory as being a decently entertaining flick. Anyway, in Big Daddy Sandler plays his typical childlike character, this time named Sonny Koufax. An amiable lug, he is about to lose his very attractive girlfriend Vanessa (Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer) because he refuses to grow up and get a job. Fate drops a five-year-olf boy on his doorstep, and Sonny pretends to have adopted him to try to impress Vanessa. The first half of the movie has some laughs as man-boy Sonny tries to raise real-boy Julian, with many misadventures. The second half descends into maudlin tedium as Sonny's paternal instincts come to life and he decides its time to grow up. Mediocre.

Sketches of Frank Gehry (B). Has there ever been a bad documentary about an architect? Based on the two I have seen (this one and My Architect), I would say the answer is No. This is Sydney Pollack's first documentary, about the architect who designed the world-famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Gehry is still alive, and he gets plenty of screen time. He seems like a nice enough guy, but the footage of his buildings is what made the movie for me. Are they great? I don't know, but they are certainly spectacles. For human interest and drama in addition to great visuals, My Architect is a much better movie, but that is probably because its protagonist, Louis Kahn, was a much stranger and more troubled individual than Gehry is. Anyway, check out Sketches, but don't miss My Architect.

The Guggenheim, Bilbao.

Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles.