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:''For other uses of the name Big Daddy, see Big Daddy.''
'''Big Daddy''' is a comedy film starring Adam Sandler that was released in 1999.

Contents

Plot

Reception

Cast

Trivia

Soundtrack

External links

Plot

Sonny Koufax (Sandler) is a carefree slob who has never much taken to adult responsibilities. He studied law in school but never pursued a career and didn't finish his exams. However, as his old buddies start getting married and drifting away and his girlfriend leaves him for a much older man, Sonny realizes that if he doesn't do something soon, he could end up all alone for the rest of his life.
Sonny finds himself in charge of a 5-year-old child. The boy was moved by his dying mother from Buffalo to be with his father, Sonny's roommate. The boy was dropped off at Sonny's door when his roommate was away on a business trip. Sonny contacts his roommate to inform him of the news, but instead of asking his roommate to come back home, he insists that he can handle the situation until he returns.
Sonny gets to know the boy, Julian. They begin having a lot of adventures together. Sonny, in traditional irresponsible-adult style, tells Julian that he basically can do whatever he wants. For example, when Julian (or, as he named himself, Frankenstein) wets the bed, Sonny simply uses newspaper to soak up the mess and tells Julian to go back to bed.
However, over time Sonny comes to love the boy and wants to keep him. He presents himself as Kevin Gerrity, his roommate, to NYC Social Services, so that he can keep the child. He then enrolls Julian in school.
During an afternoon, Sonny spots a woman in the park and takes an interest in her. He convinces Julian to pull a prank on her to get her attention, and then convinces her to come over to his apartment for the evening. They get to know each other, but Layla, who incidentally is Kevin's fiancee's sister, is uninterested in a relationship as she is very busy with her job in her law firm and does not have much time.
After a meeting with Julian's teacher, and being told that Julian is not only lacking hygiene but is exhibiting odd behavior, Sonny decides to take back his "whatever you like" stance and begins to help Julian shape up. He helps Julian take a bath, and also helps him with his school studies. Following this, Julian gives an excellent performance at a school presentation representing the Declaration of Independence signing. Layla attends the performance with Sonny, and the entire audience applauds Julian.
Social Services in the meantime has finally caught up with Sonny's tricks and discovered his true identity. A social worker shows up at Sonny's apartment to take Julian away. Julian is devastated and doesn't understand the situation, believing Sonny is giving him up intentionally. Sonny finds himself depressed and is desperate to get Julian back. He asks Layla to help him with the case, but she tells him that she is unable to do so because she has other work planned and that this explains her reasons for not wanting a relationship: she doesn't want to have to make changes to her life.
Sonny goes to court to try to regain custody of Julian. Surprisingly, Layla does show up at court and admits she does have feelings for Sonny and that she understands that helping someone you care for is worth it. Sonny and his friends all testify in favor of Sonny. The court declares that it does not make sense that only Sonny's friends are testifying, so Sonny calls Kevin's fiancee, whom he despises, to the stand. She states openly that she dislikes Sonny but does agree that he is a good father. Julian himself is then called to the stand, and expresses his desire to be Sonny's son and talks of all the adventures they had together.
Finally, Sonny calls himself to the stand, and asks his father to examine him. His father had previously expressed his disapproval of Sonny's situation, and states that he will be honest and straight up during the examination. Sonny tells the full truth under his dad's questioning, about not only the case itself but about past incidents where he demonstrated irresponsibility. Sonny's dad states that it would be absurd to grant custody to Sonny.
However, Sonny then takes his father's hand, and says that he understands love for others. He says that he understands his father's harshness to be love, because when people love each other, they are scared for safety and well being. These are the feelings that he has for Julian and he knows in his heart that he can change his irresponsible ways not only for himself but also for Julian. This has a profound effect, and everyone are calling their parents on their cell phones just to say "I love you." Sonny's dad ultimately declares that Sonny would indeed be a good father and that he should be granted custody.
However, the judge declines to grant custody to Sonny, and states that she wishes to jail him for his fraud. However, Kevin declares that he refuses to press charges against Sonny, and admits to his fiancee that he indeed did father the child with a girl at a party. The final agreement is that Kevin will remain Julian's father, but that Sonny will not have any limitations on seeing Julian.
About a year later, Sonny has finally taken his legal exams and become a successful lawyer. He and Layla have a baby of their own. He is invited by his friends to Hooters and throw a surprise party, where he jokes with Corrine about "wasting the good surprise on him again" like Sonny did accidentally at the beginning of the movie. While there he discovers his ex-girlfriend is actually working as a Hooter's waitress, instead of being hugely successful as she wanted to be.

Reception

The film won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Motion Picture and Sandler won both an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance and a Razzie Award for Worst Actor. The film and its cast and crew also earned nominations for four additional Golden Raspberry Awards.
At the box office ''Big Daddy'' has proven to be Sandler's biggest hit, grossing $163.4 million in the United States and $234.8 million total worldwide.

Cast

★ Adam Sandler - Sonny Koufax

★ Joey Lauren Adams - Layla

★ Jon Stewart - Kevin

★ Dylan and Cole Sprouse - Julian

★ Josh Mostel - Mr. Brooks

★ Leslie Mann - Corinne

★ Rob Schneider - Nazo

★ Kristy Swanson - Vanessa

★ Joseph Bologna - Lenny Koufax

★ Allen Covert - Phil

★ Peter Dante - Tommy

★ Jonathan Loughran - Mike

★ Steve Buscemi - Homeless Guy

★ Tim Herlihy - Singing Kangaroo

★ Larkin Malloy - Restaurant Owner

★ Samantha Brown - Employee

★ Neal Huff - Customer

★ Geoffrey Horne - Sid

★ Edmund Lyndeck - Mr. Herlihy

★ Greg Haberny - NYU Student

★ Jacqueline Titone - Waitress

★ George Hall - Elderly Driver

★ Peggy Shay - Lady at Tollbooth

★ Alfonso Ramírez - George

★ Patrick Lawrence - The Original Big Daddy

★ Salvatore Cavaliere - Angry Motorist

★ Jessica Savo - Kelly

★ Helen Lloyd Breed - Miss Foote

★ Chloé Hult - School Teacher

★ Liam Restall - jiggalo/pornstar

★ Carmen De Lavallade - Judge M. Healy

★ Steven Brill - Ted Castellucci

★ Glen Trotiner - Bailiff

★ Jorge Buccio - Himself

★ Cat Jagar - Receptionist

★ Deborah S. Craig - Paralegal

★ Nicholas Taylor - Older Kid

★ Cole Hawkins - Cole

★ Gabriel Jacobs - Jeff

★ Michael Arcate - Broken Arm Kid

★ Gaetano Lisi - Hot Dog Vendor

★ Michael Giarraputo - Hoboken Motorist

★ Steve Glenn - Guy at Party

★ Al Cerullo - Helicopter Pilot

Trivia

★ As Sonny putts on the roof of his apartment building, Kevin reminds him that it "breaks to the right". This is a reference to ''Happy Gilmore'', in which Sandler's character is told the same thing by his homeless caddy.

★ Rob Schneider reprises his "delivery man" character in a cameo appearance in Sandler's ''Mr. Deeds''.

★ Edmund Lyndeck's "Mr. Herlihy" character shares a surname with longtime Sandler collaborator Tim Herlihy.

★ When Julian is playing a PlayStation, he is playing as Sweet Tooth in Twisted Metal III in the Washington DC level. However, the sound effects heard during his gameplay are not Twisted Metal III's, but old-sounding beeps and boops.

★ If you listen carefully, throughout the film you can hear songs by Styx.

★ When Sonny meets Layla in the park, he makes a reference to the Eric Clapton song of the same name "I like your song"

★ In the credits, the first actual recording of the 'new' Guns N' Roses can be found. The new band plays the second half of Sweet Child o' Mine.

★ The World Trade Center can be seen in the background when Sonny and Julian picnic in Central Park. This scene was deleted after 9/11. Recent airings, however, have returned the towers to the scene.

★ When Nazo is unconscious, his head turns multiple times between film shots.

★ When the movie aired on the USA channel, the word "shit" was bleeped out because it was considered a strong word (occasionally, it would be replaced with the word 'no'). Another edit was on the Halloween scene, when the man showed Sonny his middle finger, the finger was cut out because it represents the words "fuck you".

★ When the movie aired on ABC Family for the first time, some scenes were cut because it was too inappropriate. The word "shit" was still not used, but it was replaced with some other words. Another replaced word was "Ass" because ABC considered it too strong and changed it to "Butt".

★ As of now, the second edit version can be seen on channels like FX, UPN (now called CW), and many others.

★ In the film, Sandler, while carrying Julian, walks past a graffiti wall which has hidden in it "TEP," standing for his fraternity Tau Epsilon Phi. "TEP" on Grafitti Wall

★ Early on in the movie, there are several references to Syracuse University (where many of the guys and Venessa went to) and Sonny is seen with a stuffed Otto (the Syracuse University mascot).

★ In an episode of the King of Queens a poster for Big Daddy is hanging on the wall. Sandler later appears in a later season, as an old friend of Doug Heffernan.

★ It is easy to tell that Rob Schneider's character (Nazo) is an immigrant but it is not clear from were. It's possible that he is from Russia because in a scene were Adams character says Nazo has some food on his lip, Nazo says "Spasiba" which is Russian for "Thank You'.

Soundtrack

The film won a BMI Film Music Award. The soundtrack included the following:

★ "Do Wah Ditty" by Zapp and Roger (not in the movie itself, but in the advtrailer)

★ "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (the title track from a 1983 album by the Eurythmics)

★ "Growin' Up" (a song from the first album by Bruce Springsteen)

★ "Instant Pleasure" by Rufus Wainwright

★ "Sweet Child o' Mine" on debut album Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses

★ "When I Grow Up" by Garbage

★ "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman
From the official soundtrack:

★ "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Sheryl Crow (a Guns N' Roses cover)

★ "When I Grow Up" by Garbage

★ "Peace Out" by Adam Sandler (a sound clip from a scene in the movie)

★ "Just Like This" by Limp Bizkit

★ "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Everlast

★ "Ga Ga" by Melanie C

★ "What is Life" by George Harrison, covered in movie by Shawn Mullins

★ "The Kiss" by Adam Sandler (a sound clip from a scene in the movie)

★ "Instant Pleasure" by Rufus Wainwright

★ "Ooh La La" by Wise Guys

★ "Sid" by Adam Sandler (a sound clip from a scene in the movie)

★ "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman

★ "Smelly Kid" by Adam Sandler (a sound clip from a scene in the movie)

★ "Passing Me By" by The Pharcyde

★ "Rush" by Big Audio Dynamite

★ "Hooters" by Allen Covert (a sound clip from a scene in the movie)

★ "Babe" by Styx

★ "Overtime" by Adam Sandler (a sound clip from a scene in the movie)

★ "The Kangaroo Song" by Tim Herlihy (made specifically for the movie)

External links

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