If you are just tuning in, you stepped into the grip of A Fistful of Romances! That’s ’cause love rules at the Love Vault. Can I get a “Tin Roof!”? Anyone?…

A Fistful of Romances is the vault’s look at romance across the genres. Tuesday marked the beginning of the vault countdown to Valentine’s Day with the fantasy romance, Stardust. Today, we’ll be looking at the most common genre, the romantic comedy.

It’s 1985 and Julia Sullivan (Drew Barrymore) is the new waitress at the Ridgefield Reception Hall. To her, it’s plain to see why Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is the small town’s most highly sought-after wedding singer. Even when a spiteful best man, Dave (Steve Buscemi), tries to ruin his brother’s wedding, Robbie’s good nature spins it into a positive. Then Robbie’s fiance, Linda (Angela Featherstone), leaves him at the altar, destroying his spirit. Julia feels for him, partly because she’s a kind soul, but also because her fiance, Glenn Guglia (Matthew Glave), is dragging his feet on setting their date. Glenn finally acquiesces and Julia, being the new girl in town, persuades the defunct Robbie to stop wallowing and assist in planning her wedding.

The Wedding Singer has all the familiar trappings of the sub-genre of comedy that’s come to be known as the Adam Sandler comedy. To paraphrase The Critic, “give a Sandler comedy two minutes, and he’ll give you an ass.” Sure enough, audiences get an eyeful of infant bottom as Sandler belts out You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) in scene one. Other Sandler staples include small kids grinning as they say inappropriate things, old ladies smiling sweetly as they make disturbing sexual comments, and the usual soft-spoken Sandler abruptly erupting into a brusque, rage-fueled yell. What else… Allen Covert? Check! Peter Dante? Check! Obligatory cameos by former SNL colleagues? Triple Check! There’s also the random cameo by a popular, non-film celebrity.

One way The Wedding Singer diverges from the formula is instead of an obscure 80′s music reference, the whole film is one big, super-sloppy sploosh to the 80′s. The soundtrack could stand-in as a definitive 80′s compilation, save for the hilarious Sandler-Herlihy original song Somebody Kill Me and Ellen Dow’s rendition of Rapper’s Delight. The film’s 1985 setting uses the era to its full comedic value. Characters sport mullets, play with the Rubik’s Cube, and reference Dallas and Dynasty. Robbie’s best friend, Sammy (Allen Covert) sports the Michael Jackson Thriller look, Julia’s sister Holly (Christine Taylor) is a pure Material Girl, and that douche Glenn kills the Don Johnson Miami Vice look and even rocks Jan Hammer in his DeLorean!

The Wedding Singer‘s major departure from that tried-and-true formula is the omission of the thankless love interest. In Sandler’s preceding films, Julie Bowen and Bridgette Wilson play little more than arm candy. Here, Drew’s Julia is on equal footing with Robbie. Drew is in 200-proof, irresistibly-adorable, syrupy-sweet mode. If you could lick her, I’d wager she’d taste like cotton candy.

Anyways, Barrymore and Sandler have absolutely fabulous chemistry. As the two share the bulk of the second act, audiences are sucked in as Julia and Robbie fall for one another. We grow to despise that tool Glenn. We hate when Linda returns. Most of all, we want to reach up on the screen and slap Julia and Robbie for both being too damned nice to admit they love each other. We become vested in their love, and that attachment transforms The Wedding Singer from frivolous juvenile comedy into a full blown romance.

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