Tapping the heartbeat of America

Arizona Summer Wildcat Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures Julian (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) gets a pep talk from his interim old man, Sonny (Adam Sandler). Sandler teamed up with Steve Franks and his old friend Tim Herlihy to write the screenplay for this summer comedy.

It's about time someone started making cheesy chick flicks to rival the Tom Hanks/ Meg Ryan series, and it looks like Adam Sandler is on a roll. In his latest movie, "Big Daddy," Sandler plays 32-year-old Sonny Koufax - a stretch from some of his earlier, goofier roles on television and the silver screen.

Sonny, a law-school-graduate-turned-toll-collector, made an attempt to save a floundering relationship with his wench of a girlfriend, Vanessa (Kristy Swanson), by taking an orphan named Julian (played by six-year-old twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse) under his wing.

As predicted, the wench kicks middle-aged Sonny to the curb when an older, more successful prospect shows up. This leaves Sonny to reluctantly clean up after the kid with nothing but a little help from his friends.

His motley crew of buddies includes a familiar face to fans from Sandler's "Saturday Night Live" days - Rob Schneider. As the inherently amusing immigrant, Schneider spends days delivering food to New Yorkers and nights squinting at a blurry reception of the Spice channel. Among Sonny's other cohorts are an ambiguously gay couple, a China-bound roommate and an action figure named Scuba Steve.

The twist, of course, is that, despite advice from his friends, Sonny falls for the kid. He starts doing the dad things. teaching Julian how to tie his shoes, getting him to go to school, peeing on walls and using the boy to pick up chicks in the park - namely Layla (Joey Lauren Adams), an up-and-coming attorney.

It's the perfect recipe - boy gets bad girl. Bad girl dumps boy. Boy sulks, but then meets good girl. Boy does unbearably cute things to get good girl. Boy gets good girl... blah, blah, blah, you know the ending.

It's predictable.

It's "The Wedding Singer" part II.

And it works.

Girls like "Big Daddy" because it's cute. Few females can resist a "sensitive guy of the 90s" who can make her laugh, is willing to make a commitment to a family and doesn't end up looking like too much of a dork in the process.

Guys like "Big Daddy" because of the perpetual references to the fine dining establishment, Hooters.

Sandler has tapped the heartbeat of America - laughter and breasts.

Some say this is a new, sensitive, sweet side of a maturing Sandler. But for a few million dollars, any guy would roll over and play dad.

The old SNL comic hasn't completely abandoned his silly style and off-hand jokes - he merely turned in his classic songs "Cock and Balls" and "Lunchlady Land" for tamer ballads like "The Kangaroo Song."