Adam Sandler, a man who once brought utter happiness into the lives of anyone with a good sense of humor. His movies, being incredibly stupid, seem to have taught me more life lessons than any bump in the road I have experienced firsthand. For example, That’s My Boy taught me to let go of past mistakes and forgive others for their wrongdoings. Grownups taught me to surround myself with people who make me feel good, while Hubie Halloween taught me how to properly use the mute button on my tv remote. I could go on and on about the greatness Sandler achieved, I mean, not many people have the bone structure, nor the courage, to play both a boy and a girl in the same movie. That being said, what happened to such a legend?

While Hussel is one of the best movies I have seen in a while, and Uncut Gems had me biting my nails for hours, there never seemed to be a moment where I found myself uncontrollably laughing or even wanting to quote something he said like I have in his past works. I was confused why his movies took such a turn. They went from comedy and satire to what feels like a documentary on why the wheel was invented. I thought hard for a moment about why this was happening; was it something someone did, or said? I quickly got working to discover why the sudden drastic change of genre. I began reading reviews from his movies.

As I scrolled on my computer there were only happy and positive reviews regarding Adam Sandler. I was almost certain there were no haters. But then, I got to a review page with many comments coming from a man named Alonso Duralde; “Vulgar, trite, sexist, misogynist, hacky, tackey, gross, sentimental and stupid, with occasional flourishes of racism and veiled homophobia thrown in the boot,” Alonso wrote. I quickly sent a Mr. Duralde an email – in my head, “a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline.” Because I was under the impression he watched the movie without knowing the definition of a joke. “I felt like it was crushing the soul out of me. But it’s still better than Grown-Ups 2,” I strongly believe Alonso woke up one morning and chose violence. Maybe he wrote such negative things because his life is so miserable; assuming he is living in his moms basement with a diet of hot pockets and the daily routine of playing warzone and screaming into the mike when he fails to win for the 30th time that day. Don’t forget, hurt people hurt people.

While there are many others in the world that share the same ignorant opinion that Alonso has, it is important to remember the memories and magic that came from Adam Sandler movies. His ability to make jokes and bring smiles to faces worldwide will be hard shoes to fill, especially with a name like Alonso. So I believe it is important as a generation to continue to carry out the legacy he created for comedy and flood Adam Sandler’s comment section with kindness. So maybe then maybe he will come out of hiding and back onto our movie screens to remind us what laughter feels like.