There is no shortage of movies out there starring an actor and their own child, but what are the best ones ever made? In honor of recent movies that fulfill this niche, such as Netflix’s You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, starring Adam Sandler and his daughter Sadie, we’ve decided to put together our all-time best list for this category of movies. 6s1hq

As a testament to movies that celebrate Hollywood stars and their famous children, a new entry in this genre is releasing to theaters this week with the thriller The Kill Room, which stars Uma Thurman and her daughter, Maya Hawke, the Stranger Things star whom she shares with actor Ethan Hawke. What is the draw for movies such as this? While some may decry them as examples of Hollywood nepotism run amok, others hold them up as inspiring instances of acting talent being an inheritable trait. Whatever the case, let’s count down the very best examples of when an actor and their kid have undeniable onscreen chemistry for the entertainment of us all. For this list, we are only counting movies whose child stars have significant roles, even if they are small ones, but something more substantial than a mere cameo.

10. Thor: Love and Thunder 1u3627

While Thor: Love and Thunder may not be the most critically acclaimed entry in the Marvel pantheon, it does have its high points. For instance, it’s one of the best movies in the MCU to watch when it comes to cute kids having prominent roles. Two of star Chris Hemsworth’s three kids are in the movie, including his son Tristan playing a younger version of Thor and daughter India playing the character of Love, according to People. You can also find children of co-stars Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, and director and Korg actor Taika Waititi in the movie.

Judd Apatow‘s Knocked Up and its spinoff/sequel, This Is 40, both feature the director’s own daughters, Maude and Iris, whom he shares with his wife and star of both movies, Leslie Mann. While Knocked Up was more beloved by audiences and critics, overall, the kids only have minor cameos. However, in This Is 40, they are both given more substantial roles as characters fairly central to the story.

8. Rocky V 5o2n2l

Sylvester Stallone’s son, Sage, starred alongside the Italian Stallion for Rocky V as the character’s own kid, Rocky Jr. While it may not be the most critically acclaimed installment in the Rocky series, the film still stands as a loving tribute to Sage all these years later, particularly since his tragic ing in 2012. With that said, the movie does have something of a cult status among fans due to taking the Rocky character back to being penniless and dealing with street-level stakes like earlier installments.

7. Ricki and the Flash 1713a

Though Ricki and the Flash did not garner the best reviews upon release, the movie is looked back upon with fondness by many fans due to its heartfelt story of a woman who abandoned her family to seek glory as a rock star, played by Meryl Streep, returning to her daughter, played by Streep’s own daughter Mamie Gummer, in order to try and mend their broken relationship. Sprinkle in Streep covering Lady Gaga in a punk rock uniform, Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme in the director’s chair for his final movie before his untimely death, and a script penned by Academy Award-winning screenplay writer Diablo Cody, and you have the ingredients for what is sure to be a future cult classic.

Both Brendan Gleeson and his son, Domhnall Gleeson, starred in the critically acclaimed two-part finale to the Wizarding World franchise Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and II. Though they don’t play characters who are related, they did share a scene together in Part I. While Brandon has appeared in several Harry Potter films as Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Domhnall only came into the fold for the final two films as Bill Weasley, Ron’s older brother. However, both characters had key roles to play in the final battle against Ralph Fiennes’ Lord Voldemort.

5. Deepwater Horizon 4m5t6p

Deepwater Horizon is the critically acclaimed film based on the true story of one of the world’s worst ecological disasters starring Mark Wahlberg. The movie also features Kurt Russell and his daughter, Kate Hudson, whom he shares with another famous actress, Goldie Hawn. They both play significant ing characters, as well.

4. Melancholia 22w3i

Lars von Trier’s acclaimed Melancholia may be most notable for Kirsten Dunst’s performance that proved she is one of the most prestige actresses of her generation, but the atmospheric meditation on depression with a sci-fi twist also features a pair of very famous actors who also happen to be father and son. Specifically, Alexander Skarsgård plays Dunst’s would-be husband during a doomed wedding in which his best man is his wife’s boss, played by Alexandar’s father, Stellan Skarsgård. The characters aren’t blood-related in the movie, but it’s still great to see them perform alongside each other in prominent roles in this excellent modern classic.

3. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah 451y5d

Adam Sandler has been slowly digging himself out of a rut in recent years thanks to critically acclaimed films like Uncut Gems and Hustle, with the latest example being a movie he produced and co-starred in for Netflix, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. However, the real star of the show here is Sandler’s own daughter, Sadie, who plays the protagonist Stacy Friedman in this coming-of-age comedy. The movie, which features the pair playing father and daughter characters, proved to be a hit with critics and mostly resonated well with its intended younger teen audience.

2. On Golden Pond 4r1i6k

On Golden Pond is notable for not only garnering Hollywood legend Henry Fonda his first competitive acting Oscar, but for being an emotional send-off for his family thanks to sharing the screen with his daughter and fellow Academy Award-winner, Jane Fonda. The family drama that also stars Katharine Hepburn in a role that won her an Oscar, too, focuses on Henry’s character rekindling the relationship with his estranged daughter, played by Jane, by way of bonding with her boyfriend’s son, Doug McKeon’s Billy.

As Jane once explained in an interview, she bought the rights to the stage play in order to make the movie specifically to work with her dad because she knew he was dying at the time, and he eventually did away five months after the movie was completed. Both Henry and his daughter were nominated for the film, with Jane accepting the Oscar that he won for the movie on his behalf. On Golden Pond has been beloved as a feel-good classic ever since.

1. The Pursuit of Happyness 47413h

The Pursuit of Happyness boasts a stellar reputation to this day, particularly amongst film fans, not least of all for its heart-warming and eye-watering depiction of a father and son’s unbreakable bond played by Will Smith and his real-life kid, Jaden. The film, which is based on a true story and focuses on the plight of a homeless salesman, garnered Will his second Oscar nomination 15 years before his eventual win for King Richard in 2022.

Adam Sandler may have the best reviewed movie of his career in You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, but the love of critics wasn’t enough to propel the movie to the top of the Netflix charts this week. It didn’t do that bad though, either.

Netflix released its Global Top 10 for the week of Aug. 21 through Aug. 27, and the new comedy from the Saturday Night Live alum slinked in at number three with 21,300,000 hours viewed and 12,300,000 views.

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah stars Sandler and his daughters Sunny and Sadie. It’s about two middle school friends who are “both planning epic bat mitzvahs” until popular boy Andy Goldfarb (Dylan Hoffman) gets between them and fireworks ensue. Dramatic!

In a weird instance of life imitating art, it turns out that Sunny actually had a real bat mitzvah right before filming the movie. Director Sammi Cohen told People that it happened “right before the prepping for the film.”

“So I went to that service, and we got to do the real-life bat mitzvah and then left to make the movie. It was a really fun life movie moment.” Cohen shared that the celebration was “equally as fun as the parties you see [in the film].”

You are So Not Invited to My Bat Mizvah was beaten out by The Monkey King and Heart of Stone in first and second place, respectively. It was followed by Street Kings and The Boss Baby in fourth and fifth. Seemingly from nowhere, one of the worst Jurassic World films made its way into the back half of the week’s rankings.

All of those movies, including You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, are streaming on Netflix.

Imagine you’re at a party. A fancy, invite only affair. Everyone’s having a grand old time. There’s plenty of food, folks are getting along, and all of your friends made it. Even the ones you only PRETEND to get along with. Then, suddenly, you realize… Something ain’t right. Like, who the heck is that person standing alone in the corner? Gasp. We’ve got a party crasher in our midst.

Said party crasher in this instance, is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on the Netflix Global Top 10 film list right now. It crept in through the front door when no one was looking, and now we’ve got to call security. Well, sort of.

Honestly, there was a brief moment in which I thought I hadn’t even seen Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — because it’s so forgettable. It’s up against current heavy hitters like The Monkey King, The Boss Baby, and You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. It doesn’t stand a chance.

In truth, Fallen Kingdom isn’t THAT bad. The 2018 science fiction film certainly has it’s moments, and as the fifth installment in the franchise overall — fans were entertained long enough to watch this ongoing story continue through a few satisfying beats. And, of course, the visual effects don’t disappoint.

Still, it didn’t become the critical darling we’re sure the filmmakers hoped it would, with many panning the movie on of some larger narrative inconsistencies and an unrealized scope. For a flick all about breakthroughs, Fallen Kingdom lacked many of its own.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom currently sits at the number six spot on Netflix’s top 10 English film list, and at present, there’s no telling how long it will be there. Moreover, no one really knows how it’s ended up there in the first place. Especially in light of the franchise’s most recent addition, Jurassic World: Dominion.

The original Jurassic Park didn’t just reshape the landscape of cinema, it reshaped societies collective imagination of what was possible in contemporary storytelling. Here’s the problem… Once that T-Rex sized genie is out of the bottle, you kind of can’t put it back in.

How many times are the dinosaurs going to escape? How many times are the failsafes going to fail? It’s a vicious cycle based on human hubris, and one that gets old. Maybe the best thing for these films is to give them a break. Let them go extinct. But what do I know? I’ve got a metaphorical party to get back to.

The “nepo baby” discourse has been running wild in Hollywood for a while now, and it was inevitable that You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah would be dragged into the conversation.

After all, Netflix’s current number one movie is produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison company, with the veteran funnyman also playing one of the lead roles. Other cast include wife Jackie Sandler, daughter Sadie Sandler, and other daughter Sunny Sandler as a quartet of the main characters.

Needless to say, it would have been easy to blast the film for simply bringing the clan together and ensuring they get paid for it, but You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah has dodged the majority of blowback by being fantastic. In fact, thanks to a current Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 96 percent, it’s the single best-reviewed movie of his entire career.

When asked about nepotism in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Sammi Cohen made an excellent point that’s been 100 percent true for decades, and it’s impossible to argue with.

“Sandler has a reputation for making movies with his friends, and that’s something we all want to do. What I say is, he’s still making movies with his friends, but they’re his kids. He is the kind of dad who’s also your best friend. When it comes to the sort of chatter we’re hearing online, I don’t really think twice about it because I’m going like, “Yeah, he’s doing the same thing he’s always done.”

Hitting the nail on the head, it’s just Sandler doing what Sandler does, except this time he’s doing it with his relations as opposed to his best friends.

Netflix has something of a topsy-turvy relationship with animation; for every travesty it commits in the vein of prematurely canceling shows like Inside Job, the streamer gets a tip of the hat for being the savior of movies like Nimona, which returned the favor by being one of Netflix’s most beloved releases of the year.

So with Blue Eye Samurai — the incoming animated series that boasts a mouth-watering creative team — on the horizon, one has to wonder just what sort of note its story will end on, which is perhaps just as intriguing as the prospect of the show itself.

And as if Netflix didn’t toy with its animation reputation enough, it wouldn’t be 2023 if the streamer wasn’t gearing up for a live-action adaptation of some of the most lucrative properties in the medium, and with One Piece currently on that particular deck, there’s plenty of time for some explosive discourse.

Elsewhere, Adam Sandler‘s latest has kept an iron grip on the critical acclaim it debuted to, and a biopic that got KO’d by both critics and the box office has found a lifeline on the charts.

An animated Netflix series armed with a legion of creative heavyweights eyes an end-of-year release 3o5k10

From the voice cast to the director to the showrunners — one of whom was responsible for penning the script to Logan and Blade Runner 2049 — Blue Eye Samurai has quite a bit going for it, and it’s hopefully set to make good on its on-paper brilliance in a short few months.

Indeed, nearly three years after it was first announced, Blue Eye Samurai‘s release date has now been confirmed as Nov. 3, so two months and change is all that’s standing in the way of any subscribers waiting to be swept away on some Maya Erskine-led, vengeance-drenched exploits in Edo Japan.

A lackluster look at one of sports’ most remarkable lives finds some semblance of a miraculous story on the charts a4j2q

Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World was about as good of a film as its title was a good marketing decision; indeed, despite having some top-notch source material in the life of the legendary fighter and some great performances (especially standout Sullivan Jones’ portrayal of one Muhammad Ali), a weak script and an overarching lack of killer instinct left Big George Foreman in the dust at the box office, and the critics weren’t much kinder.

But, you all know the drill by now; weak movies are some of Netflix’s greatest boons, and Big George Foreman has found itself with a winning record on the United States’ charts as the second most-viewed movie at the moment.

It may have been the minnow of a box office weekend that also included Sisu — Finland’s answer to John Wick — and Florida’s worst nightmare Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, but it looks like Big George Foreman is the one lifting the belt now.

One Piece gets compared to Harry Potter, facepalms and riots ensue 23i55

If we’re going to start stacking IPs against one another based on nothing more than the fact of their gargantuan fanbases and being pieces of genre fiction, then the age of critical thinking has truly run its course.

Indeed, it’s one thing to have an opinion on what the better franchise is between One Piece and Harry Potter, but regardless of where your loyalties lie, it’s an equally brave and detached move to declare the Grand Line as the new Hogwarts, and we further reckon that One Piece — whose live-action adaptation is due on Netflix later this week — doesn’t want anything to do with the increasingly poor trajectory of the Wizarding World.

Three days on, and You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah has gone from strength to strength. 3fmz

There’s no more simple or reliable recipe for critical success than Adam Sandler making an effort; just look at Uncut Gems, Hustle, or The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).

And while we respect Sandler’s process no matter what he’s cooking, he hasn’t always graced his comedic features with his ability to deliver quality work; a tendency he’s since broken with the high-flying You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah.

While his role in the film amounts to a ing character/producer, the Sandler effect is undeniable, especially with his daughter Sunny Sandler as the leading lady, as well his wife Jackie and other daughter Sadie Sandler ing him in the ing role space. And with the film having held on to its critical acclaim after debuting to a 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time of writing, it boasts a 95 percent after many more reviews), to say nothing of its Top 10 presence on 65 different Netflix charts, Happy Madison’s latest is officially a homerun.

When it comes to Adam Sandler movies, you can expect a few things: gross out gags, funny voices, someone overcoming some odds and finally, bad reviews. This is part and parcel of the Sandler experience, the movies are enjoyable but critics always hate them. Until now, that is, because his latest, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, is now the best reviewed movie is his long career.

Sandler’s been making movies now for almost 35 years. All of his highly rated movies over on Rotten Tomatoes have not been his comedies. Per The Hollywood Reporter, his top three are Hustle from 2022 at 93 percent, The Meyerowitz Stories from 2017 at 92 percent and the classic Uncut Gems at 91 percent.

To get some perspective on this, 2015’s The Ridiculous 6 has a zero rating. Jack and Jill from 2011 clocks in at a lonely 3 percent. Bulletproof from 1996 is still in single digits at 8 percent. So where did Bat Mitzvah land? A very healthy 96 percent.

The movie features Sandler’s real-life daughters and is based on a YA novel by Fiona Rosenbloom. Here’s the official description:

“Lifelong best friends Stacy (Sunny Sandler) and Lydia (Samantha Lorraine) have long dreamt of epic bat mitzvahs but when popular boy Andy Goldfarb (Dylan Hoffman) and Hebrew school drama come between them, their perfect plans go comically awry.”

Alison Peck wrote the screenplay and it’s directed by Sammi Cohen (Crush). It also stars Idina Menzel, Sarah Sherman from Saturday Night Live, Luis Guzmán and Jackie Sandler, his other daughter.

The movie is of course part of Sandler’s epic $250 million deal with Netflix, which have been popular for the streaming service despite being hated by critics.

Let’s take a look at what critics are saying about it. Rolling Stone called it “energetically directed and written.” CNN raves that Sunny Sandler “quickly dampens the ‘nepo baby’ asides with her winning, natural performance in a familiar but very nicely done coming-of-age story.”

Peter Travers from ABC News says it’s “an unexpectedly sweet and sassy surprise.”

This is an Adam Sandler movie! UFOs are real and Sandler is getting rave reviews for a movie. It is true that he only has a minor part in it, but maybe that’s for the best. We’ve seen a lot of Sandler over the years, and gauging of the reviews of this movie, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Sunny.

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is streaming on Netflix.

Since first inking an exclusive deal with Netflix, Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions has conspired to churn out no less than 13 feature films in eight years, and things have been about as inconsistent as you’d expect from the polarizing funnyman ever since.

On the plus side, there was nowhere to go but uphill after The Ridiculous Six kicked off the arrangement by securing a zero percent Rotten Tomatoes score, but there could be change afoot now that Sandler has lent his name to the two best-reviewed entries in his entire filmography just 14 months apart.

Following on from Hustle netting a remarkable 92 percent approval rating on the aggregation site last year, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah has fared even better after rising to an unprecedented – for Happy Madison, at least – 95 percent. Prior to those pair of acclaimed originals, the best the Sandman’s outfit had ever fared on Netflix was the 52 percent of Hubie Halloween, just to give you an inkling of how rare this development is.

In addition, the coming-of-age dramedy has done what every Sandler film does by debuting as the number one most-watched title among subscribers in the United States, while it arrived as the third top-viewed on a worldwide level after being welcomed onto the Top 10 in 65 countries around the world, per FlixPatrol.

It may have taken him 30 years, but Sandler starring in and producing two genuinely great films in the span of barely more than a year marks a career first, and fingers crossed it won’t be the last.

It sounds so cliched that it runs the risk of unleashing full-body cringe, but Adam Sandler‘s Happy Madison production company really is like a family, which can be proven by nothing else but the sheer volume of cast and crew who continually come back for more.

Sure, the actor and producer comes under regular fire for roping in his nearest and dearest for a string of largely unfunny comedies that regularly decimate Netflix’s viewership charts, but the same criticisms can’t be leveled at the acclaimed You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, which boasts a staggering 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

As well as producing and playing a role in the story, the film keeps it well and truly in the family by recruiting Sandler’s wife Jackie and daughters Sadie and Sunny to tackle major parts onscreen. It might sound like nepotism running rampant, but director Sammi Cohen couldn’t speak highly enough of the multitasking Netflix mainstay in an interview with Decider.

“I’ve never experienced anything like it. And I don’t know if I ever will again. No one thing suffers. He’s really able to wear all these hats. He does everything. It’s almost inhuman. I’m like, it’s unfair, he can do everything!”

Regardless of what you think of his back catalogue, the fact Sandler has been residing near the top of the Hollywood A-list for close to 30 years underlines that he’s very good at what he does on both sides of the camera, with You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah continuing his recent hot streak of acclaim in spectacular style.

At this point in time, it feels like a travesty to not appreciate Adam Sandler for his endless contributions to the realm of cinema. Of course, it’s worth noting that the unforgettable superstar typically maintains his unwavering status in the comedic bubble, although the actor has been known to dabble in the dramatic aspect of cinema — which he certainly shines in. Keeping up with his comedy roots, Sandler has delivered a sure-fire comedy hit with the release of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.

Originally regarded as the most-anticipated comedy project to hit the platform this month, the fresh-faced extravaganza has absolutely lived up to the expectations thus far. In the days shortly before and eventually after its official release, the gut-busting Sandler special has secured a 93 percent Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and quickly built a successful cult following amongst comedy-seeking fanatics out there.

As a result, one of the biggest questions swirling around the internet lately pertains to which streaming platform the funny flick can be watched on. And, as always, we’ve got you covered with a credible answer.

Where can I watch the comedy? p6c1o

As it stands, the humorous Sandler original can be streamed right now on Netflix. In the past, Sandler and Netflix have combined for a massive collaboration which has produced a plethora of memorable flicks subscribers can venture back to all the time. In fact, one could argue that Sandler’s career has seen a colossal resurgence over the years thanks to the promotion and availability Netflix has provided.

All of Sandler’s roaring success on Netflix has even led to a brand-new animation comedy, Leo, being confirmed to drop on the platform in November. Serving as one of the producers on the project, it’s also been revealed that Sandler will voice the animation’s lead character.

Until then, folks with a knack for comedy and in a desperate mood to laugh considering all the ugly in the world right now, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah can now be streamed on Netflix for the foreseeable future — or at least until the latest Sandler project has us utterly captivated.

When it comes to comedy, there aren’t many people who only work with Adam Sandler once. The actor and producer has gathered together a tight-knit group of on and off-camera talents who collaborate with him on countless projects spanning years and even decades, so there’s a high chance that You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah director Sammi Cohen is going to be the latest welcomed into the inner circle.

While the Netflix original’s score may have dropped from a perfect Rotten Tomatoes ranking of 100 percent, the film is still carrying a mightily impressive 92 percent approval rating from critics, and you’d be happy to bet your house on Happy Madison’s latest team-up with the streaming service being the number one movie on the platform by this time tomorrow.

For Cohen, this marks her first time as part of the regular troupe, and almost the entire Sandler clan is on board this time around with Adam being ed by wife Jackie, as well as daughters Sunny and Sadie as part of the ensemble cast. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker couldn’t speak highly enough of the family dynamic both onscreen and off.

“It’s kind of this magic. I don’t think I’ll ever experience something quite like this [again]. It’s almost surreal because, first off, the Sandlers just made me a part of the family. I never felt like the outsider, I never felt like a guest. And what’s incredible to watch is they do that with community. I think community and family are such pillars of being a Jewish person, and the Sandlers have this way of really making everyone feel like family and feel at home. And there’s this sense of ease and show up as you are. When you feel like you’re around family, you can just be more yourself. And that, I think, elicits just funnier jokes and there’s less of a filter on everything. You can kind of just drop your shoulders and relax and have fun.

Adam is doing everything right. He’s producing, he’s acting, he’s being a dad. The whole family — him, the girls, Jackie — they’re all really talented and they are the most hardworking group of people I think I’ve ever met. And Sadie and Sunny in particular were really interested in the filmmaking…. The cast of kids as a whole, some of them want to be writers and directors, and that was just a fun thing too, to see and help foster that kind of creative itch as well.”

Much more than a self-indulgent exercise in getting his kids into the family business, then, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is well on course to going down in the history books as one of Sandler’s best-ever efforts regardless of genre, a development almost nobody could have seen coming given the outfit’s track record.

Netflix and Adam Sandler have gone hand-in-hand for years ever since the actor and producer’s Happy Madison inked an exclusive development deal with the streaming service, but the veteran funnyman is arguably on the hottest streak of his career after more than 30 years in the business.

Hustle ranks as the best-reviewed entry in his entire filmography and marked the first sole Happy Madison production to end up being Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes after nearly 50 attempts, while this week’s You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is still carrying a perfect 100 percent approval rating on the aggregation site.

Wasting no time at all in striking while the iron is hot, Netflix has dropped the first trailer for animated comedy Leo and confirmed a Nov. 21 release date, with Sandler both voicing the title character and serving as part of the production team.

A coming-of-age musical comedy, Leo finds Sandler’s lizard after decades spent as the resident classroom lizard at an elementary school, where he decides that now is the perfect time to escape to freedom and enjoy all that the outside world has to offer after discovering he only has one year to live.

It sounds like a cross between The Bucket List and Finding Nemo, and if Sandler continues his rich vein of form, then subscribers could be onto a winner. Of course, this being the Sandman and Netflix, success is guaranteed no matter how it turns out.

It’s every film creative’s dream to one day acclimate to one of Hollywood’s many clout-heavy clubs, whether it’s the directorial echelons occupied by Scorsese and Tarantino, the elusive EGOT distinction, or the growing list of former internet sketch comedians who manage to turn out critically acclaimed horror film after critically acclaimed horror film (see Jordan Peele, Zach Cregger, and the Philippou brothers).

But none of these clubs are quite capable of mimicking the distinct swagger that comes with being in with the one and only Adam Sandler. Say what you will about his rather dire track record in spearheading comedy films, but there’s something transcendentally chuckle-worthy about Kevin James, Rob Schneider, Steve Buscemi, and David Spade almost always pitching in to shore up the ing roles whenever Sandler may need it.

And while Sandler appears to have snapped his comedy feature losing streak with You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah, that unique draw of Adam Sandler’s personal pack of homeboys hasn’t changed. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, director Sammi Cohen couldn’t stop gushing about her experience working with the Happy Madison icon, noting how his hands-on manner apparently lights up a film set and makes it feel like anything but work, and how it all left her wanting to collaborate with the comedian again and again.

He’s the best. I want to make movies with him for the rest of my life. He’s super involved in every step of the process and I kind of wouldn’t have it any other way. It makes it fun. This doesn’t feel like work to me. It felt like I was kind of back home in high school making movies with my best friend. 

And really, Cohen is probably spot on here, because let’s be honest, “back home in high school making movies with my best friend” is exactly the ethos that the Grown Ups duology – a staple of the Sandler inner circle collaborations – brings to the table; just a group of friends who also happen to be famous actors going on vacation together and making a movie on the side. Who knows? Maybe Cohen will get the reins for Grown Ups 3 if it ever evolves beyond the rumor stage.

You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah lands on Netflix on Aug. 25.