The Cobbler

The 2016 Razzie Awards have been announced and Adam “The Sandman” Sandler leads the pack with a rare double nomination in the Worst Actor category, for his combined efforts in The Cobbler and Pixels — we can only assume that as an online-only release, Sandler’s performance in The Ridiculous Six was ineligible, and prevented him from earning the coveted hat trick of crappiness. Along with Pixels, Paul Blart 2, Fantastic Four, Fifty Shades of Grey and Jupiter Ascending fill out the most hotly contested race of Worst Film.

It was a great year for movies. One of the best in recent memory, in fact, with enough outstanding films to fill three or four top ten lists. But the good in any artistic medium will always be outweighed by the bad, and even as it seems like the number of potential classics grows every year, the number of certified stinkers grows as well. Exponentially; there’s enough cinematic turd burgers from the last twelve months to fill seven or eight top ten lists.

When you watch the trailer for The Cobbler, you may be waiting for the Funny or Die logo to appear. But it doesn’t appear. Because The Cobbler is, against all odds, a real movie. Not only is it real, it is a movie directed by Tom McCarthy, a filmmaker with a strong track record. Then again, the man responsible for lovely little movies like The Station Agent and The Visitor was bound to make a disaster eventually. McCarthy’s disaster appears to be an Adam Sandler comedy about a magical shoemaker.

Watch the trailer for the movie that got some of the worst reviews of Adam Sandler's career.

I am fascinated by Adam Sandler’s career. More specifically, I’m fascinated by Sandler when he decides to challenge himself with more “serious” roles, or at least work with directors that aren’t Dennis Dugan. Sandler has two movies at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The first is Jason Reitman’s ‘Men, Women and Children,’ in which Sandler gives what is the most understated performance of his career. The second is Thomas McCarthy’s ‘The Cobbler,’ which is bone-headedly awful.

On Thursday, the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off and this marks (along with Venice Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival) that, yes, Oscar season just fired its starting gun. I will be headed to Toronto to cover the festival for ScreenCrush and, well, it's a little overwhelming. There are a lot of good movies! There's Benedict Cumberbatch playing WWII code breaker Alan Turing in 'The Imitation Game'; and Jake Gyllenhaal as a sleazy freelance photographer in 'Nightcrawler,' and Jon Stweart's directorial debut, 'Rosewater'; and the Cannes darling, 'Foxcatcher,' starring Channing Tatum, Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo. And two -- count 'em -- TWO Adam Sandler movies that just might signal his long-awaited return to, let's say, well reviewed films with 'The Cobbler' and Jason Reitman's 'Men, Women & Children.' Anyway, I can't decide on my own, so we enlisted the help of a slew of respected film journalists who are also headed to TIFF and asked them what it is they are all looking forward to seeing.