Hearing that Adam Sandler has teamed up with a "credible" director — in this case, The Visitor and The Station Agent helmer Thomas McCarthy — one can't help but think of his previous indie/dramatic success Punch-Drunk Love, and get one's hopes up.
One is going to be disappointed. For all its attempts to leave standard Sandlerisms behind and move toward something more stylish and emotionally compelling, The Cobbler gives up way too early and easily, then largely gives in to standard mainstream-comedy fare.
Part fantasy, part fable, part caper flick and part superhero origin story, The Cobbler tells the tale of Max Simkin (Sandler), a quiet, shuffling loner who lives with his mother, carries on the family shoe-fixing business handed down to his now-absent father, and counts much-older barber Jimmy (Steve Buscemi) in the storefront next door as his only friend. All that changes, of course, when Simkin discovers an enchanted sole-stitching machine in the shop's basement that allows him to become the people whose shoes are fixed with it (soles = souls, get it?). Hijinks ensue, lessons are learned, etc.
McCarthy presents the story in warm, dark earth tones. And the first 15 or 20 minutes of the film are actually a bit of a treat; Sandler does a passable, taciturn impression of a younger Dustin Hoffman (with good reason — Hoffman himself shows up as Simkin's long-gone daddy when Simkin literally steps into his pop's shoes), and up until the magic stitcher makes an appearance, the whole thing comes off as a bit of a love letter to old-school working-class New York City. After that, though, The Cobbler quickly descends into monotonous crime-comedy and table-turning cliches that have been old hat since Murphy, Aykroyd and Curtis perfected them way back with Trading Places. Simkin uses the machine's power first for entertainment, then for personal gain; his hubris gets him into trouble when he impersonates a local gangster (Method Man, on autopilot) involved in a neighborhood dust-up between residents and the crooked developers (a marvelous Ellen Barkin among them) that want them out. By then the love interest has appeared — as an activist on the side of the residents, naturally — and Simkin must save the day, with a little help from his super-special sewing machine.
It's all entirely predictable. Worse, because the film refuses to completely release its tenuous claim to arty eccentricity, it never goes all-in on any boot-to-the-crotch slapstick, so there aren't any real laughs to speak of. The Cobbler exists between two worlds, and succeeds at neither. After showing some initial promise, this failure to deliver seems even greater, and by the time the movie gives up its final revelation, the viewer is too disappointed — and bored — to care.
2 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13. Directed by Thomas McCarthy. Starring Adam Sandler, Ellen Barkin, Steve Buscemi, Method Man, Melonie Diaz and Dustin Hoffman. Opens in theaters and on VOD/iTunes Friday, March 13.
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2015.