Review of The Cobbler (2014) by Dan L — 21 Dec 2017

I don't think The Cobbler is as bad as the critics says it is, but unfortunately, The Cobbler is a mess that squanders the potential of its concept.

The Cobbler does start off well, with Adam Sandler giving a decent performance and the subplot with his mother was quite moving. It's a bit too sentimental and a little underdeveloped, but it's a nice change of pace to see an Adam Sandler comedy that isn't typically crass or juvenile. Method Man was also great in the film. Though his character is extremely unlikeable, seeing Method Man act like Adam Sandler was quite entertaining. The movie has a bit of fun with the premise in the first half, and it's always nice to see Adam Sandler in a more dramatic role (which he doesn't do very often), but The Cobbler doesn't really do anything compelling, and it pretty much falls apart in the second half.

The premise (though gimmicky) was quite intriguing. Adam Sandler plays a shoe cobbler named Max, who can literally put himself in someone else's shoes, by taking on the form of the owner of the shoes he's wearing after making adjustments with his magic stitching machine. He makes his life more interesting by disguising himself as a Chinese man, as two different people to get a free meal, a handsome British man to pick up girls, and as his estranged father to make his mother happy.

The second half takes a different direction while trying retaining the emotional undertone of the first half of the film. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work because by the second half, the movie has no idea what kind of film it wants to be. Max tries to get revenge on Leon Ludlow (Method Man) for being a bully by attempting to steal his watch collection as Leon Ludlow, and then he gets himself tangled with gangsters and a murderous slumlord without much of a reason to get involved, which is very out of character for Max.

The movie also has a character who's trying to stop gentrification, but reduces her to a love interest for Sandler. The movie clearly wanted to say something about gentrification before deciding to switch the focus on Sandler using his powers for his own selfish gains, but the premise wears thin by the second half of the film.

By the end of the film, you're left with a movie full of half-baked ideas. The Cobbler isn't Adam Sandler's worst film, but it is a misfire for writer/director Tom McCarthy. The Cobbler proves to be too high-concept for McCarthy, despite his indie acclaim. I considered giving this movie 2 and a half stars, but the ending was so terrible that I had to lower my score.