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Adam Sandler is one of Hollywood’s most enduring comedic actors. His career includes early hits like “Happy Gilmore” and more recent streaming hits like Netflix’s “Murder Mystery,” among others. However, everyone’s career has to start somewhere and his began in a little-known comedy called “Going Overboard.” This film also starred a relatively young Billy Bob Thornton.
Decades before he appeared as a oil man in Taylor Sheridan’s hit Paramount+ drama “Landman”, Thornton played the role of Dave in 1989’s “Going Overboard.” This was Sandler’s very first film, in which he played the lead role. Thornton, meanwhile, had a relatively minor role to play in the comedy, written and directed by Valerie Breiman. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that she didn’t do much work as a director in Hollywood after this film’s release.
The film centers on a young, struggling comedian named Shecky (Sandler) who takes a menial job on a cruise ship where he hopes to make his big break as a cruise ship comedian. Things spiral out of control when a general named Noriega (Burt Young) sends hitmen aboard the ship to kill a beauty queen because she made fun of him.
It was a real springboard for Sandler, even before being hired (and ultimately fired) from “Saturday Night Live” in the ’90s. The legendary sketch show helped make him a household name, but in many ways his Hollywood career began here. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to call this a good start.
Going overboard was a disaster back then
“Going Overboard” is one of the lowest-rated films on IMDb. Critics at the time ignored it and just about any Google result related to this film leads to a nasty retrospective review or a Reddit post in which someone is baffled by how bad the film is. “This has got to be some of the worst bullshit I’ve ever seen,” said an article in the subreddit r/badmovies bed. “If you want to cringe, watch this.”
The release of the film was rather ordinary. This was back in the days of video stores running the world, and it was undoubtedly made in the hopes that people would rent it from Blockbuster Video thanks to the cover art, which featured a couple of women in swimsuits on a boat alongside Adam Sandler, looking pretty ridiculous.
As for Billy Bob Thornton, he played a relatively minor role as a member of the cruise ship. There is a scene in which his character Dave is sitting in the audience during one of Shecky’s comedy shows, the two interacting quite a bit. It’s probably not a film that any of them are particularly proud of, looking at their careers, but aspiring actors can’t afford to be too demanding.
Plus, everything went pretty well for both of them. Sandler has become a bona fide comedy star in the world of stand-up and film. As for Thornton, his career took off the day after 1996’s “Sling Blade,” which won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay as well as a nomination for best actor. He worked very steadily over the next three decades.
