Poster © Sony Pictures Releasing. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreComedy & Drama
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 33 mins
ReleasedJune 25, 1999
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorDennis Dugan
StarringAdam Sandler, Joey Lauren Adams, Jon Stewart
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Big Daddy (1999)
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| Big Daddy's Details | |
| Genre | Comedy & Drama |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 06/25/1999 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 33 mins |
| Budget | $34.2M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Big Daddy's Interests | |
| General | Toll booths, Manhattan apartments, a kid nicknamed Frankenstein, the bar exam Sonny never took. |
| Music | Teddy Castellucci, a regular on the Sandler comedy team. |
| Movies | Three Men and a Baby (1987). Same panic, more men. |
| Television | Friends, where Cole Sprouse played Ross's son Ben. |
| Heroes | Julian. Five years old and already the boss of the apartment. |
| Big Daddy's Crew | |
| Director | Dennis Dugan |
| Writers | Steve Franks, Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler, Steve Franks (story) |
| Producers | Sid Ganis, Jack Giarraputo |
| Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
| Music | Teddy Castellucci |
| Edited By | Jeff Gourson |
| Production | Columbia Pictures, Out of the Blue... Entertainment, Robert Simonds Productions, Jack Giarraputo Productions |
| Distributed By | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Take a custody drama, raise it on cable TV and drive-thru food, and you get Big Daddy. Sonny’s parenting plan for a five-year-old includes letting him pick his own new name and tripping strangers on rollerblades in the park, and the movie finds all of it adorable for about an hour before it panics and turns into a courtroom weepie. That swerve is clumsy. Adam Sandler is at his most likable here, a slacker slowly figuring out that somebody needs him, and the Sprouse twins are so cute they could sell cereal. Joey Lauren Adams gives Layla a warmth the script never earns. Rob Schneider’s delivery guy is a one-note accent bit that aged badly. The jokes swing from sweet to sour with no warning. It made $234.8 million worldwide on a reported $34.2M. A 4.3 because Sandler and the kid have real chemistry and the movie keeps teaching the wrong lessons. $220.78 says the next kid you babysit gets to make every rule, and you’re the one who needs a nap afterward.
What works: Adam Sandler is warm and easygoing with the Sprouse twins, and their scenes together have real sweetness.
What doesn’t: The movie celebrates terrible parenting for an hour, then lurches into a sappy courtroom finale, and a lot of the side characters are lazy stereotypes.
Who it’s for: Adam Sandler fans who like their comedies goofy, sweet and not too interested in the rules.
Spoilers
Social services take Julian away, and Sonny fights for him in court, where Kevin realizes Julian really is his son. The judge rules against Sonny, Kevin takes custody with Sonny staying in Julian’s life, and a year later Sonny is a lawyer, married to Layla, with a baby of his own.
Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) is thirty-two, has a law degree he never used, and works one day a week in a toll booth. His girlfriend Vanessa (Kristy Swanson) wants a grown-up, and Sonny is not one. Then a five-year-old named Julian (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) gets left at his apartment with a note saying he is the son of Sonny's roommate Kevin (Jon Stewart), who just flew off to China for work. Sonny decides he can handle a kid, no problem, and starts parenting entirely by his own rules. Dennis Dugan directs. Ninety-three minutes, zero bedtimes.
Anyone who thinks bedtime is more of a suggestion. Bring snacks.
| Adam Sandler | Sonny Koufax |
| Joey Lauren Adams | Layla Maloney |
| Jon Stewart | Kevin Gerrity |
| Allen Covert | Phil D'Amato |
| Rob Schneider | Nazo |
| Josh Mostel | Arthur Brooks |
| Dylan and Cole Sprouse | Julian "Frankenstein" McGrath |
| Leslie Mann | Corinne Maloney |
| Jonathan Loughran | Mike |
| Peter Dante | Tommy Grayton |
| Kristy Swanson | Vanessa |
| Joseph Bologna | Lenny Koufax |
| Steve Buscemi | a homeless guy |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $234.8M; Domestic box office $163.5M; Opening weekend $41.5M; Profit / loss (est.) +$66.1M; Rotten Tomatoes 39%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 39% (92 reviews); Metacritic 41 / 100; IMDb users 6.5 / 10 (254,837 votes); movie.guru score 4.1.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.