Netflix's new movie has a star you might have heard of – and a story that looks sure to make you weep
Don't Say Good Luck seems to have all the ingredients to be beloved
Are we past the nepo-baby era? By that I don't mean are we now fine with them, but I am curious as to whether people still care as much about the whole concept. Rightly or wrongly, it seems clear that they're here to stay, and Netflix's latest movie is a great example of that – starring none other than Adam Sandler's daughter in the lead role.
To do her proper justice, though, it's Sunny Sandler (what a name), and this isn't exactly her first rodeo. She's had roles in multiple of her dad's movies over the years, including You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah recently, and a small part in Happy Gilmore 2. Now she's the lead in Don't Say Good Luck, which looks like a very different proposition.
The first key point is that the movie doesn't star Adam Sandler – it's a totally fresh project, and Sunny Sandler seems to be the key to it. She plays Sophie Birenbaum, a high schooler going through all the regular stress of school life, as she tries to get a role in the school musical without making a fool of herself.
The real meat of the emotion in the movie, though, comes from the fact that Sophie's mum (Melanie Lynskey) gets what sounds like a cancer diagnosis. That's a devastating turn, and it clearly rocks her dad (Max Greenfield) too, as you'd expect. Sophie's attempts to maintain some normality while dealing with this traumatic process will clearly be pretty emotional to behold.
In fact, this first trailer makes the movie look incredibly sweet, and full of that adolescent lack of confidence that can be so affecting to watch when it's done right. Sunny Sandler might be in this position because of her father's fame (that's quite hard to argue with, to be honest), but from the glimpses we see here, she's clearly going to be quite a performer in her own right.
Plus, she might have the bravery to do what her dad did and pick some weird projects – that's the only way to end up in something magical like Punch-Drunk Love, after all. I'm not saying Don't Say Good Luck is in that bracket, but it'll be interesting to see how it's received. It hits Netflix on 14 August.
