Sandler show style in "Wedding Singer'

I HAVE sat through most of Adam Sandler's movie career cringing. For me, his whiny performances in "Billy Madison," "Bulletproof," "Happy Gilmore" and

"Airheads" all have been like fingernails slowly dragging across blackboards.

But now there is "The Wedding Singer," and suddenly I can see that when he stops whining, Sandler has a certain adolescent charm about him.

It's the go-go '80s and he plays Robbie Hart, a failed rock musician who turned to the schmaltzy world of singing in glittery tuxedos at overdone weddings and bar mitzvahs to make a living. Although he isn't doing exactly what he'd like to be doing, he does have a gift for making his audiences happy. Sandler's song stylings, the best term for his singing in this movie, are masterfully done. Robbie takes pride in his work.

Anyway, he's a happy guy himself. He's about to get married to the lovely Linda (Angela Featherstone), and he wishes all his newlywed clients all the joy he has in his own life.

Then Linda leaves him standing alone at the altar on the day of his fancy wedding. She decided she really was in love with the rock musician, not the wedding singer. This, as Robbie deftly notes, falls under the category of things it might have been nice to know "yesterday!!"

Slowly and cutely, Robbie falls in love with Julia (Drew Barrymore), one of the waitresses he's seen at various affairs. She, too, is betrothed, but as Robbie grows increasingly fond and protective of her, he learns that the guy she's marrying, a shady junk-bond salesman called Glen (Matthew Glave), is a first-class cad who will never make her happy.

The considerable appeal of this movie has to do with its roots in those nice, comforting love stories of the 1930s. In its basic format, this is "The Philadelphia Story" with Sandler in a mixture of the Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant roles (please note no comparisons with either of those screen icons is intended, believe me).

Sandler has an appealing demeanor when he acts like an adult, which, I am pleased to report, he does through most of this movie. There's a little edge to his attitude but plenty of sweetness. When, as Robbie, he serenades Julia (with a song written by Sandler and writer Tim Herlihy), you truly do want to believe in the all-embracing power of love. And you can't fault a basically goofy movie if it can deliver an earnest moment like that.

Steve Buscemi has a hilarious cameo as the bitter brother of a groom, and Alexis Arquette does a good turn as a mascara-dripping back-up singer.

Director Frank Coraci does a creditable job working from

"Saturday Night Live" head writer Herlihy's script. Herlihy also wrote, with Sandler, "Happy Gilmore" and

"Billy Madison." I hope the leap from those sophomoric entertainments that this movie represents is a sign that Sandler and the members of his team are growing up.

Movie Review "The Wedding Singer'

* CAST Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Alexis Arquette

* DIRECTOR Frank Coraci

* WRITER Tim Herlihy

* RATED PG-13

* THEATERS Kabuki, Century Plaza (South San Francisco)

* EVALUATION **1/4<