Despite the cheap-looking lighting and the television-ish frame size that plague Netflix movies, The Week Of, produced by and starring Adam Sandler, is a fun little romp.

Essentially a reworking of the gist of Steve Martin’s Father of the Bride, Sandler and his longtime friend and sometimes writer/executive producer Robert Smigel find small opportunities to make this tit-bit of a movie seem welcoming…and somewhat familiar.

Most of The Week Of, is set in a small house in West Hempstead, Long Island and a leaky make-do hotel in the nearby vicinity, where a wedding is about to take place. Sandler plays Kenny, the father of the young bride (Allison Strong), who is marrying a young African-American (Ronald Buck III) – however, with a slight gag or two for comedy’s sake, the film doesn’t really exploit the worst aspects of racial comedy.

Chris Rock plays the groom’s father – a wealthy surgeon from California who never had time for his family. Sandler’s character, meanwhile, is loved by his family, even though he isn’t rich and a bit of miser.

The comedy set-ups aren’t laugh out loud and the story moves around until its climax at the wedding. However, despite the long-drawn-out nature of the plot (the film chronicles the week leading to the wedding), there is a low-key, un-burdensome uniqueness to the ambiance. Steven Buscemi and Rachel Dratch may be two actors one may recognise in a family of relatives attending the wedding, yet they – or even Sandler or Rock – don’t overpower the narrative.

The Week Of, despite its budgetary cheapness, is an engaging, family-affair that is quite different from Sandler’s routine works. Chances are you’re going to like it for what it is…and not what it would have been if it wasn’t on Netflix and released in cinemas by a major distributor (yes, that is a compliment). •