His opponent is his fellow-schmuck Therman (Zach Galifianakis), who has stolen Barry's wife by deploying his purported powers of "mind control".
Sandler's at his best when he taps his roots as a schmuck who somehow dirty joked his way out of a meaninglessness when his desperation brings frustration, rage, and urgency to the fore.
The built-in drama here is the lesson of how to fulfill his desires without becoming a schmuck — using his newfound power responsibly.
The schmuck, for his part, declares his undying admiration for his new boss and his deep respect for the gigantic organisation into whose maw he is about to disappear.
And, sure enough, the mother who consumed novels and wore ostrich plumes died when he was 17, leaving him unprotected from the brutal Old World father (junk-dealing bootlegger) and the money-grubbing older brothers (coal yards, nursing homes, landfills) who were so contemptuous of his bookishness ("some schmuck with a pen," he would recall 40 years after the fact).
Read more from columnist Peter Schmuck on his blog, "The Schmuck Stops Here," at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.
Not with his trouser bottoms down around his ankles like a schmuck.
You could only smile when the real Eddie silhouetted onstage raised his arms to shrug as if to say "Yep, I was a schmuck" when his video alter ego left the band.
Clooney had further protected his position: Dr. Ross, as first written, was really no more than "a smarmy schmuck" in his dealings with women.
He's got the wife, he's dragging his children around, he's got an icecream cone in his mouth … the schmuck goes to Disneyland for Easter week.
