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After years of being bashed by critics, Adam Sandler is back on the festival circuit and aiming for the Oscars.

This may come as a surprise to some, whose idea of Sandler is limited to a 10-year streak of terribly quoted films, irritating voices and apparent disregard for public opinion.

But for those who grew up in the 90s, piously watching Saturday Night Live sketches and re-renting the same VHS tapes, Sandler is reminiscent of a different era, and his recognition is long overdue.

If you're part of that exclusive group, the idea of watching young Billy Madison grow up to receive a four-minute standing ovation at the most high-brow film festival in the world will put a smile on your face.

It does in mine.

Particularly because the film in question, Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories, is part of the actor's much-criticised Netflix deal.

The same critics who pleaded for the actor to stop making Netflix films are the ones that are now admitting he might have a shot of winning at the Academy.

In 2014, the streaming giant and Sandler's Happy Madison Productions announced four films together, starting with the western parody The Ridiculous 6 and followed by the buddy crime caper The Do-Over.

Both films were bashed by critics, and rightly so. They were terrible.

In fact, by that time, Sandler had failed to produce anything worth a watch since his 2009 dramedy Funny People.

In it, we are led to believe he plays a fictionalised version of himself - a veteran comedian who sold his soul for two smash-hit films and an empty mansion in Los Angeles.

This is how we've grown to imagine Sandler: a washed up, bored movie star with too much time and money on his hands and not enough talent.

But like everything about him, this is only partly true.

Sandler's mid-life crisis might have involved a large mansion and a creative block, but he was never the isolated, lonely comedian he portrayed in Funny People.

Watching most of his films, you see the same actors returning again and again.

The "Sandler posse", as it's known, consists of his long time friends, whom he keeps giving work time and time again, despite an overall lack of talent.

In an industry known for its ruthlessness and faux friendships, this sort of commitment is as rare and unique as everything else about Sandler.

And it is probably what makes Sandy Wexler, his third Netflix production, such an oddly touching film.

In it, the actor plays a talent manager who is mocked, yet loved, by everyone around him.

It features guest appearances by virtually every Hollywood comedian from the 1990s, who share their memories of Wexler as if they're speaking of Sandler himself.

Still far from the glory days of Fifty First Dates or The Wedding Singer, Sandy Wexler acts as a nostalgic oddity to Sandler's career.

An oddball who was never taken seriously, but whose kind heart and discreet talent has allowed him to be surrounded by friends at all times.

And make no mistake, Sandler does have talent.

From his brilliant, constricted performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, to his heartfelt tribute to 9/11 victims in Reign Over Me, Sandler has proven he is part of a rare breed of comedians whose goofiness masks a perpetual sadness.

Like Andy Kaufman and others before him, Sandler has made a mockery out of life and out of his career, dangling that fine line that separates reality and fiction.

Behind every Sandler character, you can see a little part of the actor.

The spoiled brat, the loving husband, the dedicated father, the washed-up comedian, the Jewish offspring, the successful best friend, the irate introvert and the lovable 90s icon - they're all him.

And he plays them with such romantic abandonment, such unawareness of how he is seen by the audience, that it becomes oddly relatable.

Take away all juvenile jokes, all the uncomfortable voices, all the celebrity cameos, and his movies hide a sentimentality which takes the audience back to that time you wished you had been a better parent, or a better son, or that day when you met the love of your life and the Cranberries were playing in the background.

Paul Thomas Anderson defended his relationship with Sandler by saying that when he is home alone, sometimes he just wants to sit down and watch an Adam Sandler movie.

That is the undeniable magnetism of his work. It is a guilty pleasure, so intimate and personal you don't really want to share it with anyone else.

A four-minute standing ovation is a rare thing at Cannes, but not as rare as seeing Sandler walk the Croisette, swapping his New York Yankees t-shirt for black tie.

When interviewed at the festival, he was humble and low key, as always, thanking Baumbach for giving him the opportunity to leave his comfort zone.

"It's different for a comedian when you get an offer like this," he said. "My first thought is: I don't want to let anybody down."

He didn't. Not now or ever.