Monday, April 11, 2011

Just Go With It


You know that there is very little I haven't seen at my local cinema when I go to see an Adam Sandler movie. I find him neither a good comedian nor likeable. With a talented comedian it really doesn't matter how offensive the humour (as long as it's humour) but it's all in the delivery. Some people can say what they want, and it's devilish (the genius of Sir Ricky Gervais, lesser known outside of the UK Lord Harry Hill and the very talented Steve Carrell). Whereas with others the lines they say are vitriolic and almost sinister. Jim Carrey, Seth Rogan and Adam Sandler spring to mind. It's the story of plastic surgeon (Sandler, stretching believability to breaking point) who has pretended for years that he's married to get girls, as he never wants to be hurt again. Then he meets a (very) young girl of his dreams a teacher (stretching believability to breaking point) named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker). Things are going well until she finds out he's 'married'. Enter ridiculous plot where he enlists the help of his dowdy (stretching believability to breaking point)medical assistant single mum of two Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his wife to persuade Palmer that they are in the process of divorcing. Katherine accidently slips that she has kids, so they all go to Hawaii to 'bond', along with Katherine's pretend new boyfriend 'Dolph Lundgren', Danny's moronic cousin, Eddie played by Nick Swardson who was in the hilarious Reno 911!. Whilst in Hawaii, Katherine bumps into her high school nemesis Devlin (Nicole Kidman, yes you read correctly, Nicole Kidman). The family then spend a few nights getting into some tricky social situations, culiminating in Danny and Palmer deciding to get married. When I say tricky social situations, I do of course mean ridiculous, unbelievable and irrelevant. The problem is that Danny and Katherine now have realised that they care for each other. Oh the dilemma, dear reader, what happens next? Where do I begin with a review of this debacle? First and foremost, I would like to put my hand up for the job of Aniston's new agent. Fire the old one immediately Jen, my Gran could do better, and she's dead. Jennifer is a good actress. She's likable, warm and funny. Why does she insist on continuing to humiliate herself in these ridiculous films? She just has to stop it. Now. Adam Sandler seems to resort to the most puerile childish humour. Jews have big noses. Ha ha. I'm not against stereotyping and I do think that people should be able to poke fun at other people, but for goodness sake, can't he think of anything else? If he wasn't Jewish himself, everyone would be up in arms over this. It's offensive to comedy and to Jewish people and to funny Jews it's a hangable offence. Can you imagine the divine Larry David resorting to that? There are a few laughs with regard to L.A. and plastic surgery. Does the director not see the irony in employing Aniston, who is still lovely now, but has obviously resorted to botox and more, and then to have Nicole Kidman, the most plastic fantastic of actresses in Hollywood sharing screen time? Nicole Kidman doing the hula and showing us her fun side? Oh peeeerlease! Let's just face it, the woman can't act. Can't do drama, thrillers or now, comedy. Weather Girl was a freaky accident. Truly disasterous. Danny's cousin, the neanderthal Eddie why is he even in it? His attempts to get near to women are bordering on sexual abuse, strike that, it is sexual abuse. Light relief comes in the form of one of Katherine's children, Maggie (Bailee Madison) I think she's the love child of Dick Van Dyke and Rosie O'Donnell. She's a hoot. The other one, well, you can see why his father doesn't want to spend time with him. The girlfriend Palmer is lovely to look at, but she's supposed to be a teacher. Aren't teachers supposed to have a brain? How does she get sucked in to any of this? A girl who is smart enough to be a teacher wouldn't really be mindlessly adoring of an overweight unattractive married man saddled with two kids, especially one that comes out with lines like "I want to climb Palmer's mountains", yes, he really said that. It is a relief to see that forty two year old Jennifer looks better in a bikini than a woman half her age. Granted she does have the benefit of money, no kids, money, time and the motivation that she can pull Brad Pitt, but still.... As for Katherine, she's known this guy for years. She knows how he treats women. She understands that he's lied to girls for years. What has he got that she could possibly fall for? Money and access to surgery I guess, and possibly that he eats really badly and is in bad shape so she won't have to tolerate him for long. The weird thing is that the chemistry between Sandler and Aniston is really good. Go figure. I am not assassinating Adam Sandler's real life persona here. Just his movie persona, in case you're reading this Adam. Over all as you may deduce, I thought it was a pile of Devlin. If you want an explanation of that last sentence you will have to go and see the film. I recommend that you don't.JUST GO WITH IT: to the nearest incinerator and throw the damn movie in. 3/10 For Jennifer and the spectacular views of Hawaii.

1 comment:

  1. Did you enjoy it then??? Hilarious review, I may have to see it just to pick out the bits you've highlighted!! Lovely writing, I can hear you ranting in every word. Love you xoxoxo

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