Just Go With It (2011)

Written by: Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling

Produced by: Jack Giarraputo, Heather Parry, and Adam Sandler

Directed by: Dennis Dugan

Rated PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language

110 min.

U.S. Release Date: February 11, 2011

To kick off the Valentine’s Day weekend, Adam Sandler unleashes another romantic comedy, along the vein of 50 First Dates, Mr. Deeds, or The Wedding Singer, that features Sandler alongside several eye-catching co-stars.  In Just Go With It, Sandler enlists the talents of Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, and Brooklyn Decker, all who have quite the reputation for their good looks.  Is this film just another vehicle for the childish comedian to spend quality time with some hotties in a tropical climate, or is Just Go With It a worthwhile cinematic experience?

In Just Go With It, Danny (Adam Sandler), a plastic surgeon, is working hard to impress a much younger schoolteacher named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) when he carelessly lies to her that he has a soon-to-be ex-wife, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), and two loving children.  Danny recruits Katherine, his assistant, to pretend to be his almost ex-wife in order to cover up his “white lies”.  When more of Danny’s lies backfire, Katherine’s kids get pulled into his stories, and everyone heads off for a weekend vacation in Hawaii and “things get interesting”.

The acting performances all around are pretty rough in this movie.  Adam Sandler plays himself pretty much, except his character is a plastic surgeon (What?  Would you trust that man to cut you?), Brooklyn Decker plays what I’m assuming is herself, and Jennifer Aniston reprises her canned romantic comedy persona.  In addition to the ridiculousness of Sandler playing a plastic surgeon, are we really supposed to believe that Decker or Aniston would ever have anything to do with a guy like him?  Just Go With It, indeed.

From a technical perspective, Just Go With It is pretty pedestrian, not that you were expecting an industrial masterpiece.  There are so many slow-motion shots of characters walking toward the camera with bad pop music playing over them that it becomes comical.  Like the actual filmmaking, the plot leaves much to be desired.  There is nothing in this movie’s story that separates it from any run-of-the-mill romantic comedy (especially another Sander romantic comedy).

Overall, there is absolutely nothing to write home about when it comes to Just Go With It.  The acting is poor, the story is one that has been told a thousand times over, and the entire project seems like a reason for Sandler to have a tropical vacation with some good-looking ladies.  While the plot, given all the lying, suggests that most of the characters … just go with it, it demands that fans just go with it as well, or else there is not much fun to be had here.

———————

Rating: *

———————