Review: Just Go With It

February 11th 2011, 7:25am

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

PLOT: Danny (Adam Sandler) is a middle aged plastic surgeon, who passes himself off as married in order to make sure all of his flings stay one night stands. One day, he meets the gorgeous Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), and immediately falls head over heels in love with her. Problem is- she thinks he’s married. Unwilling to be a home breaker, Danny passes off his assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) as his soon-to-be-ex wife, but when her kids end up in Danny’s story, the whole scheme becomes more and more complicated. It all culminates in a trip to Hawaii, where sparks begin to fly between Danny and Katherine, despite his lust for the willing Palmer.

REVIEW: JUST GO WITH IT. What an ironic title, as that’s what I kept whispering to myself when I was caught in a preview screening of this film with an audience that was reacting to it like it was the second coming of THE HANGOVER. I don’t know what it is with Adam Sandler, and why he’s been able to cast such a spell over the average moviegoer the way he has, with all of his films of almost all of his comedies since the late nineties grossing over $100 million apiece. This is despite the fact that, other than the unique PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, FUNNY PEOPLE, and REIGN OVER ME, he arguably hasn’t done a really good comedy since THE WEDDING SINGER.

Lately his films have become increasingly painful to watch, with the recent GROWN-UPS being a dubious low point in his career; although financially it was a hit, so I guess in Hollywood’s eyes, he’s still at his peak. For a former fan of his, such as myself, his recent films have been insultingly bad, as he doesn’t even seem to be trying anymore. JUST GO WITH IT is yet another of his lazy efforts, with this being nothing more than a collection of lame, low-brow jokes, worked into a loose (and I mean LOOSE) remake of the old Walter Matthau, Goldie Hawn, Ingrid Bergman romp, CACTUS FLOWER.

As always, Sandler gets to play a can’t miss ladies man (with recent films allowing him to hook up with Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Emmanuel Chriqui, Marissa Tomei, Salma Hayek, and others that are equally as hot). Here, he gets to romance both Jennifer Aniston, and the almost supernaturally hot Brooklyn Decker, who looks like she was engineered in a sexy lab somewhere by the guys from WEIRD SCIENCE.

You gotta love the fact that Jennifer Aniston, with her perfectly toned bod, is playing the wallflower, that Sandler has to evolve towards falling in love with. Aniston’s still a bloody gorgeous woman, and her playing a gal that can’t get a date strikes me as a tad ludicrous. While I haven’t been a fan of her recent films, I will say this- Aniston is actually quite likable here, and probably the best thing about the film.

As for Sandler, he’s strictly on auto-pilot throughout, playing the same guy he’s played over and over. Instead of being a ladies’ man slacker like BIG DADDY, a ladies’ man firefighter like I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY or a ladies ’ man agent like GROWN UPS, he plays a ladies’ man plastic surgeon. Nice to see he’s stretching- or not…

The much-hyped Brooklyn Decker, soon to steam up movie screens in the absurd sounding BATTLESHIP, is fine as his sexy love interest, although she’s not called on to do much other than lounge around in a bikini. In that respect, I’m not complaining.

As the wacky sidekick, we get Nick Swardson, who’s becoming something of a Sandler stock-player. Basically, he’s the guy who can’t land a date, and a weak-ass plot device sees him tagging along on the trip to Hawaii, posing as a sheep herder named Dolph Lundgren. Sigh. Naturally, there’s a scene in the film where he tries to revive an intentionally fake-looking sheep via CPR, that I swear, seems like it was stolen right out of ME, MYSELF, & IRENE, albeit with a sheep swapped in for a cow.

Nicole Kidman also turns up in a gloried cameo, as Aniston’s old college nemesis. Kidman really does not have a flair for comedy, which was obvious enough in BEWITCHED. The only thing that’s kinda funny about her role is Dave Matthews (yes, THE Dave Matthews) who plays her husband, who proclaims himself the inventor of the iPod. He’s funnier than anyone else in the film.

Suffice to say, I really, really hated JUST GO WITH IT. The only way my buddy Nick and I were able to entertain ourselves in the particularly painful final half hour, was by narrating the film Werner Herzog style. I just couldn’t help it, as nothing about JUST GO WITH IT struck me as remotely funny, or original. Even the soundtrack, which is comprised of hits by The Police, mixed with current soft pop hits, felt tacked on. To me, JUST GO WITH IT only proved one thing, which is that Sandler seems incapable of making a good film when paired with his ‘Happy Madison ‘crew. I’m sure they’re a bunch of great guys, but this is just lazy, lazy movie-making. That said, it’ll probably still gross $100 Million. Sigh.