Just Go With It. A Review.

Apparently I’m a film snob. I really didn’t think I was, but when my girlfriend suggested we watch the Adam Sandler film Just Go With It, I pulled this face…. 

…she may be onto something. Then when I decided to start reviewing films, she suggested I review JGWI, and after pulling the face again, I agreed. So here goes. 

JGWI is a remake of the 1969 film Cactus Flower, which itself was a remake of a Broadway show based on a french play. I must admit I have not seen any of these previous iterations, so I can’t comment on the integrity of the remake,JGWI was a fresh film for me. The plot itself does not break any rom-com moulds, wealthy plastic surgeon and commitment-phobe Danny (Sandler) falls for a beautiful younger woman Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) and through a series of predictably unpredictable mistakes and (large) white lies he must convince his secretary and her children to pretend to be his estranged family. Through further plot contrivances the action is transported to Hawaii with Danny’s oddball cousin in tow now playing the secretary’s new man. If this all sounds complicated, it isn’t. Suffice it to say the plot plays out pretty much as expected, forcing Sandler and co to construct greater and more farcical fallacies. 

So there I was, (fresh from rewatching Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and smiling to myself in my film snob way as I enjoyed Heath Ledger’s blistering performance and Wally Pfister’s meticulous cinematography), confronted with Adam Sandler pretending that gorgeous Jennifer Anniston is his wife so that gorgeous Brooklyn Decker wouldn’t think he was a creep on the gorgeous island of Hawaii, and for some reason I wasn’t annoyed. Could it be that I’m not the film snob I’m reported to be?

Perhaps I wasn’t annoyed because of the performances. Danny the plastic surgeon is not the most challenging role Sandler has ever played, and at the start of the film I was yearning for Robbie the Wedding Singer and Bobby the Waterboy, however as the film progressed I began to find I didn’t mind the company of Danny. Sure he is no great departure from most of Sandler’s more recent on screen roles, but Sandler is likable on screen. His sarcastic comments delivered with half a wink to camera are generally harmless, Danny is a safe pair of hands comedy-wise, not reinventing the wheel but delivering the goods. 

Anniston manages to act away her good looks for the first ten minutes, she is genuinely believable as a harassed single mother and the secretary who the office would fall apart without. Her chemistry with Sandler is at its best in a platonic way, the two have actually been friends for a long time off-screen and this shows as they rib each other in the way coworkers do. Despite its ample running time, the film does not give Anniston many scenes with the children to show her ability to play the mother, however we can take it as read that she really cares for them - certainly enough to have forsaken any romantic life. In terms of comedy, there aren’t many actors with better credentials than Anniston. She more than holds her own against the other seasoned comics in the cast, and I found myself rooting for her in her dance-off with old school rival Nicole Kidman. Kidman is slightly wasted in a role that demands little, however she admirably ignored pride for her dance-off, making enjoyable watching

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Nick Swardon strayed the closest to irritating as Danny’s slacker cousin Eddie. Like almost every role in JGWI it is a part we have seen before. Swardon effects a germanic accent and takes most of the pratfalls in the film with a hit or miss ratio of around 50/50, the sequence involving the sheep best demonstrates this as it will have some in stitches and others bemused. It seems as though Sandler has decided to dedicate some of the more humiliating jokes to other actors when in years past he would have got stuck in himself, this can be a little frustrating as the supposed star coasts along in his own star vehicle. In the past costars have said Sandler is in control of nearly every aspect of production with an eye for detail, I just wish he would leave this to the producers and have a bit more fun on screen. 

Brooklyn Decker is on good form as Sandler’s siren Palmer. Palmer is  a twenty-something family-orientated teacher from North Carolina who’s interests involve NSYNC and children, Decker performs this with all the depth she can muster but is served a lean meal by the script. An alumni of Ugly Betty and The League, Decker surely possesses the comedic chops to make a more lasting impression, she is just not given the scope to do so.

The cast members that most impress are, as is so often the case, the youngsters. Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck steal every scene they are in as Anniston’s mischievous offspring, and they bring out the best in Sandler as he is forced to be down with the kids! 

So the cast all carry the film of as frothy fun, and they are well served by direction and cinematography. Frequent Sandler collaborators Dennis Dugan and Theo van de Sande deliver postcard style visuals of sun kissed LA and Hawaii, but do not challenge. Special mention goes to Rupert Gregson-Williams for medley of Snow Patrol and The Police, which made me sit up and pay a bit more attention to the sad montage. 

Overall, Just Go With It is a mainstream pleaser that should have driven this supposed film snob crazy, only it didn’t. I was happy to sit and watch as Sandler and Co delivered exactly what I expected in a way that comforted like saturday morning television. As a romance it isn’t as bold as 50 First Dates, as a comedy it doesn’t crack ribs like Happy Gilmore, and it is little more than the sum of its parts. However the hollywood sheen hasn’t worn off yet, and I for one found myself choosing to join. 

WHO: Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck show the adults how to get a laugh

WHAT: The prosthetic sheep. Yep. 

WHY: Because Sandler is a safe pair of hands to get you through with a bottle of wine.

WHEN: It’s raining outside and you want to imagine you live in Hawaii.