Just Go With It

Movie Review : Just Go With It
Director : Dennis Dungan
Genre : Romantic Comedy
Starring : Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Brooklyn Decker
Released : 2011
My Rating : 4 out of 10

After the over-the-top-crudeness of "You Don't Mess With Zohan", director Dennis Dungan and actor/producer Adam Sandler have teamed up to give us a movie that's being labeled as a "romantic comedy". Disappointingly, it is neither romantic nor funny.

Danny (Adam Sandler) is a rich and successful plastic surgeon. He has a fake wedding ring and pretends to be in an unhappy marriage, just to have one night stands with young women. When he meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), he thinks he found the love of his life. But she thinks he is married. And so the lies start. He has to introduce Palmer to his wife, with whom he is supposedly getting divorced. To play that part, he requests his secretary, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), who is a single mom. Naturally Palmer hears about the children, and Danny gets sucked into saying bigger and bigger lies.

That's a good enough plot for making a nice predictable romantic comedy to enjoy and forget. Alas, the execution guarantees only the "forget" part of it. I haven't watched the original movie (or play) "Cactus Flower" from which this is adapted, so I cannot offer comparisons. I doubt, if it was as forgettable as this one.

I would have never thought Adam Sandler can be as ineffective as he is here. The attempts at being funny are pathetic - not crude, not gross - just lame. Of course, a big reason is the script which feels like written by an intern. Jennifer Aniston tries hard, really hard to make it work - but it's obvious that she is trying, and it doesn't feel natural. Brooklyn Decker was not chosen for her acting, so why bother evaluating it ? And Nicole Kidman would probably like us to not just forget the movie, but also her role in it.

No Adam Sandler movie is for kids, you should know that by now. But seriously, don't watch this one, rather spend that time watching an episode or two of your favorite sitcom.