After being forced to sit through the truly painful Grown Ups, I resolved to enact my revenge on Adam Sandler by completely eviscerating any of his future releases. So I was thrilled when I saw the trailer for Just Go With It. A rom-com starring Adam Sandler as a plastic surgeon who wears a wedding ring to attract big-breasted 23 year olds and has a habit of getting hit in the groin while his friend Jennifer Aniston looks on? Perfect! Cue a rant about predictable plots, one-note acting, misogyny, juvenile humour and Hollywood’s gradual destruction of everything that’s good in this world!
Except… Just Go With It is occasionally vaguely entertaining. Way to rain on my parade there.
I did say vaguely entertaining. The film is indeed predictable and juvenile, and doesn’t so much lapse into clichés as unabashedly dive in. When Danny (Sandler) falls for the beautiful Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), his previous lies force him to pretend to have an ex-wife. Dragged into conspiracy is Danny’s friend Katherine (Aniston) who, in the grand tradition of Hollywood rom-coms, is considered completely unattractive because she – gasp of disgusted horror – wears glasses. Throw in some precocious kids, as well as a ridiculous amount of faecal-matter based jokes, and this should be a godawful predictable mess.
But penetrating the absurd plot, cheap gags, and the obligatory jumping-the-shark trip to Hawaii, is the cast’s charming energy and a palpable sense of good fun. Sandler and Aniston are better than they’ve been in years, and their teasing banter and natural chemistry light up the screen. Even Nicole Kidman seems to be enjoying herself, devouring her role as Aniston’s shallow frenemy. Sandler’s German-accented sheep-resuscitating sidekick Nick Swardson makes one bizarre character too many, and it’s 15 minutes longer than it needs to be, but with a believable romance and some great plastic surgery jokes, it’s actually not that bad.
Damn it.