Film Review: Just Go With It
Jun 27, 2011 02:38AM ● By Wendy Sipple
The latest Adam Sandler comedy follows Danny, a plastic surgeon who discovers a fake wedding ring helps him with the ladies. Danny is happy with one night stands until he meets Palmer, a 23-year-old super-hot school teacher. When she discovers Danny’s fake ring he lies and has to recruit his office assistant Katherine and her two kids to be his fake family in order to satisfy the lies he tells. During all the lying Danny and Katherine fall in love, right before Danny is about to marry his 23-year-old girlfriend.
Just Go With It is a truly terrible movie. You have to look very deep to find anything redeeming about this film, and to be honest it is not worth the effort. A comedy should always be measured in laughs, and Just Go With It has zero. This is inexcusable with the type of comedic talent that stars in the film. However Adam Sandler almost seems as though he is sleepwalking through the movie, perhaps trying to escape from the horror that is this movie.
Nothing is subtle in Just Go With It. All of the site gags are over the top in a horrible way. For instance when Sandler starts the movie off with a large nose, it is so large it looks stupid rather than funny, like a bad student film. The comedic timing is non-existent. Instead every scene feels awkward as every character, and in particular Danny, are horrible to each other for no apparent reason. The only two characters that don’t come across as despicable are Palmer and Danny’s brother who in turn come across as complete morons.
The premise of this movie is weaker than the worst '80s sitcom you can think of, but instead of 20 minutes of pain you are subjected to two hours of it. There is absolutely no reason had to lie in the first place, or if he did I could think of a half dozen or so less complicated lies. Then as the lies builds to ridiculous heights it is neither fun, funny, or the slightest bit entertaining. This type of bad movie has to fit the generic romantic comedy plot too. So after witnessing Danny lie, berate, and treat everyone like dirt for the better part of 90 minutes, Katherine falls in love with him for no reason at all. Even worse she repeats over and over about 'how great a guy Danny is' for the last ten minutes of the movie almost as though she is trying to brainwash the audience into forgetting what we had just witnessed.
Just Go With It is apparently a remake of a 1969 film titled Cactus Flower that earned Goldie Hawn an Academy Award nomination. I admittedly have not seen that movie but I can recommend seeing it in place of this terrible remake. People who are fans of Adam Sandler will have a hard time liking this as well. This is as flat as I’ve seen him act in a film to date. All the energy that he put into his earlier comedies like Waterboy or the charm he conveyed in films like The Wedding Singer are curiously absent. If the actors come across as not liking the material they’re making, there is little chance you are going to have fun watching it. Avoid Just Go With It.
Films Like Just Go With It – Couple's Retreat, The Heartbreak Kid and Hitch
Click here to buy the film directly from Amazon.com.
Justin Buettner is Style's resident movie dude! How did he get this role? Well, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts in film Production and a duel minor in Animation and Business with an emphasis in the entertainment field. He later went on to work on several independent films in various key roles including writer and later worked in the special effects field as a motion capture artist. He has since relocated to the Sacramento area with his family and continues writing for small independent films in addition to his movie reviews for Style Magazine.