Review - Just Go With It

Don’t Think About It

Danny (Adam Sandler) has had his heart broken. He was ready to be married but the woman he was about to tie the knot with, loved everyone else. So with his heart broken he sets off to the rest of his life to make sure that doesn’t happen again. A wedding ring and the story of his nonexistent wife have proven to get him all the women he can handle and with no commitment.

When he meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a girl he does care about the lies flow faster than the women into his plastic surgery office. There his receptionist Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) becomes part of the story as he needs to keep the lie going to salvage the relationship he wants to have. Now Katherine will play his soon to be ex-wife, her children will play his children, and her rivalries will become his. The question remains, will he get the girl? Or maybe it should be, what girl will he get?

On a family Hawaiian vacation, will Danny keep his story straight? Will his faux kids? Will his fake wife? Or will everything crash down like a house of cards. It’s up to everyone to Just Go With It.

Now, when I say everyone, I mean everyone. As audience members we are often asked to suspend belief in a number of movies, and this is no exception. The beginning of this film borders on laughable. The setup didn’t need to be here in its cartoonish state. Instead I would have felt much better without it. But as the film progresses, you see that it is one of those films you need to just “go with”.

The relationships are a bit weird, all of them. Brooklyn Decker’s Palmer you could see falling for Sandler’s doctor if there was a different basis, but not the way this one goes down. Nick Swardson’s over the top boyfriend character is ridiculous, to the point that you expect anyone to call him on it, but they don’t and still you just “go with it”.

Throughout the film, it’s important to just go with things. And the bottom line is, if you go with it, this can be a moderately fun film. Is it up to par with Sandler’s best, absolutely not! But is it what you’ve come to expect, yes!

After a dreadful start, Sandler is funny, Decker is beautiful and Anniston is back. Those performances coupled with the wonderful Nicole Kidman and a strange Dave Matthews performance make for an acceptable comedic film.

I would have liked more from the talent involved, but this is a film that is beautiful to look at and will make you laugh. Just one piece of advice, don’t think too much about the whys and wherefores in the movie; just go with it.

C+

Just Go With It
Sony Pictures

Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Nick Swardson, Brooklyn Decker, Dave Matthews

Rating: PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language.
Runtime: 116 minutes.