Just Go With It (Blu-ray)
It has been a long time since I’ve liked an Adam Sandler film. In his defense, I’ve quit watching his more recent stuff so I can’t give those films a proper grade. But that’s not a good sign when people become so jaded they give up on your films. I am happy to say, despite the bad marketing of easy jokes and hits to the groin, JUST GO WITH IT pleasantly surprised me.
Right before his wedding, Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) discovers his fiancée has been cheating on him and has never truly loved him. In order to never be heart broken again, Danny poses as a man in a bad marriage to sleep with women without commitment or guilt. I’m shocked at how many beautiful women are eager to be an adulteress. Now a successful plastic surgeon, Danny meets young bombshell Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) at a Los Angeles party whom he immediately is smitten for. After a little beach romp on the sand, Palmer discovers Danny’s fake wedding ring. Rather than tell her the truth about faking marriage to sleep with women, Danny explains that he is in the middle of a divorce. Since he actually believes this girl may be the one after their lustful evening, Danny asks his assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his soon to be ex and her children as his own. Everyone agrees to this chaotic plan with their own blackmailing agenda. The entire clan including Danny’s obnoxious cousin Eddie (played by the very funny Nick Swardson) who poses as Katherine’s (against her will) new boyfriend head off to Hawaii, where mayhem and hijinx commence.
The plot is clearly absurd but with comedies you have to sometimes overlook this fault and well…just go with it. The actors and their characters save the film from falling into a predictable pitfall. It’s still predictable but at least the actors make it funny. Everyone does a nice job performing and not shoving the jokes down the audiences face… most of the time anyway. True to Sandler form, he is able to get some nice cameos from friends and stars. The best come from SNL alums Rachel Dratch and Kevin Nealon who have botched plastic surgery jobs. I believe there is more comedic material in this world of plastic surgery and wish they would have explored that more.
The surprise standout to me was Jenifer Anniston who has recently been more non-existent in her big roles. She commands the screen as a comedic pro going head to head with Sandler with ease upstaging everyone. The children had moments of pure brilliance as well. Bailey Madison and Griffin Gluck are superb as the kids Maggie and Michael otherwise known as Danny’s fake child names Kiki and Bart. Maggie’s energetic passion as an aspiring actress with a fake British accent paired with Bart’s drive to swim with dolphins despite not knowing how to swim nearly steal the show at times.
JUST GO WITH IT supplies a sufficient enough laughter to help forget about the headache-inducing story full of improbable sitcom situations with too many lies and mistaken identities. Unfortunately, the longer the film went the less funny it became and the movie nearly destroys itself by taking a huge nosedive in the last twenty minutes. All the jokes are sacrificed in place of a will they or won’t they get together drama. We all know what’s going to happen before the film begins. It is not necessary to try to build suspense. Stay within your genre and keep the jokes coming and JUST GO WITH IT would have fared even better. But as it stands I laughed out loud more than a few times so I’m giving it a mild recommendation.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p High Definition 1.85:1) The picture was crisp and clean.
Audio: (5.1 DTS-HD MA) A clear sound.
Commentary with Adam Sandler, Nick Swardson and The Filmakers: This is a fun light commentary with everyone laughing and making jokes.
Commentary with Director Dennis Dugan: Dugan also makes jokes but his are pretty dry without anyone there to laugh.
Laugher is Contagious (4:39): Everyone flubbing their lines.
Deleted Scenes (16:57): Wow sixteen deleted scenes but they are short and some are even a little funny.
Adon: Living Plastic (2:30): Kevin Nealon goes into different boutiques pretending to be his overly done plastic surgery character Adon.
Along Came a Prop Guy (2:53): The prop guy goes around putting fake spiders on the crew members. No one reacts too crazy.
Decker’s Got Gas (2:19): Brooklyn Decker tries to pull a farting prank and it fails miserably.
Dolph-Not The One From Rocky IV (6:11): This is all about Nick Swardson and how he is so great and made everyone laugh during their scenes.
Kevin Nealon: The Plastic Man (5:31): The makeup process for Nealon plastic surgery look.
What’s A Dugan? (5:27): The director is a goofball and this is a compilation of his silliness and the actors complimenting him.
Look Who Else is in the Movie (2:40): A highlight of a few of the guest spot actors.
Sneaky Kiki & Bart the Water Fart (1:31): The kid actors goofing around.
The Perfect Couple: Jen and Adam (5:51): Everyone talking about how great these two are and how well they work off each other.
The Not So Perfect Couple (3:52): This one is about Nicole Kidman and Dave Matthews.
Decker’s First Role (4:20): All about Brooklyn Decker’s first movie role on set.
Shooting Hawaii (5:35): Everyone talks about all the perks from shooting in Hawaii.
Grand Wailea Promo (7:08): This is a promotional commercial of the actual resort the movie was filmed at in Hawaii.
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