Review
Film has little to offer aside from occasional tawdry laugh
February 24, 2011
In a word, “Just Go With It” is a light-hearted, family-friendly, romantic-comedy, bucket-of-laughs.
Good thing that bucket only costs two dollars along with the buckets of popcorn. Actor-comedian Adam Sandler floods the market with his craftful jokes, diluting the movie to the “cheap mental vacation” category on the outermost fringes of good films. If you live in the Cities where films cost $10, maybe you should just go bowling.
Sandler’s character takes on the same persona as in Spanglish; so if you like him as the big-hearted wise cracking every-guy you will enjoy him in this film.
Jennifer Aniston plays a single mother and Sandler’s secretary. When middle aged Sandler falls for a twenty something blonde, Aniston and her kids get caught up in a big game of deceit to explain Sandler’s fake wedding ring.
When the web of lies grows as shamelessly, as each character’s hidden shame, the story collapses under its own weight. The comedic exploitation of the situation where no one wants to fess up is skillful in a very one dimensional way.
The preteen audience gets their fair share of humor; making this film family friendly did not mean removal of constant sexual material, but rather the insertion of G-rated children with bad attitudes.
The main plot device was suspension of disbelief. That is when a film writer is “asking” the audience to not let the impossibility of a movie bother them while they are viewing it. It is arguably common to every movie, however, “Just Go With It” takes ridiculousness a little too far.
This film isn’t going to win any Oscars; it’s more of a feel-good thing. To be fair, the theater was sold-out and the audience that came out for “Just Go With It” readily offered up laughs to most jokes. In fact, all of the show times Saturday were playing “Just Go With It,” so it must be doing something right.
While I would never take a date to this movie (my girlfriend would kill me, both if I took her or anyone for that matter), I hope you can decide for yourself after reading this review. Just remember to put jackets down on all of your reserved seats (I feel sorry for the person who I noticed sitting on the floor halfway through).
Elliot John Novak is an alumnus of UW-River Falls.