Just Go With It does some things right and other things wrong. It is a mixed bag of tricks and comes off as another Adam Sandler comedy that provides quite a bit of stupidity with some genuine laughs. Jennifer Aniston looks amazing and is able to keep the movie grounded on several levels without it getting too far out there, but she is still the same person from all of her other movies and that goes double for Sandler. Surprise appearances by Nicole Kidman and Dave Matthews provide some good scenes, especially when Aniston and Kidman go at it.
Danny (Sandler) was left heartbroken right before he was to get married and was able to get a woman by using his sad story and from then on he has used his wedding ring to get sex. Then one day he meets the woman of his dreams: a much younger girl named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker). But after she finds his wedding ring in his pocket, Danny has to go find a fake wife and kids and get “divorced” so he can be with Palmer. This is where Danny’s assistant, Katherine (Aniston), and her two kids, Maggie (Bailee Madison) and Michael (Griffin Gluck), come in. And once one lie is born, it leads to several others until everything comes unglued while the whole family is vacationing in Hawaii.
Directed by Dennis Dugan, Just Go With It uses the same humor that we have seen in past Sandler comedies such as last year’s Grown Ups. Some jokes are funny at first, but after the fifth time, it’s not funny anymore. It just becomes annoying. The chemistry between Sandler and Aniston is good and some of their comedic timing really works. However, there are other times where the jokes just miss their mark all together or you have already seen them a hundred times in the previews.
Nick Swardson plays Danny’s cousin and his character is probably the most ridiculous one in the whole movie and that’s saying something. The fake accents and the barking hand is just pathetic. There are more than a few parts that make the comedy in this movie appear to be weak and just pure lazy. Besides Kidman, the two kids (Madison and Gluck) are the best thing going for this movie. Their performances add so much to each scene they are in. Dugan should be more grateful for those two kids being in his movie instead of Sandler and Aniston.
Just Go With It will make you laugh. It is not one of those that will make you laugh all the way through because it does not give that much effort. While the roles of Sandler and Aniston are getting stale, Kidman and the two children are refreshing and breathe some life in to a comedy that came close to being seriously unfunny.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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