Preview Review: Just Go With It

Release Date: February 11, 2011

Dear Reader,

Is it just me, or does the title of this film say more than it thinks? Is this the director and producers telling us that this will be a bad movie, but that we should “Just Go With It”?

Now that’s probably a bit unfair, so let’s look at the trailer.

Adam Sandler is getting laid (just go with it). Here he plays the role of playboy Daniel Maccabee, who gets women to sleep with him by shilling sad stories about a fake divorce 20 years after George Costanza made it cool. He comes across a woman that he actually falls in love with (Brooklyn Decker), and things go well until she inadvertently finds his fake wedding ring. When questioned, Daniel spins his fake-divorcee story, but the girl for whatever reason doesn’t believe him. She asks to meet the ex-wife, or else say goodbye to phase 3 of their relationship.

Is it just me, or is a new girlfriend asking to see your ex-wife not a legit excuse to break it off? Yeah the premise doesn’t hold much water, but it only makes the title ever-more appropriate.

Jennifer Aniston plays the role of office manager (just go with it) Katherine Murphy, and close friend of Daniel Maccabee. Daniel goads her into being his fake ex-wife. She agrees, and off they go to meet said-girl. In the middle of their meet, Katherine lets slip that she has two kids, and now the girlfriend wants to meet them too.

Hey, wasn’t this an episode of Dateline? Could this woman be more creepy?

Aaargh. Just go with it.

Following this, Daniel Maccabbee arranges for the new girlfriend to meet his fake ex-wife’s children. And here is where I ask the question to all you mothers out there. Would you consider it parentally responsible to use your kids as tokens so that a man with no acting talent can get sex from a woman that he likes?

Aaargh. Just go with it.

The lies keep escalating, and Daniel is forced to make more and more stories up in order to get his woman to like him. Are we sure this is supposed to be a movie, and not a documentary on Adam Sandler’s life?

If you saw the trailer, then you know how the story ends. Things don’t work out with the girlfriend when she finds out that he’s lying, and in the midst of our long, whacky adventure, Daniel eventually falls in love with Katherine. A disingenuous message about finding true love is made, and then the credits roll. And just to prove to you that that is exactly how the film will go, the screenplay for Just Go With It was inspired by the 1969 film Cactus Flower, in which the exact same events happen, from beginning to end.

This film is being directed by Dennis Dugan, who has worked with Adam Sandler in past projects such as Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, and Don’t Mess With The Zohan. He also directed Grown Ups, which starred a cast of washed up comedians, and had a poster that ironically had them going down a drain.  

As much as this film calls for it, I can’t entirely dismiss it as a no recommend. One, because there is a market base for Adam Sandler films. And two, because I simply don’t understand American comedies. The Wedding Crashers, a film that I considered to be boring, juvenile, and deceitful, was apparently a big hit among audiences. Same for American Pie, Ron Burgundy, and other films of the ilk. And since I am writing this in part for an audience of varying tastes, I feel that compromises must be made. As much as it pains me to say it, I have no choice but to just go with it.

Just Go With It

Recommended For Theater Viewing, but only for Adam Sandler fans, and fans of American rom-coms.