New Release: Just Go With It

I've been a bit behind on regular posting of what I've seen and I know I said I was going on a hiatus, but I started several reviews of things I watched and they just needed to be finished and have photos added so here goes.

Adam Sandler's new movie, Just Go With It, had almost no expectations of being any good.  His previous movie, Grown Ups and Jennifer Aniston has been creating a series of pretty amazingly bad movies (The Bounty Hunter was on many "worst of 2010" lists, including mine).  But, over at Reel Insight, it was Adam Sandler week so I decided to take my chances.  And maybe it was due to those extremely low expectations, but I enjoyed it much more than any of the last few Sandler movies.  The movie starts with Sandler as Danny (complete with a HUGE prosthetic nose) overhearing his bride to be discussing how the affair she had the night before was the last time.   He goes to a  bar to drown his sorrows and is playing with his wedding ring when a girl (Minka Kelly) notices his wedding ring and offers to cheer him up.  This gives Sandler the idea to pretend to be married in order to pick up girls without commitment, oh and to become a plastic surgeon and have his nose taken care of.

This advances us ten years or so.  Katherine (Aniston) is now his office assistant and friend.  A single mother with two kids, she mocks his fake lifestyle.  Oh, and she's taught her kids to call poop a Devlin, named after a girl she hated in her sorority.  Danny meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) and decides his wild ways are over - but she find his wedding ring and will only believe his relationship is over when she meets his soon-to-be ex-wife.  He asks Katherine to step in - but only if she fancys herself up a bit.  This the the moment you can see the rest of the movie coming - she walks in all hot and sexy with clothes he bought and his mouth drops.  But, you need another 90 minutes of insanity before they can get together.

And for a change, the insanity is worth it.  Palmer thinks they have kids and she wants to meet them (Danny borrows Katherine's manipulative and surprisingly unannoying and cute kids).  The kids maneuver their way into a trip to Hawaii for the whole family.  Danny's best friend, Eddie (Nick Swardson) arrives at the airport for a free trip to Hawaii pretending to be Katherine's new boyfriend, Dolph Lundren, a sheep expert (surprisingly hysterical in every scene he's in, while you're waiting for him to get cracked in the nuts - it felt like he filled the Rob Schneider role, but did it better).  Oh, and Nicole Kidman and Dave Matthews show up as Katherine's high school friend Devlin and her perfect husband.  Wonderfully bitchy and competitive, Kidman needs to do more of this kind of comedy - she's pretty great, and Matthews is hysterical.

Overall, there are many laugh out loud moments, a few poignantly sweet moments (one with the kids, and a few between Sandler and Aniston) and a very predictable story with pretty great scenery and clothes.  Somewhere between Billy Madison and 50 First Dates  - both of which I love, so this worked for me.  3.5 of 5 stars/lambs