'Mawkish and putrid' - yep, it's Adam Sandler's new film

Herald online

11 Jun, 2014 02:30 AM2 mins to read

Drew Barrymore, left, and Adam Sandler appear in a scene from Blended. Photo/AP

Adam Sandler's films rarely receive rave reviews - but critics have taken particular delight in savaging his latest effort.

Blended, a rom-com starring Sandler and Drew Barrymore, has just a 14 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

"At least it's not Grown-Ups 3," wrote one reviewer about Blended, which hits New Zealand cinemas next Thursday.

"You get a sense of where it's headed as the first scene opens to the sound of a toilet flushing and the sight of Drew Barrymore exiting a public restroom stall," said another.

"A third critic called it a "vomit-inducing blend of mawkish sentimentality and dead-on-arrival humour, all bundled up in a putrid package of festering family-friendly fun."

It also got a scathing and much-tweeted review on the New York Times, in which critic AO Scott said he was "bothered by the sheer audience-insulting incompetence of the filmmaking and the writing".

Blended tells the story of Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) who suffer through a horrendous first date and agree to never see each other again, only to wind up spending a week together on an African safari.

Sandler recently told late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel that Blended was an excuse for him to go on holiday in Africa.

Sandler has had previous critical success with more serious films like Punch Drunk Love (79 per cent) and Funny People (68 per cent).

But more recent films have not fared well, with That's My Boy charting at 20 per cent, Grown Ups 2 at 7 per cent, Jack and Jill at 3 per cent, and Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star at 0 per cent.

And it's unlikely his next film will do that much better.

Sandler set to star alongside Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklege in the 2015 film Pixels, which, according to IMDB, involves "video game experts being recruited by the military to fight 1980s-era video game characters who've attacked New York".