Movie Review: Just Go With It

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in 'Just Go With It'. Photo / Supplied

Just Go With It is a good way to approach this average romantic comedy from long-time collaborators Adam Sandler and director Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore, You Don't Mess with the Zohan).

Bordering on farcical, this is an odd mix of Sandler's crass, acerbic wit and Jennifer Aniston's down to earth, relatable girl-next-door routine. It takes a while to get the laughs working, with some awkward gags and a sense Sandler and Aniston are working on automatic, but it's not entirely their fault as they're working with some pretty weak material.

Sandler plays Danny, a single, commitment-phobic plastic surgeon who scores sympathy one-night-stands by pretending to be married to an abusive wife. It's an approach that backfires when he meets the drop dead gorgeous and much younger Palmer (Brooklyn Decker). He likes her but when she finds his fake wedding ring he has to prove he's not actually married.

Coming clean would have made for a short movie, so he naturally escalates things with the even stupider lie that he's getting divorced, and drags his longtime surgery assistant Katherine (Aniston) in to play his soon to be ex-wife.

As the silliness develops it's obvious this house of cards will come tumbling down, especially once Katherine's kids become involved (pretending to be Danny's kids) and blackmail Danny into taking them all on a trip to Hawaii. What's strange is that when it becomes apparent the relationship between Danny and Palmer won't end well, the film just sort of sidesteps any real fall-out and quickly switches the heat straight on to Katherine and Danny's relationship.

An unexpected highlight is a guest appearance by Nicole Kidman as Katherine's college nemesis Devlin Adams, and while you wouldn't imagine this being her kind of material, she breathes some life into the flagging affair.

Nearly two hours is a long time for the predictable and often frustrating story to unfold. It's not until we've been in Hawaii for a day or two that things hit any kind of stride and there are a few laughs to be had.

If you're a fan of Sandler or Aniston you'll enjoy the laughs when they arrive; for others there are likely to be too many mediocre minutes to wade through to be worth getting there.

LOWDOWN

Stars: 2/5
Cast: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Dennis Dugan
Running Time: 116 mins
Rating: M (Sexual references)
Verdict: Aniston and Sandler win us over in the end, but it's a long, hard road getting there

-TimeOut