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The people in this movie are dumber than a box of Tinkertoys. One fears they're so unfortunate it's not Politically Correct to laugh at them. That's not a problem because "Just Go With It" is so rarely funny. Here is a story that began as a French farce. Then it was adapted into a Broadway play named " Cactus Flower ." Then the play was made into a movie. Now it has been made into another movie. This process has diluted it like a homeopathic medicine, so that not an atom of the original formula can be found.

Consider. Danny ( Adam Sandler ) broke off his wedding at the last minute, but continues to wear the wedding ring. Women find the ring seductive, and cannot resist having sex with a married man. Therefore, most (not all) of the women in his life are stupid. This works for him for approximately 25 years. In the meantime, he becomes a famous plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He is assisted by Nurse Katherine ( Jennifer Aniston ), who has two kids.

On the one day he isn't wearing his ring, he spends an idyllic night in the beach with the delicious 23-year-old Palmer ( Brooklyn Decker ). Then she finds the ring in his pocket and thinks he is married, and he lies and says yes, but his divorce is almost final. She insists on meeting his wife. He makes Nurse Katherine pretend to be his wife. He buys her several thousand dollars worth of clothes for her one (1) meeting with Palmer.

For reasons having to do with Palmer's love of children, they all fly to Hawaii together with Nurse Katherine's two kids and Danny's high school buddy Eddie ( Nick Swardson ), who pretends to be the Nurse's fiancé. Eddie disguises himself with thick glasses and the worst German accent since the guy who worshipped Hitler in "The Producers." He also brandishes a meerschaum pipe, because everyone who has seen " Inglourious Basterds " knows all Germans smoke meerschaum pipes.

This might work as a farce. Maybe it did, in France. It worked as a Broadway play by Abe Burrows. It worked as a 1969 movie with Walter Matthau , Ingrid Bergman as the nurse and Goldie Hawn as the young girl. It doesn't work now. The problem is the almost paralytic sweetness of the characters. Nobody is really trying to get away with anything. They're just trying to do the right thing in an underhanded way. Walter Matthau was crafty in the cradle. Goldie Hawn was the definitive ditz. Ingrid Bergman was *sigh*. The 1969 screenplay was by I.A.L. Diamond, who knew a thing or two about farce when he wrote " Some Like It Hot ." They made a good movie.

So nice is everyone here that even the completely surplus character played by Nicole Kidman is undermined. She plays the old standby, the popular girl who was mean to Nurse Katherine in high school. We know the cliché. Kidman could have done something with it, but the screenplay gives her nowhere to go It's painful to endure the cloying scene where they kiss and make up.

"Just Go With It" is like a performance of the old material by actors who don't get the joke. The movie doesn't even have the nerve to caricature the Devlin character, who is presented as a true-blue, sincere Bo Derek clone. Adam Sandler stays well within the range of polite, ingratiating small-talk artists he unnecessarily limits himself to. Jennifer Aniston is alert and amused, but by giving her the fake boyfriend with the meerschaum the film indicates that she, too, is one tinker short of a toy.

There is one funny scene in the movie. It involves a plastic surgery victim with roaming right eyebrow. You know the movie is in trouble when you find yourself missing the eyebrow.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Just Go With It (2011)

Rated PG-13

117 minutes

Adam Sandler as Danny

Jennifer Aniston as Katherine

Nicole Kidman as Devlin Adams

Nick Swardson as Eddie

Brooklyn Decker as Palmer

Bailee Madison as Maggie

Griffin Gluck as Michael

Dave Matthews as Ian Maxtone Jones

Kevin Nealon as Adon

Directed by

• Dennis Dugan

Screenplay by

• Timorthy Dowling

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Movie Review | 'Just Go With It'

The Road to True Love Is Paved With a Whole Lot of Lying

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By A.O. Scott

• Feb. 10, 2011

I should start by confessing that I spent a lot of time before the screening of “Just Go With It” — and a few stretches while it was actually going on — trying to remember what the darn thing was called. I may have to look up the title a few more times before this review is done, and the movie is likely to live on in my memory (to the extent that it will) as “that one with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in Hawaii.” Which pretty much sums up both the appeal and the limitations of this passive-aggressive, naughty but nice, sometimes obnoxious and occasionally quite funny late-winter romantic comedy.

“Just Go With It” remakes, updates, spices up and tones down a 1969 film called “Cactus Flower.” Without going into decline-of-civilization nostalgia — draw your own conclusions from the fact that the role now taken by Ms. Aniston belonged back then to Ingrid Bergman — I have to say that the old title was much better. It’s prickly and pungent, whereas the new version barely rises to the level of a slogan and seems to have been designed to excite search engines rather than flesh-and-blood audiences.

Still, this movie is better than “Grown Ups” or “The Bounty Hunter” or t he one with Ms. Aniston and Aaron Eckhart that I can’t be bothered to Google right this minute. Mr. Sandler plays Danny Macabee, a wealthy, unattached Los Angeles plastic surgeon whose early heartbreak, on what was supposed to be his wedding day, has authorized 20 years of guiltless promiscuity. Danny wears a wedding ring, which he accessorizes with made-up tales of extreme marital woe to ensure an endless string of no-strings hookups. But then one night he meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a 23-year-old schoolteacher with a superb bellybutton, and by the time they wake up together on the beach he thinks she might be The One.

Which means Danny must divorce his nonexistent wife, whom his new sweetheart insists on meeting. He recruits his longtime assistant and receptionist, Katherine (Ms. Aniston), and treats her to a Beverly Hills shopping makeover that allows this mousy single mom to reveal that she had been a fox all along. The aftermath also allows Ms. Aniston to display her sometimes-dormant (like in that Aaron Eckhart thing) comic talents, which are as sharp and sleek as her shoes and outfits. Katherine’s first meeting with Palmer — in which Ms. Aniston, or rather her character, impersonates a boozy, cynical Los Angeles dowager — is also one of a handful of lively and successful comic set pieces that keep the movie from lapsing into by-the-numbers hack work. (This is as good a time as any to mention that the director is Dennis Dugan, who has competently steered a number of other Adam Sandler vehicles, including “Happy Gilmore” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”)

Nick Swardson shows up for goofy-sidekick duty as Danny’s loser cousin Eddie, who spends much of the movie pretending to be a nerdy German Internet sheep broker named Dolph Lundgren. It makes sense in context, or rather it doesn’t, which is a good thing, since Mr. Sandler’s movies work best when the sentimentality and self-congratulation are disrupted by anarchic nonsense. And the story, derived by the screenwriters Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, from two stage plays by way of I. A. L. Diamond’s “Cactus Flower” script, contains enough pure farce to generate some momentum and surprise.

Katherine’s initial, reluctant imposture is complicated when Palmer discovers that she has a daughter (Bailee Madison) and a son (Griffin Gluck), whose father Danny must then pretend to be. Mr. Sandler, who built a career on childishness, often seems more comfortable horsing around with kids (or other maturity-resistant grown men) than getting all lovey-dovey with adult women. And in his scenes with these children he shows both pushy, rude playfulness and generosity, helping the young performers rise above generic movie-brat cuteness and earn some laughs on their own.

All in all, the hit-to-miss ratio of “Just Go With It” is not so terrible. Which is not to say the movie is anything special. The sexual politics of “Cactus Flower” are interestingly awkward, looking anxiously back to the ’50s and flinching at the onset of feminism, but this version occasionally lets loose an unacknowledged snarl of regression and resentment. None of the women have professional ambitions or money of their own; their primary asset is “hotness.” Ms. Aniston proudly shows herself off in a bikini — and looks great, it must be said — while Mr. Sandler keeps his shirt on, hanging loosely over his baggy pants. Yes, I know, the double standard is nothing new, but a wittier, less insecure movie might have at least had some fun with it.

But Mr. Sandler is not really willing to risk making fun of himself. He is too much of a bully for that. The infantile hostility that has always been part of his schtick seems increasingly tired, and “Just Go With It” is flecked with mean, lazy gags. There is some cheap homophobia at the end, and a lot of the kind of misogyny that treats the existence of nonthin, nonrich, nonwhite women as a joke in itself.

On the other hand there is the very thin, very rich and extremely pale character played by Nicole Kidman, who pops up, once the action has moved to Hawaii, to serve as a foil for Ms. Aniston and to remind viewers of her own comic talents. She seems to be having a pretty good time, as do most of the other performers, as if the movie were following the advice of its genial, forgettable title.

“Just Go With It” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It is frequently risqué, but always safe.

JUST GO WITH IT

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Dennis Dugan; written by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, based on the “Cactus Flower” screenplay by I. A. L. Diamond and the stage play by Abe Burrows, based on a French play by Barillet and Gredy; director of photography, Theo Van de Sande; edited by Tom Costain; music by Rupert Gregson-Williams; production design by Perry Andelin Blake; costumes by Ellen Lutter; produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo and Heather Parry; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes.

WITH: Adam Sandler (Danny), Jennifer Aniston (Katherine), Nick Swardson (Eddie), Brooklyn Decker (Palmer), Dave Matthews (Ian Maxtone Jones), Bailee Madison (Maggie), Kevin Nealon (Adon), Griffin Gluck (Michael) and Nicole Kidman (Devlin Adams).

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Just go with it, common sense media reviewers.

Some laughs, but often-crass Sandler romcom disappoints.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie's message is, ostensibly, that a lying s

On the one hand, Danny and Katherine come across a

Characters slap each other and yell. Pratfalls.

Guys leer at scantily clad women; lingering shots

Fairly infrequent use of words such as "s--t," "as

Plenty of label-dropping, including Gucci, Old Nav

Characters down shots and drink plenty of wine and

Parents need to know that this romantic comedy has many of the ingredients we've come to expect from Adam Sandler movies: crass, juvenile humor, including plenty of scatological humor and jokes at the expense of the overweight or physically imperfect. Swearing is pretty infrequent but does include "s--t," and there…

Positive Messages

The movie's message is, ostensibly, that a lying serial dater can be transformed by the love of a down-to-earth woman. But the movie also implies that women are gullible enough to fall for married men and that they'll forgive anything as long as someone says "I love you."

Positive Role Models

On the one hand, Danny and Katherine come across as flawed-but-wonderful human beings who are capable of embracing change and love; on the other hand, Katherine allows Danny to treat her like a doormat. Also, the whole premise is based on a big lie, and characters make fun of people who are overweight or physically imperfect.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Guys leer at scantily clad women; lingering shots of women in bikinis; a man boasts about his oversized genitalia; some kissing; plenty of sexual banter.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Fairly infrequent use of words such as "s--t," "ass," hell," and "crap." Also, plenty of sexual euphemisms.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Plenty of label-dropping, including Gucci, Old Navy, Botox, Tiffany, Grey Goose, Pepsi, iPod, iPhone, and PlayStation. A man bribes kids with money, trips, and stuff.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters down shots and drink plenty of wine and cocktails while on vacation. Some jokes about addiction to prescription drugs.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this romantic comedy has many of the ingredients we've come to expect from Adam Sandler movies: crass, juvenile humor, including plenty of scatological humor and jokes at the expense of the overweight or physically imperfect. Swearing is pretty infrequent but does include "s--t," and there are plenty of sexist jokes and pratfalls. There's also a fair amount sexual innuendo, at times around children, as well as drinking and references to a character's over-reliance on prescription drugs. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (33)
• Kids say (87)

Based on 33 parent reviews

Adam Sandler is always hilarious!

What's the story.

Fortysomething plastic surgeon Danny Maccabee ( Adam Sandler ) was engaged once, but he discovered right before the wedding that his wife-to-be barely liked him and hated his family. Since then, he hasn't gotten involved with anyone, preferring to pretend that he's married to an awful woman to gain sympathy and get women to fall for his charms. And then he meets 23-year-old Parker (Brooklyn Decker), a stunning elementary school teacher who just might be the woman to make him finally commit. But after finding Danny's faux wedding ring, Parker demands an explanation, and the only one he can come up with is his old standby: He's about to be divorced from his heinous wife, as played by his longtime nurse, Katherine ( Jennifer Aniston ). Can Katherine go along with his plan until Parker is Danny's for good, or will she complicate matters?

Is It Any Good?

JUST GO WITH IT is the perfect movie ... if you need to be persuaded to visit Hawaii. The movie (which is a loose remake of 1969's Cactus Flower , starring Goldie Hawn ) showcases the state beautifully, with its verdant hills, gorgeous beaches, and endless blue skies. Unfortunately it doesn't quite do the same for its stars. Sandler, who displayed such depth and force in Funny People , goes back to his usual shtick, and though it's predictably entertaining -- he is talented -- it's also disappointing. He can play characters like Danny in his sleep.

And Aniston really ought to know better. She gives glimpses of subtler, more understated comedy, but for the most part, when she's onscreen, you find yourself wondering a) how she's able to infuse mundane dialogue with believable emotion and b) why she won't pick better roles? Some of the movie's outrageous moments, including one involving the Heimlich maneuver and a sheep, are actually laugh-out-loud funny. But an equal number of moments are lackluster. And although Nicole Kidman is entertaining in a supporting role, it's a cheap shot having her ask questions about plastic surgery. We go with it, but only just.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's message. What does it say about lying? About relationships?

How does this film compare to other romantic comedies? Does it do anything differently?

What is the appeal of romantic comedies? Although they tend to follow the same predictable formula, they remain popular. Why do you think that is?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 11, 2011
• On DVD or streaming : June 7, 2011
• Cast : Adam Sandler , Brooklyn Decker , Jennifer Aniston , Nicole Kidman
• Director : Dennis Dugan
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Columbia Pictures
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 116 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language
• Last updated : November 9, 2023

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Movie review: ‘Just Go With It’

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The best thing about the new Adam Sandler comedy “Just Go With It” (I’m assuming “Just Bear With Me” was already taken) is Rachel. And by that I mean Jennifer Aniston, playing a slight variation of the pretty, pragmatic waitress with great hair and even better comic timing whom America (or large parts of it) fell in love with over the 10-year run of “Friends.”

In “Just Go With It,” whose title really has to be read as a plea from the filmmakers, given all the leaps of faith they want you to take with a movie that’s really more like a loose improv session, or an extended party game — oh wait, what was I saying…

Aniston plays Katherine, a single mom working as an assistant to Sandler’s successful plastic surgeon, and she’s got the frumpy wardrobe to prove it. If you’re inclined to buy the premise, the way for a nerdy guy to bed an endless succession of great-looking chicks is to pretend he’s married. I gather it’s all part of the feminine mystique as defined by boobs (as in boys, not breasts) that a wedding ring and a bad marriage are the ultimate aphrodisiac. Right.

Anyway, Dr. Danny has finally met a gorgeous girl (Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl Brooklyn Decker) who likes him even without the wedding ring. Since he really likes this girl back, when she discovers his fake gold band and declares she won’t date a married man, he undertakes a cover-up of Watergate proportions to try to keep her. The plan involves getting Katherine to pose as his wife, conscripting her kids, concocting a divorce, funding a “Pretty Woman” makeover and before you can say, “Huh?” the new girlfriend, the fake ex, the fake kids and the fake ex’s fake flame (Nick Swardson) are off to Hawaii to swim with dolphins. Don’t ask.

The whole idea somehow seemed more plausible in 1969 when the screen version of “Cactus Flower” was first trotted out, winning Goldie Hawn an Oscar for her turn as the girlfriend. It was based on the Tony-winning stage play, which itself was based on the French stage play, which makes sense. After all, if anyone knows what to do with a sexy farce it’s the French.

Still, the movie is a good fit for Aniston. One of her gifts, which director Dennis Dugan, a long-time Sandler collaborator, exploits in a good way is her ability to look as believable in a shapeless, off-the-rack shift and sandals as in a body-hugging, off-the-shoulder mini and stilettos. But — and this is the big one that most of Hollywood doesn’t get since they keep casting her in one failed romantic comedy after another — he also understands that while she’s hot, she’s not smokin’ hot , as in mouth-drooling, pulse-racing, temperature-raising hot. Her on-screen kisses and clinches are more sisterly and sincere than sexy. Maybe she’s a slow burner, but at least on screen, no one has figured out yet how to light that fire.

All of those girl-next-door, punch-you-in-the-arm-if-she-likes-you qualities make a good comic match for Sandler, though, who’s got the whole not-sexy thing going too. His nerdy naughty-but-nice persona has proved appealing to males and females alike, and coupled with his mumble-funny self-deprecating patter, it has made him a box-office billionaire ($3 billion and counting), which means Hollywood will let him do whatever he wants. And that is what happens here.

There’s not much to say about Dugan’s directing; even he admits in the production notes that his main job is to let Sandler be Sandler. Ditto writers Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling. Their screenplay may be based on “Cactus Flower” but it’s been pureed almost beyond recognition in the Sandler blender. There’s a wacky mean-girl turn by Nicole Kidman, who plays Devlin, Katherine’s old college nemesis. Complications abound when they bump into each other in Hawaii, and not just in that old-scores-to-settle way. Devlin is what Katherine has adopted as her fake wife name, and it’s also what her kids and Dr. Danny call poop. So along with all the other potty-mouth stuff, there is a lot of Devlin name-dropping going on. Ha, ha, ha.

The kids, Bailee Madison (“Bridge to Terabithia”) and Griffin Gluck, have some cute bits as the precocious sort who squeeze a lot out of Dr. Danny in return for calling him Dad. Decker definitely has what it takes to look really good in an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie … or at least I think that’s what the filmmakers meant when they raved about her “natural talent.” Swardson has his moments masquerading as the fake boyfriend, essentially providing the outrageous to counterbalance the generally low-key comedy elsewhere, though there is a sheep punch line that gets punched a few times too many.

If you’re a Sandler film buff, the comedy is classic Sandler and will probably satisfy. Still, the best thing about the movie remains Aniston — she is reason enough to just go with it.

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Just Go With It Reviews

The nicest thing that can be said about Just Go With It... is that it’s bearable.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 31, 2023

The most pious thing to do is to look away and remain silent. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 9, 2022

Sandler does, in fact, stretch himself a bit as an actor here and still manages to give his legion of fans exactly what they want.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 13, 2020

Everyone involved deserved better.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Aug 11, 2020

Sandler's humor has always been hit or miss, but coupled with Aniston he hits more than he misses.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 7, 2019

The film is indeed predictable and juvenile, and doesn't so much lapse into clichs as unabashedly dive in.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 11, 2016

Aniston appears just as disgusted with these characters as we are. She's never been so relatable.

Full Review | May 3, 2015

The silly story and crummy writing leave Just Go With It feeling a bit unfinished and never quite hitting the right level, like a haphazard hodgepodge of poor ideas.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 24, 2013

It achieves a rancidness far beyond all of Sandler's other misogynistic mash-ups of groin kicks, poop jokes and juvenile, homophobic characters.

Full Review | Original Score: D- | May 24, 2013

For one moment, just one moment -- it works.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 18, 2013

You can practically feel comedy facepalming itself.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 28, 2012

Full Review | Original Score: D | Feb 18, 2012

Jennifer Aniston has starred in so many lame romantic comedies that she's become an industry punch line, but drop her into an Adam Sandler movie and she comes off like Katharine Hepburn.

Full Review | Dec 6, 2011

The central conceit serves the new version well enough, despite the filmmakers' regrettable addition of sundry idiotic distractions.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 16, 2011

An egregiously unfunny enterprise that seem less crafted than extruded through the great product-mill that is Hollywood at its most homogenized and soulless.

Full Review | Sep 24, 2011

Brooklyn Decker seems to have been cast primarily for the way she fills out her bikini, especially in slo-mo. Her cleavage receives so much camera time, it deserves its own billing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 9, 2011

Amidst the wreckage of Just Go With It, Aniston and Sandler have a real chemistry. They should go elsewhere with it.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Sep 7, 2011

The film is far from original, (but) as a whole, Just Go With It has enough easy charm to pull you through.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 1, 2011

Full of both funny lines and, most importantly, funny people, "Just Go With It" is Sandler's most accessible film in a long time.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2011

It's all ridiculous, of course, but it's meant to be.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 12, 2011

Den of Geek

Just Go With It review

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston make a play for the Valentine’s Day market. So just what kind of beast is Just Go With It? Here’s our review…

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The obvious, first. If you’re no fan of Adam Sandler, then you’re not going to warm to Just Go With It . The film reunites him with director Dennis Dugan for the sixth time, and their working union has thus far resulted in movies such as Grown Ups, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan and Big Daddy . And while Just Go With It isn’t quite in the same boat as some of those, the comedy very much is.

This time, the pair have put together a sort-of-romantic comedy, one that sees Sandler as a plastic surgeon who, in his earlier days, was about to get married until he heard his wife-to-be making disparaging remarks. Sander’s character, Danny, keeps the ring, though, and finds it’s an effective way to get lots of women into bed.

Sandler co-produced the movie, incidentally.

Fast forward, then, to his successful plastic surgery practice, which just happens to employ Jennifer Aniston’s Katherine. She’s a divorced single mother with two young children, and as soon as Sandler enlists her help in hooking him up with Palmer (played by swimsuit model, Brooklyn Decker. Sandler co-produced the… ah, mentioned that already), the necessary ingredients of the narrative arrange themselves in wholly predictable order.

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To get through a near two hour running time, though, the film deploys two further tactics. The first is a collection of increasingly irritating contrivances, with characters doing things that human beings in real life simply wouldn’t. The second strategy, however, is far more effective, and that’s to recruit a collection of supporting players who can keep the comedy bubbling along.

This works more often than it doesn’t. Nick Swardson, for reasons it’s best not to explain, ends up having to pretend to be a fake boyfriend to Katherine, by the name of Dolph Lundgren. And with very slight material, he generates more than it’s reasonable to expect. Furthermore, young Bailee Madison, as Katherine’s young daughter, manages to earn chuckles by throwing herself into a series of accents that work far better than they should (even if the film relies on them too much by the end).

The surprising casting choice is Nicole Kidman, however, rediscovering her touch for comedy. At first, her character lends little to the film, but come a terrific set piece near the end of the movie, it had me wishing she’d find a darker comedy role, akin to her magnificent turn in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For , all those years ago.

The two leads, meanwhile, can do this kind of material in their sleep, and in Sandler’s case, he sort of does. He’s perfectly fine and playing very much to his fans. The charm of his lead in The Wedding Singer is lacking, though.

Aniston, though, gives it her all. Over the past years, she’s had an unerring eye for some truly shitty scripts, but you can’t fault her gusto. There are reasons why she’s one of the best comedy actresses currently working in feature films, and you’ll find plenty of them in Just Go With It .

Still, it’s a desperately uneven film, suffering from basic direction (you’ll soon tire of the quick establishing shots of Hawaii), and a bloated running time. Yet,by the time the credits roll, you’ve had a decent amount of entertainment and a fair few laughs for your money.

In the stable of Sandler romantic comedies, it’s way below The Wedding Singer , but better than something like 50 First Dates . And for an unambitious Valentine’s date movie, which the film is being marketed as, it’ll just about do.

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Simon Brew | @SimonBrew

Editor, author, writer, broadcaster, Costner fanatic. Now runs Film Stories Magazine.

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Just Go With It – review

L ewis Wolpert defined depression as "malignant sadness". George Santayana called it "rage spread thin". I call it "watching an Adam Sandler romcom where he discovers he's been in love with his feisty pal Jennifer Aniston all along". Just Go With It is so dispiritingly awful that responsible cinema staff should make audiences remove their ties and shoelaces on their way into the auditorium. Loosely remade from an IAL Diamond screenplay, the film stars Sandler as a single guy who finds posing as an unhappily married man makes him attractive. Trapped in this absurd lie, and to impress a hot new girlfriend, Danny desperately persuades his buddy Katherine (Aniston) to pose as his estranged wife. Nicole Kidman gives a game performance as Katherine's competitive best friend, and it could have been hilarious, but for one thing. She is not given a single funny thing to say or do, and neither is anyone else. Sandler is sentimental and ingratiating and Aniston is on autopilot.

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• Jennifer Aniston

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• DVD & Streaming

Just Go With It

• Comedy , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• February 11, 2011
• Adam Sandler as Danny; Jennifer Aniston as Katherine; Nick Swardson as Eddie; Brooklyn Decker as Palmer; Nicole Kidman as Devlin; Bailee Madison as Maggie; Griffin Gluck as Michael

Home Release Date

• June 7, 2011
• Dennis Dugan

Distributor

• Sony Pictures

Movie Review

Nothing brings people together like massive, soul-crushing lies.

Danny Maccabee is something of an expert in this area. He’s been telling lies to get close to people most of his adult life. When he meets a woman he’d like to (ahem) get closer to, he flashes a wedding ring and tells them he’s married. The catch: It’s a horrible marriage filled (he says) with drug abuse … or spouse abuse … or pet abuse … or any other kind of abuse that strikes his fancy that evening. And the women—all too eager to ease Danny’s pain and commit a mortal sin at the same time—fall for it most every time.

Then one evening Danny meets Palmer, a gorgeous 23-year-old schoolteacher he’d like to get to know for more than just one night. This means, naturally, that his go-to lie won’t do the trick. But when Palmer finds the prop ring (which I suspect might be related to Sauron’s in The Lord of the Rings ) at the most inopportune moment, Danny finds himself in need of a good explanation. Or better yet, another lie.

He tells Palmer he’s getting divorced. Great, Palmer says. I want to meet your soon-to-be ex. So Danny convinces his assistant, Katherine, to play his wife. So far, so good, right? Only Katherine lets it slip that she has children—which, naturally, must mean that they’re Danny’s children, too. So now Palmer wants to meet them .

Danny promptly bribes both kids to pretend to be his loving, devoted progeny.

But lies, much like the power of Sauron’s ring, tend to grow and fester and cause untold mischief as one leads to another and then to another and, before Danny knows it, he’s dropping about $100,000 (no joke) to take Palmer and Katherine and her two kids and a sheep salesman named Dolph (in reality Danny’s brother Eddie) to Hawaii so they can swim with the dolphins and serve up a whole vacation of nothing but lies.

Mount Doom might actually have been a better travel choice.

Positive Elements

The beauty of Just Go With It —if one can ever use the word beauty in relation to an Adam Sandler flick—is that it’s about how cool telling the truth can be. Each kernel of truth that slips out brings our characters closer to, if not redemption, at least a happyish ending. For example: When Michael, one of Katherine’s children, blurts our that his absentee father doesn’t want to spend time with him, Palmer assumes he’s talking about Danny—Michael’s pretend father. So Danny makes a concerted effort to spend lots of time with Michael and eventually teaches him how to swim. Another example: When fictional couple Katherine and Danny are forced to look into each other’s eyes and say what they most “love” about each other, they find they actually have something to say.

[ Spoiler Warning ] I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that Katherine, played as she is by romcom queen Jennifer Aniston, is destined to end up with Adam Sandler’s Danny. But to find their way to each other, they must strip away the lies and tell everyone—and themselves—some deep-seated truths. Also refreshing: Instead of taking the increasingly common  No Strings Attached route (in which casual sex leads to lifelong love), Danny and Katherine set their fledgling relationship on the far firmer ground of friendship. And when they finally do take the plunge, Danny tells the audience that he’s going to spend the rest of his life with her. And that’s no lie.

Oh, Eddie also saves the life of a choking sheep.

Sexual Content

If sexual entendres and jokes were melons, this film could keep a herd of hippopotami well fed for a month. One of Danny’s early conquests compels him to place a hand on her (clothed) breast. He keeps it there the whole time they’re leaving the bar. Danny’s a plastic surgeon, so some of the gags (naturally) revolve around breast enlargement surgeries—and the differences between real and fake . For laughs, Danny and Katherine rub numbing cream on one patient’s nipples (just out of the frame).

Danny also apparently performed penile enlargement surgery on Eddie—leading to another bevy of jokes. Eddie, by the way, goes out of his way to rub up against the pretty owner of the sheep he saves.

Katherine, Palmer and others wear teeny tiny bikinis, low-cut tops, skimpy hula costumes and, in Katherine’s case, a tight, perforated-and-therefore-see-through dress. Palmer drops her towel in front of Danny. (The camera is behind her and focused above her waist.) Several couples kiss, and Palmer and Danny apparently have sex on the beach. (We see them afterwards, covered in blankets.)

A child points to Danny and calls him a fornicator—which, frankly, is one of the few truths we hear in the film. Maggie, Katherine’s elementary-age daughter, calls Palmer a “whore” and makes a few sexual references. Distracted by Palmer’s breasts, a teen boy falls down the stairs. A man, later revealed to be gay, picks up a coconut with his backside, and we’re told he picks up soap the same way. Eddie leers at an exposed portion of Palmer’s rear, later saying he was just “looking at the canyon.” Eddie makes tawdry gestures, and pretty much everyone makes crude references to various bits of the human body. Jokes reference erectile dysfunction, promiscuity, pedophilia and sex dolls—often within earshot of children.

We learn that Danny’s wedding ring ruse is the product of a painfully broken engagement, when he learned that his fiancée had cheated on him (and would probably cheat on him again) just before the two of them were about to be married.

Violent Content

Danny slaps Eddie. Katherine grabs Eddie’s tongue and pulls him away for a private conversation. She also slaps his sunburn. Danny stitches up a boy with a painful-looking gash on his shin. We don’t see the operation, but we do see Danny slap the boy to distract him from the numbing shot he’s giving the lad.

Danny dumps Maggie in a pool of mud. Later he drops her into a swimming pool. He pushes Katherine when she’s teetering on some uncomfortably high heels. Several people get hit in the groin.

Crude or Profane Language

Three s-words. Milder profanities include “a‑‑,” “h‑‑‑” and “bloody.” Many of these words are spoken by Katherine’s two young kids. God’s name is misused more than 30 times.

Additionally, we learn that Katherine’s has taught her kids to use the name of her main rival, Devlin, in reference to defecation. Danny picks up on the term, and we hear it throughout the film as a euphemism for the s-word.

Drug and Alcohol Content

There’s beer, wine, martinis and drinks with umbrellas in them. Devlin and Katherine appear to be a bit drunk when they decide to compete against each other in a hula contest. Danny, fleshing out a reason why he and Katherine are “divorcing,” says that Katherine abuses scads of drugs—suggesting at one point that Maggie’s also used them. Michael pretends to smoke a straw.

Other Negative Elements

Just Go With It is flush with potty humor, and rarely is a scene allowed to go by without some crude reference. Perhaps the grossest comes when Eddie, sleeping in a bathtub, rolls over and his hand lands in the toilet—right before a sleepy Michael comes in, sits on the toilet and does his business on Eddie. (We see Eddie wipe off his hand with a towel.) Katherine claims that Danny has irritable bowel syndrome, and she goes into great detail as to how it spoiled their wedding night.

Characters make fun of various physical deformities—sometimes spitefully.

Katherine says that splitting from her (real) husband was the right thing to do, and Danny insults her ex in front of her children. Danny essentially bribes Maggie and Michael to pretend to be his kids by promising Maggie $300 and acting lessons, and giving Michael a PlayStation 3 and five games. Later, Michael manipulates Danny into taking everyone to Hawaii. A boy flings a soda at a pregnant woman, presumably his mother.

“You’ve really, really not thought through this thing,” Katherine tells Danny just as he begins to sail through this sea strewn with lies. And, really, the same could be said for the film’s makers. Despite its half-nod to a moral, and despite Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler’s (dare I say it) engaging chemistry, this cinematic excursion starts out as a foul, putrid, unfunny mess … and never gets better.

Just go with it, the movie tells us. But that, just like almost everything else it says, is terrible advice. Better to just go the other direction. Maybe even head over to Mount Doom.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Just Go with It (United States, 2011)

The experience of sitting through Just Go with It , Adam Sandler's umpteenth comedy directed by good buddy Dennis Dugan, is akin to watching a bad sit-com that never ends. With some TV shows, commercial breaks provide welcome relief from the monotony of enduring the main attraction, but there is no such respite for viewers of Just Go with It unless it involves faking bladder problems and hiding out in the rest room. In some instances, that might be the preferable choice.

I was one of the few defenders of the previous Sandler/Dugan collaboration, Grown Ups , because it felt almost like an exercise in comedic improv performed by a group of old friends in the service of a minimalist plot. I cannot, however, excuse the misfire that Just Go with It represents. This remake of a 1969 Walter Matthau movie (which, in turn, was an adaptation of an American version of a French stage play) has been so completely "Sandler-ized" that little of the source remains, which is just as well for all those involved in various earlier incarnations. The blame for the failure of Just Go with It falls squarely upon the shoulders of those in charge of this interpretation.

Sandler is perhaps not an ideal romantic lead - it probably has something to do with the state of arrested adolescence in which many of his characters find themselves - but that hasn't stopped him from making his share of romantic comedies, a few of which have been respectable ( 50 First Dates comes to mind). With this outing, however, the filmmakers have forgotten the #1 rule of the genre: the lovers must be shown to believably fall for each other. Just Go with It decides to dispose with such an old-fashioned approach and take a short cut. Because the leads are Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, it is assumed that these two will fall in love, so why bother with any romance? After all, the movie runs long enough as it is, so skipping the scenes in which the two friends gradually cross the line can be dispensed with and, except for one admittedly nice conversation in which the two engage, the story can make a bee-line for the happy ending. So that no one might mistake Nicole Kidman for the romantic lead, thereby jeopardizing the obviousness of Jennifer Aniston's claim to that role, she is not introduced until the movie is half over. She would have been better advised not to have been introduced until the movie is completely over. If she was the Best Actress Oscar front-runner for Rabbit Hole , which she is not, Just Go with It could have been her Norbit .

It's easy to see how the premise could provide the foundation for a passable romantic comedy; in fact, it's hard to see how things could go this far wrong. Danny (Sandler) is an elite plastic surgeon and a confirmed commitment-phobe. The former makes him one of the most important people in Los Angeles; the latter is nothing out of the ordinary, especially in Hollywood's version of reality. He has a foolproof method of assuring a series of one-night stands with girls half his age: wear a pretend wedding ring. His amorous targets fall for his sad tale of how he is a neglected and sometimes abused husband while recognizing there's no long-term hope for an entanglement. It's pity sex with no strings attached. Danny's assistant, Katherine (Aniston), regards her boss' love life with ill-disguised disgust, but that doesn't prevent her from secretly pining for a future with him.

Then Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) enters Danny's life and, after a night with her, he believes she's "the one." Unfortunately, she has seen the ring and the explanation he provides - that he and his wife are getting a divorce - isn't sufficient to allay her fears about falling for a married man. So, to prove his truthfulness, he must produce a wife. In a town full of actors, Danny chooses Katherine to play this part. The simple deception, however, becomes increasingly complicated with the addition of two children and a Teutonic lover (actually Danny's cousin Eddie, played by Nick Swardson in a role that seems custom-written for Rob Schneider). Once the scene shifts to Hawaii, Nicole Kidman joins the party as a college rival of Katherine's.

There aren't any good performances to be discovered in Just Go with It , with mediocrity being the highest level any of the actors strive for. Kidman, arguably the most accomplished of the film's thespians, offers the most unappealing turn with a portrayal that is nails-on-the-blackboard shrill. She is given a run for her money by Nick Swardson, who accomplishes the unthinkable of being more annoying than Rob Schneider could likely have been. Brooklyn Decker was cast for reasons too obvious to mention (the Andy Roddick cameo is a bonus). The kids are either awful or underdirected; it's tough to tell which. Sandler and Aniston are Sandler and Aniston. They play variations of characters whose skins they have inhabited for so long that it's impossible for them not to be at least moderately convincing. The lack of a romantic connection is likely more the fault of the screenplay than of a failing on their parts. There is a spark (although no smoke or fire) in the production's single successful romantic scene.

Those attending Just Go with It with the expectation of enjoying nearly two hours of Sandler's sophomoric antics will be disappointed. This is a more "adult Sandler" and the level of crudeness is surprisingly light (although there is one gag involving a dozing man with his hand in a toilet and a sleepy boy who feels the call of nature). Maybe a little more gross-out humor would have helped Just Go with It , if only to relieve the tedium associated with a movie whose sole purpose seems to be to find new ways to extend a one-hour story into a two-hour insomnia cure. It's difficult to determine who might be pleased by this movie: Sandler fans won't like the neutering of their hero, comedy lovers will be disappointed by the tepid level of humor, and rom-com devotees will be annoyed by the bungling of a staple storyline. Ignore the "just go" plea and just stay away.

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Movie Review: Just Go with It (2011)

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• --> July 14, 2011

The perfect bikini body.

The umpteenth Adam Sandler comedy to be directed by Dennis Dugan, 2011’s Just Go with It is a semi-remake of the 1969 screwball comedy Cactus Flower , which was based on a 1965 Broadway production that itself was adapted from a French play. Now that’s a mouthful. Despite all this, Just Go with It more overtly comes across as self-indulgence for those that made it, considering that no real effort looks to have gone into this abysmal romantic comedy (it appears as if Dennis Dugan and Adam Sandler just liked the idea of an all-expenses-paid Hawaiian vacation for a few months). Clearly, Sandler had more fun picking up his big fat paycheck via holidaying in Hawaii with his gorgeous co-stars than anyone will have watching this exercise in comic tedium. Just Go with It should have been a funny, broad farce, but instead it’s merely a fluffy “Sandler-ized” romantic comedy from the tired mills of Hollywood.

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Danny (Sandler) has spent decades having meaningless one-night stands, using a wedding ring and depressing faux sob stories to seduce random girls in bars. Danny is perfectly happy with the scheme, though his dishonesty is perceived as repulsive by his single-mum office manager Katherine (Aniston). At a party one night, Danny sleeps with a stunning blonde named Palmer (Decker), winning her over without his wedding ring tactics. Danny believes his relationship with Palmer could be more than a one-night stand . . . but then she finds Danny’s ring, forcing him to create a faux story about a former marriage and a pending divorce. Danny gets Katherine to pose as his ex-wife, on top of using Katherine’s children and his buddy Eddie (Swardson) to help sell the mounting fibs. Elaborate lies quickly stack on top of elaborate lies, and Danny is forced to bribe the gang with a trip to Hawaii to keep the ruse going.

Director Dennis Dugan’s last collaboration with Sandler, 2010’s Grown-Ups , was a complete bust; a misguided, obnoxiously unfunny wasted opportunity squandering great potential and a great cast. Digging further into the Dugan/Sandler back catalogue, the two also begat 2008’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and 2007’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry . Thus, it would appear we were warned well in advance of the awfulness of Just Go with It , which comfortably solidifies that their collaborations are about as attractive as a herpes epidemic. Ironically, the early scenes of the movie set in mainland America are the only remotely enjoyable segments of the movie. After the scenery change and the characters begin interacting within lavish Hawaiian locales, the film degenerates into an excruciating snoozer. Sure, Dugan captured Hawaii’s natural beauty well enough, but there is no energy or comedic spark to the material. It’s as if the cast and crew wanted to get filming over and done with as quick as possible to have more time to enjoy their Hawaiian vacation.

Eye-rollingly predictable from the outset, Just Go with It has no time for any such foreign concepts as wit, heart or charm as it cheerlessly goes through the hackneyed motions. The biggest sin committed by writers Allen Loeb and Timothy Dowling is that there’s far too much comedy in the “awkward humor” vein, with the characters forced to battle their way through awkward situations. This type of humor can work if, but only if, it’s actually humorous . Alas, this concept was lost on the writers, who made the film fundamentally uncomfortable and painful to watch. There are a few genuinely funny moments in the first 20 or 30 minutes, but the ensuing black hole of monotony completely nullifies the film’s initial charms. Perhaps worst of all, the film drags on for far too long, concerning itself with a string of lackluster set-pieces that fail to score any substantial laughs. Worse, the film skips critical story beats in order to engage in this madness. For instance, we do not see the repercussions of what happens when Danny tells Palmer the truth.

Lowering her standards.

In their roles of Danny and Katherine, Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are merely variations of their usual screen personas. Sure, they’re believable enough and they’re not awful, but they were clearly on autopilot. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Decker was obviously cast as Palmer for aesthetic reasons, and her performance is exactly what you’d expect from a model-turned-actress. On the upside, Nicole Kidman (inexplicably left out of the advertising and promotional campaign) apparently “got” what the material was intended to be, and played her role broadly, loosely and spontaneously, stealing her every scene. If all of the actors were as broad as this, the movie would have worked. Nick Swardson also scores a few laughs, while young Bailee Madison is delightful as one of Katherine’s kids who loves to put on a British accent. However, it does seem likely that Ms. Madison was hired more as a novelty, since her name sounds remarkably like one of Sandler’s earliest and most beloved movies . . .

Clocking in at an interminable 110 minutes and deficient in satisfying belly-laughs, Just Go with It marks yet another black mark on Adam Sandler’s acting career. You’re more likely to sigh with exasperation at the characters’ stupidity and at the elaborateness of their schemes when you should be reveling in it and laughing heartily while waiting for the shaky house of cards to collapse. People may enjoy this movie if the humor appeals to them, but it will have little appeal outside of this demographic due to its lack of charm, heart and innovation. Just Go with It might make for a good date movie, but only if you hate your date.

Tagged: girlfriend , Hawaii , marriage , pretend

I'm a true blue fair dinkum Aussie larrakin from Down Under (or Australia, if you're not a fan of slang). Yep, I wrestle crocs and I throw shrimps on the barbie. Movies are my passion. I also post my reviews on Flixster, Listal and MovieFilmReview. I've been writing reviews as a hobby since 2003, and since then my technique has increased big time. I'm also studying Media at University, which helps me develop my writing skills. I am continually commended for my writing from both tutors and peers. On top of reviewing movies, I voluntarily contribute to the local newspaper in the area of music journalism. And I'm a through-and-through gym junkie. Yep, my life thus revolves around peers, studies, movies and exercise. I'm more than happy.

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'Movie Review: Just Go with It (2011)' has 1 comment

October 5, 2011 @ 10:55 pm Damon

I would have to respectfully disagree! I thought this movie was awesome! Sure Adam Sandler wasn’t the best choice for the romantic type, but Jennifer Aniston was great! I thought it was a cute comedy. I can agree that there weren’t any repercussions with Danny’s lies, but it still was better than a lot of romantic comedies out there. I am definitely going to see this movie again very soon.

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Faking Your Way To True Love? Don't 'Just Go With It'

Scott Tobias

'Go' On Now: Danny (Adam Sandler, right) falls for Palmer (Brooklyn Decker, center), enlisting his secretary (Jennifer Aniston, left) to pose as his ex in an attempt to woo her. Then two kids make a surprise entrance and ... oh, like it matters. Sony Pictures hide caption

Just Go With It

• Director: Dennis Dugan
• Genre: Music Drama
• Running Time: 112 minutes

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language.

With: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Brooklyn Decker

Watch Clips

'Adulterer! Fornicator!'

Credit: Sony Pictures

'I Would Have Done It For The Experience'

'Fake Hugs'

Just Go With It may sound like a random phrase slapped onto the latest Adam Sandler comedy, but the title does serve a purpose in the story — while helping to explain where it goes horribly amiss.

It refers to the spirit of group improvisation: When one person offers an outrageous premise, the others are forced to accept it and incorporate it into their own ad-libs, until the riffs snowball into madcap silliness. And while the word "loose" is often used to describe improv — for Sandler, less flattering synonyms like "haphazard" or "ramshackle" also apply — Just Go With It is actually a farce, requiring the sort of discipline and timing that is uniquely ill-suited to Sandler's brand of half-hearted quipping.

Though the details of the plot have changed as radically as in a game of "telephone," the roots of Just Go With It lie in Abe Burrows' 1965 Broadway hit Cactus Flower — itself taken from a French play — which was later adapted for the screen by I.A.L. Diamond, who knew a thing or nine about comedy. Diamond began a decades-long collaboration with Billy Wilder on 1957's Love In the Afternoon , and with classic comedies like Some Like It Hot and The Apartment , the two wrote films that were frenetic on the surface, but constructed with the ruthlessness and intricacy of a great machine. They were engineers first, gag writers a distant second.

While it's unfair to expect anyone to meet the Diamond-Wilder standard, a little respect for it might be appropriate. But Sandler's house director Dennis Dugan — now with six Sandler duds to his credit, from Happy Gilmore to Grown Ups — and his screenwriters, Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, seem to be making things up as they go along. That's a fine strategy for characters in a farce, but it's disastrous for the artisans who are supposed to be leading them along. The film writes itself into a corner early and just loiters there, looking vaguely embarrassed.

Sandler plays Danny, a wealthy plastic surgeon who uses his wedding ring to bed barflies. (Lest we think him a total pig, the film supplies a grotesque prologue about him discovering his wife-to-be's infidelity on their wedding day.)

In his sixth collaboration with director Dennis Dugan, Sandler plays a hapless fellow who must change his life to win the girl of his dreams. Sony Pictures hide caption

In his sixth collaboration with director Dennis Dugan, Sandler plays a hapless fellow who must change his life to win the girl of his dreams.

He doesn't need the ring to pick up the woman of his dreams, a luscious young schoolteacher named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), but when she discovers it anyway — and reacts unenthusiastically — he scrambles for an explanation. Enlisting his trusty office manager Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his wife, Danny stages a dinner to make it clear to Palmer that the "couple" is getting a divorce. Things go pretty well until a cell-phone call reveals that Katherine, a real divorcee, has two children — which means Danny is now a fake father. And that Katherine's real kids must be enlisted, post-haste, to be his fake kids.

(That smacking sound you hear is the screenwriters hitting that corner. Once the kids enter the picture, the long-term sustainability of Danny's lies becomes impossible. There's talk of having the kids killed off in an "accident" — no doubt resulting in years of hi-larious fake grief. But fact is, unless the small fry are willing to play their roles for the next 50 years or so, the lies have to end there: Fake kids may get you laid, but they can't get you married, especially when one has resolved to adopt a Cockney accent.)

The whole of Just Go With It is premised on Palmer's being the dumbest, most gullible creature on two shapely legs, forcing Decker, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, to play every scene with an uncomprehending smile and a few nods of the head. She has to believe that Danny and Katherine are an old married couple — the most plausible lie by far — but she also has to believe that Katherine's made-up boyfriend (Nick Swardson) is a pipe-smoking German named Dolph Lundgren; that Katherine and her bitterest rival (an unfortunate Nicole Kidman) both go by "Devlin"; and that their eldest daughter picked up that ridiculous, wavering accent by attending boarding school in England. And that's just for starters.

The shame of it is, all this ridiculousness might have worked under surer hands. After all, farces are supposed to be a little silly, and the audience, for lack of a better phrase, can be trained to just go with it. The trick? Don't treat us like a bunch of Palmers.

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Just Go With It: movie review

Adam Sandler plays a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon in 'Just Go With It,' a fumbling comedy that could have benefitted from surgical reconstruction.

• By Peter Rainer

February 11, 2011

Adam Sandler plays a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon in “ Just Go With It ,” a fumbling comedy directed by Dennis Dugan that could have benefitted from surgical reconstruction. How about some liposuction to siphon off all those lame jokes?

Very loosely based on the 1969 Walter Matthau comedy “Cactus Flower,” “Just Go With It” has Sandler, as Danny , playing opposite Jennifer Aniston in what is largely, though inadvertantly, a chemistry-less exercise. Her Katherine, Danny’s loyal assistant, is a divorced mom with two aggravatingly precocious kids ( Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck ). She knows all of Danny’s tricks and foibles, of which there are many.

Topping the list is his penchant for sporting a wedding ring despite not being married. This ploy, he has discovered, makes him a babe magnet. So does being a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, although the filmmakers tone down the mercenary voraciousness of his playmates. Danny is happy to be a roving roué until he meets the babe-a-licious Palmer, played by SI swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker . (Her name sounds like a sandwich at a New York deli).

The 20-something Palmer is such a ding-a-ling darling that we are never once made to think she’s also a gold digger. Still, the question lingers: What exactly does she see in Danny aside from his wallet? When she angrily discovers a wedding ring in his pocket after a night of beachside bliss, he tries to cover his tracks by convincing Katherine to pretend to be his soon-to-be-divorced wife. He needn’t have bothered. The way Palmer is portrayed, she would have stayed with Danny even if he turned out to be the Hillside Strangler.

When Danny and the entire entourage, including an irritating hanger-on played by Nick Swardson , decamp to Hawaii to cool out, it’s inevitable he and Katherine will discover they are made for each other. Until that point we must endure subpar potty jokes, a scene involving a sheep receiving the Heimlich maneuver, lots of slo-mo shots of bikini clad beach gamboling a la “10,” and other assorted time-stretchers.

Throughout it all, Sandler gamely attempts to be heartfelt and Aniston pushes the quirky-cutesy stuff. As an energy boost, Nicole Kidman sashays onto the scene for an extended cameo as Devlin, an old sorority sister and rival of Katherine’s. Kidman gives a screechingly over-the-top performance, which is appropriate but also really annoying. In what is meant as the film’s comic highpoint, Katherine and Devlin compete in a hula contest involving their respective partners and a pair of coconuts. It doesn’t look like fun. Maybe they should have tried it with watermelons. Grade: C- (Rated PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language.)

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Just Go With It Review

11 Feb 2011

116 minutes

Just Go With It

Adam Sandler can be hard to like at the best of times, and casting himself as a rich, dishonest plastic surgeon doesn’t help. Having told new girlfriend Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) that he’s getting divorced, Sandler’s Danny must persuade assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his wife, which culminates in a holiday with her complicit children. It’s a briefly amusing idea but unconvincing and littered with heavy-handed slapstick humour involving agonising European accents. Nicole Kidman’s appearance as Aniston’s nemesis is a double-edged sword: she’s the best thing in this by miles, but watching her and Aniston compete in a superfluous hula dancing contest is frankly degrading for everyone concerned. It’s interesting to note Sandler calls his fake kid “Bart”: The Simpsons could teach him a thing or two about both humour and heart.

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Just Go with It

• On a weekend trip to Hawaii, a plastic surgeon convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfriend.
• Danny (Adam Sandler) must engage Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), his faithful assistant, to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife. Danny must pretend that he is married, because he lied to his dream girl, Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) the most gorgeous woman in the world. To keep the woman he loves, covering up one lie soon turns into many lies. — Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)
• Danny, after getting burned in a previous relationship, decides to avoid commitment by telling every girl he hooks up with that he's married. But when he meets a gorgeous young girl named Palmer, he thinks she could be the one until she finds out he's "married". So in order to keep their relationship still going, he tells her that he and his "wife" are getting a divorce. When she insists on meeting her, he asks Katherine to pose as his wife. Katherine takes a call from one of her children, Palmer assumes that they're Danny's so wants to meet them. And it's at this meeting that Katherine's son tricks Danny into taking them all on a trip to Hawaii.. — [email protected]
• Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) is a successful plastic surgeon in Los Angeles who feigns an unhappy marriage to get women, after having been heartbroken on his wedding day 20 years ago. The only woman aware of his schemes is his office manager Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), a divorced mother of two. At a party, Danny meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a sixth grade math teacher, without his wedding ring on, and they have a connection together. The next morning, she ends up finding the ring, and she assumes he was hiding the fact he was married. She refuses to date him because her parents divorced due to adultery. Danny goes to Palmer's school to try to woo Palmer back. Instead of telling her the truth, he tells her that he is getting divorced from a woman named Devlin, named after Devlin Adams, whom Katherine had mentioned was an old college sorority nemesis. Palmer then insists on meeting Devlin, and Danny agrees. Danny asks Katherine to pose for him, and they go shopping on Rodeo Drive to buy her clothes so she can look like a trophy wife. At a hotel having drinks, Danny and Palmer are greeted by a made-over Katherine, who gives them her blessing. However, after hearing Katherine talking on the phone with her kids, Palmer assumes that her kids are Danny's as well, which Danny goes along with. Danny then privately meets with Katherine's kids, Maggie (Bailee Madison) and Michael (Griffin Gluck), to get them to play along. Initially Katherine is furious, but she reluctantly agrees. Palmer meets the kids, with Maggie using a fake British accent. Michael blackmails Danny in front of Palmer to take them all to Hawaii. At the airport, they are surprised by Danny's cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson), who has taken the disguise of "Dolph Lundgren" (not the actor), an Austrian sheep salesman and "Devlin's" lover. At the resort in Hawaii, Danny and Katherine run into the real life Devlin Adams (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Ian Maxtone-Jones (Dave Matthews), who allegedly invented the iPod. Because of Katherine and Devlin's long time rivalry, Katherine introduces Danny as her husband. Danny and Palmer spend time with Maggie and Michael, during which Michael breaks down. He says that his (real) father won't make time for him, causing Palmer to get upset. Palmer resolves to spend time with Katherine so Danny can spend time with the kids. Danny teaches Michael how to swim, and Katherine and Palmer look on in admiration at Danny winning the kids over. Katherine runs into Devlin, who invites her and Danny out to dinner. Eddie agrees to take Palmer out in the meantime. At dinner, Devlin asks Danny and Katherine to tell each other what they admire most about each other. They end up saying honest things to each other, with Katherine admiring his sense of humor, and Danny liking the fact that he's never had to lie to her. Danny and Katherine start to feel a connection, but when Palmer and Eddie return from their dinner date, Palmer suggests that she and Danny get married. Danny and Katherine are both surprised by her proposition, but Danny ultimately agrees. Danny later calls Katherine regarding his confusion, but Katherine says that she will be taking a job in New York City she mentioned to him earlier to start fresh. Palmer confronts Katherine regarding getting married to Danny, as she has noticed Danny's feelings for her, which Katherine dismisses. Katherine then runs into Devlin at a bar and admits that she made up being married to Danny to avoid embarrassment. Devlin confesses that she's divorcing Ian because he's gay and also that he didn't really invent the iPod. Katherine confides in Devlin saying she's in love with Danny even though they won't be together. Danny, however, shows up behind her, telling her that he didn't go through with marrying Palmer and that he's in love with Katherine and the two share a kiss. Danny and Katherine continue their vacation without Palmer, who heads back to the mainland alone, meeting a professional tennis player (Andy Roddick Brooklyn Decker's real-life husband) on the plane ride back who shares her interests. Sometime later, Danny and Katherine get married.

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"...That’s me!The performance is great. The picture quality is awesome , and I haven't experienced any lag or buffering issues...." Read more

"...of the essence with streaming devices, and the Fire TV Stick 4K doesn’t disappoint . Apps load quickly, and switching between content is seamless...." Read more

"...With support for 4K Ultra HD , HDR, and Dolby Atmos audio, you'll feel like you're right in the middle of the action from the comfort of your own..." Read more

"...It has a good picture on ordinary rental TVs . It was easy to set up at home before we took it on its first trip...." Read more

Customers are satisfied with the streaming capabilities of the digital device. They mention that it has impressive streaming capabilities, and the features are the very best for streaming. They say that the streaming is seamless, easy to navigate, and able to enjoy streaming live TV, latest movies, and TV shows. They also appreciate the great streaming quality, and say that switching between menus and different streaming options is nearly instantaneous.

"...to the all-new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, and it has completely transformed my streaming experience ...." Read more

"...movies and TV episodes, support for Wi-Fi 6, and the ability to watch free and live TV , this powerful device offers endless entertainment options in..." Read more

"...The streaming and video quality is excellent ...However:The bad thing is that the audio/ sound quality is horrible...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the connectivity of the digital device. Some mention that the Bluetooth connects immediately, it is capable of connecting to 5G Wi-Fi, and it connects to their TV without much of a hassle. However, others say that they had issues pairing with their TV and having issues with the remote connectivity.

"...But we started having connectivity issues and lagging while playing videos...." Read more

"...Extras: One of my favorite features is the ability to use Bluetooth headphones for private listening ...." Read more

"...Now no connectivity on the new stick and the new remote works on the older stick in my bedroom. So one stick in one tv and two remotes working it...." Read more

"...This new one is fast, fast, fast. The remote didn't "attach" very smoothly , so I mostly just use the old remote, but I can pretty much use either..." Read more

Customers are mixed about the remote control. Some mention that it works perfectly, is handy, and simple. They also love the Alexa remote. However, others say that it doesn't work after only few uses, is cheap, and is difficult to see what is on.

"...to find what you’re looking for with its easy to use menu and voice search feature . The voice feature is awesome...." Read more

"...Even TiVo streams. There is no numbers on the remote of the firestick...." Read more

"...The voice remote with Alexa is a game-changer ...." Read more

"...an AppleTV device on another set, and I feel like the Firestick remote is easier to use and has volume control...." Read more

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