Just Go With It (2011)
Despite having made some daring career decisions, it seems Ms Aniston has a habit of falling back on her faithful Friends counterpart. Perhaps she knows her niche and she’s sticking to it? Either way, there’s no denying that Rachel rears her pretty head in this Adam Sandler and Dennis Dugan comedy.
But Jen doesn’t make an appearance at all for 15 minutes or so, as Sandler sets the scene about his character’s seducing tactics. After overhearing his bride-to-be gossiping with her girlfriends, big-nosed Danny walks out on his wedding. Stumbling into the nearest bar to drown his sorrows, he quickly attracts the most beautiful woman with his wedding ring.
The film jumps forward a few years to find Danny flashing his ring at beauties while heading up his own private clinic as a rich plastic surgeon. It’s also around here that Jen makes her entrance as Katherine, a single mother of two, who assists Danny in fixing frightening faces and botched boob jobs. At first, it’s difficult to see her place in Danny’s scheming, until school-teacher Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) arrives on the scene. Danny falls head over heels for her, but his faux marriage poses somewhat of a problem. So he asks Katherine to “just go with it”, and pose as the ex-wife in his twisted tale.
A hop, skip and a jump later and they’re all in Hawaii (don’t ask how or why), holidaying as a foursome with Danny’s best friend, who is posing as Katherine’s new husband. Oh, and Katherine’s kids are along for the ride too. Are you keeping up? Nicole Kidman also makes an amusing, if slightly odd, appearance here as Katherine’s old school frenemy, Devlin. A name which quickly becomes the running joke throughout.
Sandler and director Dugan have proven their comedy know-how on more than one occasion (see Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy for details), but the duo have failed to come up with the goods on occasion too – Grown Ups comes to mind. So while Just Go With It isn’t a complete car crash, it doesn’t quite live up to Dugan and Sandler’s more memorable collaborations. They do succeed in drumming up laughs, but the film’s over-complicated story means some of the gags fall flat.
Far-fetched plot-lines aside, there is something to be said for Jen and Adam’s chemistry. It may seem like an unlikely pairing, but they pull off a believable bond, fuelled by constant bickering. By the final act, Danny and Katherine’s team work is put to the test during a coconut contest against Kidman and her partner. While this is one of the funnier sequences, it also serves as a cheeky dose of titillation – Aniston and Kidman in coconut bras and grass skirts is one of the more exciting aspects of the film.
If you’re a fan of Jennifer Aniston and/or Adam Sandler, you’ll be more than satisfied with what Just Go With It has to offer. If you’re hoping for a clever comedy with a coherent storyline, you might want to hold off buying that cinema ticket, and Just Go Home.
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