Just Go With It is perfectly titled because the entire movie is so farfetched that the only way to possibly enjoy yourself is to just keeping ‘going with it.’ No matter how ridiculous or contrived the situations become you have to ‘go with it,’ because if you stop to think about what you are seeing you’ll lose all interest in the film.

If you’re OK with that type of set up then you might enjoy this film; Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of that at all so I was less than pleased with spending almost 2 hours with these people.

Adam Sandler plays Danny Maccabee a very successful plastic surgeon living in Los Angeles who had his heart broken when he was younger and has learned to use a wedding ring to trick super-hot girls into having sex with him. Once they hear his sob story about an abusive or neglectful soon-to-be-x-wife, which he generally concocts for the first time in front of them, they become putty in his hands. (That’s the first totally unlikely part of the story).

This pattern works very well for him until he meets and falls for Palmer played by the stunning Brooklyn Decker. She’s the real deal but will only continue to see him if he can prove that he actually does have this horrible soon to be X; cue the gorgeous Jennifer Aniston who plays his assistant, Katherine. She’s known him for years and has kept all of his secretes but is now suddenly forced into becoming a part of one of his lies to land this latest girl.

Let’s start out with what was good about this film and get those pesky points out of the way. I love Jennifer Aniston and even though she plays the exact same range of emotions (assuming you can call it that) in every big budget film she does she’s enjoyable to watch and the audience is always rooting for her.

The two young actors who play the kids Bailee Madison as a young showbiz spitfire Maggie and Griffin Gluck as the quiet, more reserved but cunning as hell Michael manage to steal almost every scene that they’re in making these seasoned professional actors who have all made tens of millions of dollars throughout their careers look like rank amateurs.

Also one of the few creators of actual laughs in this less than amusing Romantic Comedy is forever-on-the-cusp-of-fame actor, Nick Swardson as Dolph /Eddie Danny’s childhood friend and lifetime wingman. Some of his lines were laugh out loud funny without being crude and obvious as most everything else in the film was.

And the final plus for this film is the locations they chose to shoot in. I love L.A. and it always looks beautiful on screen and Hawaii is absolutely breathtaking. If I ever get back there I want to go on the hiking /

swimming excursion that these folks go on because it was amazing.

On the whole, however the movie is far too over the top and obvious with its attempts at humor. There are obviously a lot of plastic surgery disaster stories given the setting and the lead characters occupation but there is a difference between believable blunders and overly exaggerated ones for the screen. When you see Kevin Nealon’s ghastly face or the ridiculous punctured and deflated boob job you’ll know what I mean. The only plastic surgery reference that actually lands some pretty good laughs come in Rachel Dratch’s one scene in the film. I won’t ruin for you in case you still decide to go see this travesty but trust me when I say it’s about the funniest thing that happens in the entire film.

The main thing that this film has going against it is its lead. I’m sorry Adam Sandler but you’re 45 years old now and the silly voices and juvenile gags that made you so endearing on SNL when you were 20 just don’t work anymore. It’s actually unfunny at this point. And beyond that the character of Danny is completely unlikable. He’s incredibly wealthy but constantly bemoans having to spend his money yet he has no problem totally taking advantage of those around him. This is not a guy I was rooting for at all. All the women in this film could have done a lot better.

If movies like this were rare I’d say it wouldn’t kill you to go see it but the truth is they come out all the time so why waste the money on one that isn’t really great! Netflix or HBO at best for this… but if it totally passed you by you wouldn’t be missing anything.

Synopsis:

A guy (Sandler) convinces a mother of two (Aniston) to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to woo
the woman of his dreams (Decker).