Just Go With It - It's an Adam Sandler comedy...

Just Go With It - (3 Stars)
In Adam Sandler's latest comedy he plays his usual likable, slightly schmucky version of himself, this time named Danny Maccabee. Danny is a plastic surgeon who, after a failed wedding, finds himself carrying around a wedding ring as a way to get women to sleep with him. The plan works great until he meets the attractive Palmer, played by model Brooklyn Decker, (I never figured out if this was supposed to be her first or last name) who is instantly attracted to him, but instantly disgusted when she finds the wedding band and believes him to be married. Enter Jennifer Aniston as Danny's assistant, who he tasks to be his fake ex-wife asking her to "just go with it."

Out of the gate, "Just Go With It" is definitely funnier than Sandler's last movie "Grown Ups," which felt more like a filmed chance to hang out with his buddies than a movie. This is due in part to two things. First of all, Sandler didn't write this one. It's actually based off of an old movie called "Cactus Flower" which is actually based on a stage play. Sandler's influence is definitely still there in the script as everything still has the same feel as his other movies. Secondly, Aniston is there to play off of instead of a group of comedians. She does a decent job of being a foil to Sandler's antics and even holds her own in terms of comedy.

The story itself is pretty predictable, as is the norm for this type of movie (Not really a spoiler alert: I guessed the ending the first time I saw the trailer). The comedy is mostly a combination of sight gags (mostly not funny) and one-liners, all of which got a good reaction out of the audience I was watching the movie with. It also has elements of romance to it, but in the same vein as Sandler's other similar works ("The Wedding Singer," "Click"). Once the movie got into "ending mode" (this is what I like to dub the point in a comedy where they realize they have to wrap up their story and not just do endless gags) things got less funny, and felt a bit rushed. It all ends rather abruptly with most of the resolution appearing off-screen.

The bottom line is that those that liked "Grown Ups" will like this even better. Those that like Adam Sandler in general will enjoy it and anyone that hates Adam Sandler and still saw "Grown Ups" and didn't like it, well, they probably won't enjoy this one either (although, I'm not sure why anyone who doesn't like Adam Sandler would still be seeing his movies). Much like the character's in the story, the audience's best chance at enjoying the movie is to "just go with it" and try not to think too much about it.
Soundtrack Note: It felt as if almost every song in the soundtrack was either solely by Sting and/or the Police or was a remix/mash-up of their work. Nothing to this observation, I just found it interesting.
(116 minutes - Rated PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language- 2011) (Netflix)