The bf and I finally made it to see Just Go with It last night. Full of color, sunshine (thank you, Hawaii), and Adam Sandler humor, it was the fun, light-hearted romantic comedy I'd expected. I think the bf may have liked it even more than I did, if his bouts of laughter were any indicator.
For those of you who haven't read my other movie reviews, I'm known as a bit of a spoiler. So, SPOILER ALERT. For those of you who already knew that, I apologize for the interruption. Now that that's out of the way:
The movie begins with a flashback of Danny's (Sandler's) wedding day. Big-haired and big-nosed, Danny overhears his bride-to-be cackling about what a loser he is to her bridesmaids. We can only assume that he jilted her because the next scene features Danny, still wearing his tux and wedding ring, sitting alone at a bar when the "it girl" of the night approaches him. He tells her his hard luck story and they leave together, to the horror of all the other guys who've been chasing her. Emboldened by this fluke, Danny continues wearing his wedding ring to lure younger women into one night stands. Despite this sleazy behavior, you can't help but see Danny as a wounded nerd in shark's clothing. (I almost said wounded sheep but thought better of it considering that particular animal's role later in the movie. I won't go into it, leaving you at least one suprise.)
Fast forward to present-day Danny. A wealthy forty-something plastic surgeon, he's shed his enormous nose but not his philandering. The most constant woman in his life is his salt-of-the-earth assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), an unassumingly pretty divorcee with two kids. Smart and no-nonsense, she has no qualms about chiding her boss for his womanizing ways, illustrating the easy camaraderie between them.
But the story doesn't get rolling until Danny meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a blond bombshell schoolteacher who demands to meet his soon-to-be ex-wife before beginning a relationship with him. That's right. Palmer doesn't find out about Danny's fake wedding ring until after they hook up, and unlike the women before her, she's less than charmed. Danny turns to Katherine for advice, and she helps him hatch a scheme in which she plays his future ex-wife. In true My Fair Lady fashion, the glasses come off, the shopping begins, and Katherine shows up for lunch with Danny and Palmer exuding Aniston's easy glamour.
Despite a comedy of errors, the meeting is a success. The farce should end there but doesn't on account of Katherine taking a call from one of her kids. Promoted from soon-to-be-swinging-single to soon-to-be-single-dad, Danny finds himself bound for Hawaii with Palmer, Katherine, the kids, and his odd cousin Eddie (the ever-creepy Nick Swardson) - all because Katherine's son complains that Danny never took him there to swim with the dolphins. I always think movies are better when the characters go on vacation. Well, funny movies in which the hilarity can be heightened by unfamiliar luxury surroundings. (Serious movies not so much. In those, foreign locales are often prime sites for characters to be killed. Or cheat on their spouses. Or have very unfunny life-changing revelations.) Just Go with It is no different, brimming with pina colada-fueled catastrophes. Highlighting the hijinks are Nicole Kidman, who plays Devlin, Katherine's college arch enemy, and Dave Matthews, who serves as her equally annoying husband. Determined to impress Devlin, Katherine introduces herself as Danny's wife instead of his assistant. This, of course, complicates the whole ex-wife story created for Palmer's benefit while solidifying Katherine's relationship with Danny. Simultaneously masquerading as his almost ex-wife and current happily married wife undeniably draws her closer to him, which as any romantic comedy fan knows, is ultimately what she wants. But she doesn't come off as conniving. Katherine's simply known Danny a long time, and they have a comfy rapport that's increasingly shown to be chemistry.
I think you probably know how this one ends up.
The critics were really hard on Just Go with It. But then, aren't they hard on everything? In this case the main targets were bathroom humor, manipulative characters, and lazy scripting. One almost-kind reviewer even went as far as to say "Oscar material it isn't." I think we already knew that. And honestly, who cares? After a week on the clock people don't want to solve life's problems. They want to laugh and see happy endings.
Showing posts with label Just Go With It. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Just Go With It. Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Movie Moment: Life as We Know It
Against my better judgment, I rented Life as We Know It. You know, the one with Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel that was out last fall. The bf and I were meant to be seeing Just Go With It, but the movie theater parking lot was full, what with it being the movie's opening weekend and Valentine's Day weekend to boot, so we turned around and went home. I immediately began surfing through On Demand's movie menu, on the lookout for a romantic comedy. Any romantic comedy. Even one about two people who hate each other being forced to raise someone else's baby.
The first scene takes place a few years earlier than the rest of the movie. Straitlaced Holly (Heigl) and bad boy Messer (Duhamel) (Yes, that's his name. His last name. But still.) are set up on a blind date by their mutual best friends. Messer thunders up to Holly's apartment on his motorcycle an hour late, then takes a call to arrange a date with another woman. Outraged, Holly tells him to forget it, and he agrees, saying she can do whatever it is she likes to do on a Saturday night. You could read a book, he suggests, or blog. You look like you blog. (That one wormed a chuckle out of me.) Holly responds by throwing him out of her smart car, and that's that.
At least it is until the two of them become the guardians of one-year-old Sophie after their friends are killed in a car accident. Of course, this turns their lives upside down, pitting their discordant personalities against each other. A cook who owns her own shop, Holly is responsible, efficient, and looking to hook up with a gorgeous doctor who has purchased exactly thirty-seven of her sandwiches. Which is to say that she's the classic Heigl heroine, a together woman looking for a together man who ends up being tossed into the arms of one who's anything but. As a basketball director who's used to women buying him drinks, Messer fits the bill as her dud-in-shining-armor. Watching all of this, I don't like him. Or, maybe it would be more accurate to say I don't want to like him. But witnessing him and Holly struggle with Slumdog Millionaire-smelling diapers (their words), mounting bills, nosy neighbors, and a meddling caseworker, even I can't deny that they're growing inevitably closer. The movie is sneaky this way, manipulating my sympathies to be in favor of the wayward Messer. After all, as plenty of bimbos in the movie demonstrate, women are unable to resist a man pushing a stroller. I don't appreciate such manipulation and try to fight it. But the writers' plot is stronger than my resolve. So, when Holly lands a date with the good doctor (who just happens to be Sophie's pediatrician), I'm a bit torn. But I don't have long to suffer, because she soon ends up in bed with Messer, her relationship with the doctor over before it begins.
The new couple continues on happily, despite the disapproval of their caseworker, who can tell they've slept together just by listening to the give-and-take of their conversation. But then disaster strikes in the form of a boilerplate romantic comedy conflict. Messer accepts a job across the country. He doesn't want to leave Holly and Sophie, but it's his dream, yada, yada, yada. So, Holly reconciles with the doctor. This turn of events makes me wonder what she told him before and just how he came back so willingly (neither is clear). But it hardly matters, as Holly kindly dumps him after a blowout with Messer over Thanksgiving dinner. He takes it well - too well, in my opinion - and slinks off, freeing Holly to embark upon a tried-and-true, stop-him-at-the-airport mission to reclaim Messer. He isn't there. But that's only because he's waiting at home in that twist-on-an-old-cliché that's been pressed into service so often it's become a cliché itself.
Sure, it was cheesy. And I still think the doctor is nicer than Messer. But I accept that this just isn't the kind of story where the that type of guy gets the girl. Ever notice how there are two formulas for the guy getting the girl? As in, 1) nice nerdy guy and cool jerky guy battle for girl and nice guy finally gets her and 2) nice [in this case a euphemism for pompous] polo-shirt-wearing guy who makes lots of money and rough-around-the-edges-but-secretly-sweet guy battle for girl and secretly-sweet finally guy gets her. In this case, I think of the doctor as the nice guy nerd and crusty Messer as the heartbreaking threat (even though the movie's writers see things otherwise). I like to think that this says more about my soft spot for nerds than it does about a hidden gold-digging yen for doctors.
All of that having been said, I yammered on for quite a while about a movie I allegedly didn't enjoy. I guess in my own warped way I liked it after all. :)
The first scene takes place a few years earlier than the rest of the movie. Straitlaced Holly (Heigl) and bad boy Messer (Duhamel) (Yes, that's his name. His last name. But still.) are set up on a blind date by their mutual best friends. Messer thunders up to Holly's apartment on his motorcycle an hour late, then takes a call to arrange a date with another woman. Outraged, Holly tells him to forget it, and he agrees, saying she can do whatever it is she likes to do on a Saturday night. You could read a book, he suggests, or blog. You look like you blog. (That one wormed a chuckle out of me.) Holly responds by throwing him out of her smart car, and that's that.
At least it is until the two of them become the guardians of one-year-old Sophie after their friends are killed in a car accident. Of course, this turns their lives upside down, pitting their discordant personalities against each other. A cook who owns her own shop, Holly is responsible, efficient, and looking to hook up with a gorgeous doctor who has purchased exactly thirty-seven of her sandwiches. Which is to say that she's the classic Heigl heroine, a together woman looking for a together man who ends up being tossed into the arms of one who's anything but. As a basketball director who's used to women buying him drinks, Messer fits the bill as her dud-in-shining-armor. Watching all of this, I don't like him. Or, maybe it would be more accurate to say I don't want to like him. But witnessing him and Holly struggle with Slumdog Millionaire-smelling diapers (their words), mounting bills, nosy neighbors, and a meddling caseworker, even I can't deny that they're growing inevitably closer. The movie is sneaky this way, manipulating my sympathies to be in favor of the wayward Messer. After all, as plenty of bimbos in the movie demonstrate, women are unable to resist a man pushing a stroller. I don't appreciate such manipulation and try to fight it. But the writers' plot is stronger than my resolve. So, when Holly lands a date with the good doctor (who just happens to be Sophie's pediatrician), I'm a bit torn. But I don't have long to suffer, because she soon ends up in bed with Messer, her relationship with the doctor over before it begins.
The new couple continues on happily, despite the disapproval of their caseworker, who can tell they've slept together just by listening to the give-and-take of their conversation. But then disaster strikes in the form of a boilerplate romantic comedy conflict. Messer accepts a job across the country. He doesn't want to leave Holly and Sophie, but it's his dream, yada, yada, yada. So, Holly reconciles with the doctor. This turn of events makes me wonder what she told him before and just how he came back so willingly (neither is clear). But it hardly matters, as Holly kindly dumps him after a blowout with Messer over Thanksgiving dinner. He takes it well - too well, in my opinion - and slinks off, freeing Holly to embark upon a tried-and-true, stop-him-at-the-airport mission to reclaim Messer. He isn't there. But that's only because he's waiting at home in that twist-on-an-old-cliché that's been pressed into service so often it's become a cliché itself.
Sure, it was cheesy. And I still think the doctor is nicer than Messer. But I accept that this just isn't the kind of story where the that type of guy gets the girl. Ever notice how there are two formulas for the guy getting the girl? As in, 1) nice nerdy guy and cool jerky guy battle for girl and nice guy finally gets her and 2) nice [in this case a euphemism for pompous] polo-shirt-wearing guy who makes lots of money and rough-around-the-edges-but-secretly-sweet guy battle for girl and secretly-sweet finally guy gets her. In this case, I think of the doctor as the nice guy nerd and crusty Messer as the heartbreaking threat (even though the movie's writers see things otherwise). I like to think that this says more about my soft spot for nerds than it does about a hidden gold-digging yen for doctors.
All of that having been said, I yammered on for quite a while about a movie I allegedly didn't enjoy. I guess in my own warped way I liked it after all. :)
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