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Just Go with It is Dennis Dugan's most recent film as a director. You may know him for making such films as I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry and Grownups, all based around the same raunchy and unintelligent premise. He actually made a really good movie back in '99 called Big Daddy, which I find to Sandler's best work. He directs Similar to Judd Apatow, but the results are nowhere near as enjoyable. "Chuck and Larry" I happened to enjoy, mainly because of Kevin James. I also have kind of a soft spot for "Grownups" plainly because it's packed full of some good actors who all have pretty solid chemistry together. Even if that aspect wasn't good, it's the fact that they all let themselves go, as if the whole film is improvised. Not bad at all.
Dugan does do silly relatively well, but Just Go with It fails to provide good reasoning for the ridiculous jokes and situations. As usual, I enjoyed some of Sandler's bits. He is and probably always will be, a very funny guy. His acting seems to come so naturally. Having said that, the rest of the cast was, with the exception of Nick Swardson, just downright no good. I had never seen Decker (Palmer) in a film prior to this, and found out that if she wasn't so good looking, she probably wouldn't have much of a career. Aniston misfires quite often with all of her lines seeming so dull and unnecessary. She's a very attractive older woman, but in this specific film she didn't impress me. (with her acting, that is) Like I said before, Swardson has some funny moments, but otherwise his character isn't up to par.
I never really enjoyed watching little children act, and this particular movie just presses that issue even more. The two kids had some good dialogue, and they were cute, but they also annoyed the crap out of me. Though, they were pretty key in order for Sandler's plan to work out.
The story isn't anything I've seen before, and rather fresh. Sandler plays a womanizer, who after being completely humiliated at a wedding many years prior, resorts to being "fake" married, so it will never happen again. His desire to pick up as many women as possible is also quite outrageous. Very similar to Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother, Charlie from Two and a half men, or even Dane Cook in Good Luck Chuck. Whereas Sandler is actually pretending to be married. I know, it's a sad state of affairs when a man must resort to that.
That's all, Until one day at a beach party he meets Palmer, a very attractive blondie who could easily be mistaken for a model. It's a very cliched meet and greet, but what should I have expected? She seems to fit perfectly with his current life, and drags him out of his bachelor lifestyle. Meanwhile he's fighting feelings for his co-worker, (Aniston) and dancing between which girl is best for him. Nicole Kidman shares a couple scenes, but I honestly could've gone without. Heidi Montag has a short cameo, dressed in some skimpy clothing. All the by-the-book scenarios just bring this film down, and if it wasn't for a couple pretty funny performances from Sandler and Swardson, this would be a COMPLETE bomb. Dennis Dugan is a solid director, who makes movies for much more immature audiences, which is sometimes a good thing, but this is one of those surefire hit and miss comedies
For the most part Just Go with It is fun to watch. That is if you care nothing for substance. It's a good rainy day flick, but ultimately rots into a cliche ridden/generic rom-com.
5.9/10
