This movie is awful! I can't go with it.

Rating: 5/10 (17 March 2019)

I can't believe, this 2011 comedy written by screenwriters, Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, is a loosely based remake of the 1969 film 'Cactus Flower'. Nor could I imagine; that this was also an adaptation of an earlier successful, Broadway and French stage play of the same name. It was truly a less than stellar motion picture. Directed by Dennis Dugan, the film tells the story of Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) trying to fool his much younger fiancée, Palmer Dodge (Brooklyn Decker) into believing that he is divorcing a make believe pretend wife, Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), when Palmer sees his fake wedding ring, during their first date. Without spoiling this Happy Madison Production movie too much, I can see the original writer Abe Burrows spinning in his grave. Why? It's because this remake was not funny. None of the crass, juvenile toilet humor, including jokes at the expense of the overweight or physically imperfect, landed for me. It didn't help that Sandler slept through this movie. Don't get me wrong, Adam does have some talent. He did displayed some depth and emotional range before. However, Sandler in this film, look like he could care less if this flick was a success or not. He put nearly no effort in his role, going back to his usual shtick, performing as the angry man child. Because of this, Danny comes across as very annoying, tiresome and unlikeable. It doesn't help that the character is a chauvinist pig for the most part, lying to women and being a jerk to others, due to one lady making fun of him in the past. Look, I'm willing to ignore and forgive the romantic lead for lying to the love interest in order to win her heart like the original movie, but lying for years upon years to multiple ladies and painting himself as a victim of domestic abuse is downright disturbing and wrong. I have no amount of sympathy for a guy that spends two decades manipulating women to become home wreckers, in order to sleep with them. Talk about being highly misogynist. So, it was really hard for us to overlook Danny's past events and root for him, even if he has a character arc, from debauch bachelor to semi good, family man. Also, as a rich plastic surgeon, he still broke multiple Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act rules, by discussing patient information to his friends. That's not good. As for Aniston's character, the same can go with her. I hate that Katherine knew about his womanizing from the beginning, and didn't do anything to stop it for years. It made me miss so much, the original 1969 character played by actress Ingrid Bergman. I like that she had no clue of the scheme at first. It made her seem so innocent. Plus, I like how her character was somewhat dowdy. So, it was nice to see her bloom into an attractive woman in the end of that film, rather than being already generically sexy like Katherine during this movie. Despite, the lackluster and plain performance from Aniston. She still lightyears better than Brooklyn Decker's so call acting. Besides her good looks, the model turn actress's character is so lifeless, bland and dull. When you compare Palmer to the heavily flaw free spirited original character played by Golden Hawn in the first movie. It's no match. Hawn's flower child performance, wins all the time. Decker's character is just that forgettable. Although, the main cast were below average, the supporting performers were a little bit better. I kinda love Nicole Kidman as Delvin Adams. The scene with her and Katherine dancing in a contest was somewhat funny, but very hot. She was very entertaining. As for Nick Swardson, I do dig him as the over the top cartoony character of Dolph Lundgren. The surreal dialogue given to him while highly unrealistic, is so out there bizarre, that I can't help laughing, even with the scene of him drowning Palmer to keep up with the deception. I also have to give props to musician Dave Matthews. His delivery of comedic lines are top notch. Who knew that he can act! Honestly, the only supporting characters, I didn't like, were the kids. They were a little too precocious & so very annoying. No wonder, why Danny told Palmer that those fake kids of his, has been killed in a tragic accident, after throwing one of them into the mud. Nobody really liked them not even their mother Katherine. Not only that, the whole Hawaii vacation idea that the children came out with is really stretching the logistic of the plot, very thin. I find it very unlikely, that anybody in real life would spent millions of dollars of lying material, just to get a woman he barely knows to engage with him within a week. The whole plan seem unrealistic, very rushed and last, but not least, highly superficial. Honestly, there is no reason for any of this charade as Danny couldn't even marry Palmer if he wanted to. Why? It's because he didn't divorce his fake wife yet. No wedding ceremony would even allow this. Even if this could happen. The film wouldn't show it. Oddly, all the dumping was done, off screen. What a disappointing cheap cop out! While, the film didn't showcases that, it was kind enough to show us, plenty of product placement advertisement for Pizza Hut and hotels in Hawaii. Because of this, the movie felt more like a travel brochure than anything else. It's not good. Overall: Just watch the 1969 version of this film. It's so much better than its offspring, any day. That's for sure.