Just Grin At It!

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2011)

Adam Sandler is really getting mellow in his forties. "Happy Gilmore" director Dennis Dugan's "Just Go With It" qualifies as an uneven, predictable, but entertaining farce for the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian. Sandler looks like he had a blast as a smart aleck Jewish plastic surgeon who masquerades as a hen-pecked husband so he can bed down with beautiful babes. No Sandler comedy would be complete without his distinctive brand of infantile humor. "Just Go With It" boasts its share of absurdly ludicrous moments. The best example depicts Sandler's co-star Nick Swardson of "Reno 911!" as he performs the Heimlich maneuver on an obviously artificial sheep that has swallowed a rubber toy. Surprisingly enough, this lightweight, PG-13 rated, romantic comedy spends most of its 117 minutes being cute and endearing rather than toxic and offensive. Mind you, Sandler and company ridicule the generation gap, gays, marriage, plastic surgery, bowel movements, erectile dysfunction, and mendacity. What ultimately sets "Just Go With It" apart from the usual Sandler shenanigans is the presence of upscale co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman. Kidman has never been such a clown. Together they prove that a woman doesn't have to be a twenty-something nymph, like drop-dead gorgeous swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, to bound around in a bikini. Although Dugan and scenarists Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling have essentially remade the 1969 Walter Matthau comedy "Cactus Flower," "Just Go With It" resembles the classic Blake Edwards comedy "10" with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. In "10" (1979), a middle-aged man pursued a twenty year old babe before he realized that their age gap made them incompatible. Dugan lenses the graceful Decker in slow-motion as she jogs through the surf. These moments are comparable to painter Sandro Botticelli's picture of Venus on a Half-Shell.
"Just Go With It" opens with a 1980's prologue. Cardiologist Dr. Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler of "The Water Boy") is about to get married. Danny has a hilariously large nose that rivals the prominent proboscis of Cyrano de Bergerac. While Danny is biding his time for marriage, he learns that his fiancée not only has been cheating on him throughout their courtship but she also plans to cheat on him after they exchange nuptials. Worse, she isn't marrying Danny for love but for his money. Our heartbroken hero ditches her and becomes a successful plastic surgeon. In the original, the lead in "Cactus Flower" was a dentist. Initially, Danny goes to a meat market bar to drown his grief in alcohol. He helps a lady who is being harassed by the local lotharios. At first, she believes Danny he is just another wolf until she spots his wedding ring. Sadly, he reveals his plight. He lies that he is the victim of an unhappy marriage. The lady takes pity on him and takes him home for a one-night stand. Danny relies on this cynical strategy to keep himself knee deep in commitment-free dames.
Eventually, a lady comes along who changes Danny's mind. A gorgeous sixth-grade math teacher, Palmer (Brooklyn Decker in her film debut), proves to be more of a distraction than a hormonally addled teenage boy can handle. The kid cuts up his knee when he looks at Palmer rather than his destination. Danny doctors him up and gets together with Palmer. They spend the night on the beach. The next morning Palmer finds a wedding ring in Danny's pants and refuses to have anything to do with him. She doesn't date married men. Danny pursues Palmer but gets nowhere. He tries to explain that he isn't married. Since he has no way of convincing her that he is a bachelor, our desperate hero decides to lie. Danny tells Palmer that he is getting a divorce. This tactic changes everything for the better, and Palmer is prepared to resume their romance. However, she makes one condition. Danny must introduce her to his soon-to-be ex-wife. Danny throws himself on the mercy his comely office manager Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston of "The Bounty Hunter") and persuades her to act as his ex-wife. As it turns out, Katherine is a divorced single parent with two kids, Maggie (Bailee Madison) and Michael (Griffin Gluck), and is literally Danny's closest friend.
Everything goes smoothly when Palmer meets Katherine. As Katherine is about to depart, she receives a cell phone call about her children Maggie and Michael. Palmer changes her rules. She demands that Danny introduce her to Maggie and Michael. Danny has to bribe Katherine's kids to pretend that they are his offspring. Maggie aspires to be an actress and sells out for acting lessons, while Michael holds out for a Hawaiian vacation so he can swim with dolphins. Danny takes them to Hawaii along with his cousin, Eddie (wacky Nick Swardson), who masquerades as an Austrian sheep salesman. While in Hawaii, Katherine runs into her old friend Devlin (Nicole Kidman of "Eyes Wide Shut") and Danny and Katherine have to act like they are really married. The complications that occur threaten to drive Palmer and Danny apart, but the surprise ending isn't really surprising.
The humor is low-brow but funny. The goofy plastic surgery sight gags generate lots of laughs. The lady with the arched eyebrow is a hoot! The remainder of "Just Go With It" turns into an evasive, door-slamming farce with Danny doing his best to fool Palmer. The rivalry between Aniston and Kidman to see who is a better dancer, particularly in the scene where their significant others must dance body against body to move a coconut from their hips to their lips without their hands is amusing. Along the way, our hero learns a few lessons about love and commitment that neither we nor he would typically see in an Adam Sandler comedy. You will grin more than you will grimace at "Just Go With It."