Not Going With This!

Rating: 4/10 (20 December 2011)

Adding to Jennifer Aniston's growing portfolio of Rom-Coms comes Just Go With It, but despite a huge budget, this embarrassing flop ends up going nowhere.
The premise is a good one: a plastic surgeon (Adam Sandler) is in romantic pursuit of a much younger girlfriend (Brooklyn Decker), and trying to smooth over a lie that keeps on building with the help of his assistant at the clinic (Jennifer Aniston). Yet despite the star cast and exotic locations, the actors' delivery is a confused mishmash of slapstick comedy and nerdish quick-fire dialogue.
There are some funny moments, particularly in the first part of the film, but it soon lodges itself firmly in 'uncomfortable viewing' territory. The dialogue – particularly between Aniston and Sandler - is at times rambling and littered with awkward silences. Adding to this bewildering experience are some technical curiosities: the film editing leaves a lot to be desired - woeful cutting and continuity blunders that would leave first year film students aghast. The external sound frequently suffers from ambient distractions, whilst indoor scenes are often clattery or muffled - not of a standard you'd expect of a Hollywood movie. The lighting, too, is brash and littered with inconsistencies - unflattering on the actors.
Aniston outclasses the entire cast in terms of looks, presence and delivery - surely uncomfortable appearing in a production of a standard well beneath her abilities. At 117 minutes, it's a marathon of the worst cinematic kind, becoming more cringe-worthy as it labours to a conclusion.
A shakedown of the script and technical issues could have made this an acceptable comedy, but its fate is sealed early on. Like so many Rom- Coms, it plunges into a quagmire of misfiring gags and flawed plot lines from which it never emerges.