Formulaic Rom Com with Over the Top Jokes

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2011)

Within 10 minutes of viewing, it became clear that 'Just Go With It' would be a formulaic, see the ending coming a mile away romantic comedy which is not my type of movie. It was obvious where the script and in turn, characters, were heading as everyone went through the motions to fulfill the nearly 2 hour movie time.
I was open minded once the romantic comedy by numbers format became evident since the trailers/previews advertised what looked like a hysterical, fun film and figured if anything, I'd get a few good laughs out of the experience. However, in the end, the movie was more ridiculous than funny, the usual awkward boy/girl romantic scenes at the end in a rom com were hard to sit through and I found myself questioning the mental capacity of Brooklyn Decker's character, Palmer.
Sandler plays a plastic surgeon named Danny who meets and likes a much younger woman (23) named Palmer (Decker) at a party and after spending a romantic night on the beach with her, she finds a wedding ring in his pocket. While not married, Danny carries one around as a way to attract women with sob stories of a an abusive/drunk/pill popping/tumultuous wife and horrible home life which seems to work. He had become bitter about love after having a bad experience 20 years earlier with his to be first wife who in the end, he didn't end up marrying. Rather than reveal his trick to Palmer, he tells her that he's married but getting divorced and Palmer decides that she needs to meet his wife to see for herself. Enter Katherine, played by Jennifer Aniston who is playing the same person she plays in basically every movie, who plays Sandler's homely assistant/office manager at his plastic surgery practice. She is a divorced single mother of two who, after some convincing, agrees to play his wife. Cue a makeover to create the illusion of a wealthy plastic surgeon's wife where Aniston suddenly goes from drab to fab (cliche much?) & the subsequent meeting between Danny/Katherine/Palmer. All is going well until Katherine gets a phone call regarding her children which Palmer overhears and now there is a whole fake family of Danny/Katherine + her 2 kids which they tell Palmer, of course are his children. Add in fake names for the kids and bribes to get them to play along and you have a comedy.. I guess.
The majority of the movie takes place in Hawaii - a trip that is taken by Danny/Katherine/the 2 children/Palmer and Danny's cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson), who has a crush on Katherine and makes himself apart of the picture but telling Palmer that he's Katherine's new boyfriend - and of course Katherine has to play along even though she can't stand Eddie.
The lies start out small and then spiral out of control with people clearly coming up with outlandish things on the fly, shocked reactions from the others and then a quick cover and build onto the fake story. It was OBVIOUS that these people were lying and just coming up with random things as they went along yet Palmer bought it all which, for me, just became too ridiculous to believe as the movie went on. It actually became frustrating watching her observe these clearly fake performances and outlandish accents (the daughter played by Bailee Madison and Danny's cousin, Eddie, both speak with over the top faux accents) and cover stories and seemingly buy it all for a good portion of the film. Palmer is supposed to be a smart, competent school teacher yet she was as gullible as a 5 year old and lacked the common sense of an 8 year old. Just too muchway too much and can I just say that the character of Eddie was so unfunny that it was uncomfortable to watch? I usually love Swardson in movies but the whole character was horrible.
Overall, the movie had some funny moments but the lies became so extreme and so excessive that it became ridiculous and just plain stupid by the half way point. It was unrealistic that Palmer would buy the lies and the formulaic boy/girl rom com script only hurt the film. Nicole Kidman plays Devlin, a mean girl sorority sister of Katherine's from the past who Katherine in present day still greatly resents. Of course Devlin just so happens to also be vacationing in Hawaii and runs into Katherine who then, wanting to make a good impression concocts the lie that Danny, the plastic surgeon, is her husband which creates a new set of shenanigans.
Lastly, the time line confused me. Palmer/Danny meet and hook up on the beach. She finds his wedding ring and wants to meet his soon to be divorced from wife. They meet and next thing I know they are on some big trip to Hawaii where Palmer is meeting Danny's fake kids and is now sort of apart of the family. Seems odd since they never even went on a date prior to the trip. It felt really rushed and weird.
5/10 and it's a shame because this is one film I was really looking forward to based on the previews. The only 2 really funny moments that made my laugh hard were 1, when Rachel Dratch makes a cameo as a patient of Danny's on a consultation at his practice and 2, a hula show down between Katherine/Devlin (Aniston & Kidman) that escalates into hardcore competition for a win.