Just Go With It offers us a watered-down remake of the 1969 Walter Matthau-Ingrid Bergman film Cactus Flower. In the original, Matthau plays a dentist who pretends to be married to his lovely assistant, Bergman, in order to avoid a long-term commitment with his girlfriend, played by Goldie Hawn – who won an Academy Award for her performance.
Let’s not hold our breath for any Oscar nods in this remake.
In order to attract the opposite sex and avoid any meaningful relationships, Danny MacCabee (Adam Sandler), a plastic surgeon, wears a wedding ring. After an unbelievable night with Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), he decides maybe she could be the one. But when she discovers a wedding ring in his pocket, he lies and tells her he is married, but finalizing his divorce. Palmer isn’t so quick to believe him—a trait she quickly loses early in the film—so she insists on meeting his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Find out what's happening in Des Plainesfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Danny convinces his assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), who’s divorced with two kids, to pose as his Mrs. MacCabee. Pretending to have a troubled marriage, Danny and Katherine trade insults during the meeting, convincing Palmer of their failing union. Once Palmer discovers Katherine has kids, Danny also has to rope them into acting like his children.
Palmer’s love for kids, or possibly the directors’ love for seeing her in a bikini, somehow stretches an improbable web of lies into a trip to Hawaii.
Find out what's happening in Des Plainesfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
From this point in the film, I begged the question: If she's worth all of this, why not just tell the truth?
Anywho, it's movie. For their Hawaiian getaway Danny’s cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson) also tags along acting as Katherine’s fiancé, “Dolph Lundgren,” a German sheep salesman.
His faux accent was cringe-worthy and I’m not even German.
However, he was in one of the few funny scenes in the movie, which involved resuscitating a young girl’s pet sheep –perhaps it was the sheep that was funny though.
While on their Hawaiian resort, Katherine crosses paths with her college nemesis, Devlin (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Ian (Dave Matthews). Now Katherine is more than willing to keep the charade of her fake marriage going to avoid judgment from Devlin. This revives a bit of cattiness and competition between the two.
Sandler tries to be funny but he's just seen as a huge liar. He also keeps up his "love for the kids" campaign in this film, just as in most of his previous films. Decker was gullible throughout and only served as distracting eye candy to the unraveling story. And Aniston, you feel bad for because she's really just along for the ride and lets Sandler’s character use her.
Overall, the movie is immeasurable to the original, and judged as a standalone, still doesn’t impress or entertain. If you're going to convince us to 'Just Go With It' at least supply some good laughs along the way. For making us just go along with it, this film earns 1.5 out of 4 stars.
