Just Go With It is a romantic comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan. The plot follows Danny (Adam Sandler), a man who pretends to be in a bad marriage to get with girls. One day he meets The One (Brooklyn Decker) and things seem to be going well, but then she finds his old wedding ring and gets cold feet. From there Sandler enlists the help of Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), his assistant, to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife, in hopes of convincing Palmer (Decker), that she is not in fact a home wrecker.
Yes, the premise is absurd, and it gets to a point where none of it makes even the smallest bit of sense and it is easier to just not think about it. It only gets complicated by more weird and needless plot twists down the line that serve to make the film even harder to follow.
There are also some moments of what I will call from here on out “Sandler textbook creepiness”, where he openly objectifies women and is trying to date a woman half his age. This becomes a recurring joke through out the film that Danny and Palmer aren’t right for each other because they have nothing in common because of their age. It feels icky to think she is supposed to be 23 and he is presumably supposed to be in his 40’s if not older.
However, it is not all bad as there are some good jokes that are genuinely quite funny scattered in throughout that made me laugh. As a comedy film this film does its job and then some. Moreover, the interplay between Aniston and Sandler is also great and the two have a strong repour and a believable on-screen chemistry.
Overall, this is not as bad as a lot of the films Sandler was making around the same time, yes there are aspects that don’t age well and the premise is comically absurd, but if you’re a fan of Sandler you will find it funny and easy enough to watch. Not Sandler’s best, but also not his worst; by a large margin.
Pros.
Funny jokes
Sandler and Aniston have great chemistry
A strong central romance
Cons.
The icky creepiness
The incredibly dumb plot that gets dumber
3/5
Reviewed by Luke