Blended is a romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. The plot sees two single parents end up going on holiday together with their kids to Africa. At first the two parents, Jim (Adam Sandler) and Lauren (Drew Barrymore), hate each other and don’t get along, but often as these sort of films go they end up madly in love by the end.
This film is viewed as one of the trash tier Sandler films by a lot of people, but I have to say upon watching it myself I enjoyed it; maybe that says something about my taste. I think this film benefits from being more subdued than Sandler’s normal fare. Yes, you have the cheap poo jokes and what not that are the life blood of Sandler comedy, but you also have this single parent character study where we see that Jim is actually quite a layered person to add on top of those scat jokes. Sandler’s performance here reminded me a bit of his character in Funny People in that he is a tragic character.
On top of this you have the romance between Sandler and Barrymore’s characters, which is incredibly strong. In recent years Sandler has being playing romantic leads by the side of Jenifer Anniston, but his ultimate on-screen romantic pairing will always be Drew Barrymore. The spark that was first shown in The Wedding Singer is still alive and well.
My one complaint would be that Terry Crews character, who is a sort of lounge singer who shows up at inopportune times, becomes tiresome quickly and they beat that joke into the ground.
Overall, a surprisingly sweet, heartfelt film that has a lot of say about grief and raising kids. Benefited immensely by obvious spark between Sandler and Barrymore.
Pros.
Romance
The depth
Some good jokes
Barrymore and Sandler have great chemistry
Cons.
Not all of the jokes land and they keep reusing some of the worse ones
4/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 