Ten Stars or Less

In 1997 Aniston created a fake relationship to succeed at work, while crushing a nice guy’s hopes and dreams. Fast forward 14 years and she returns to the big screen but is in the opposite position this time. 

run time: 117 mins
rated: PG
considered: Comedy, Romance
starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Brooklyn Decker, Nicole Kidman, Dave Matthews, Bailee Madison, Griffin Gluck

movie summary: Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) is a very successful and wealthy Los Angeles plastic surgeon. He was going to be a cardiologist until he gets dumped on his wedding day by a cheating fiance. After the wedding Danny heads out to the bar wearing his wedding ring. An attractive girl starts a convo with him which forces him to create a fake story about being married. She takes him home so Danny begins to wear a wedding ring to pick up girls and create a fake wife story every weekend.

At a party Danny meets a gorgeous mid-20’s girl named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) that he instantly falls in love with. She sleeps with him only to find his wedding ring in the morning and vows to never see him again unless he gets divorced. That day at work he is stressing about his new problem with his assistant Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston)  who wants no part of this situation. Danny begs her to reconsider and proposals that they act like a married couple for one night so he can prove to Palmer they are getting divorced. He takes Katherine out shopping and a make over to turn her into a sexy soon to be ex-wife of a plastic surgeon. They meet up for dinner where Palmer finds out that she has two kids, Maggie (Bailee Madison) and Michael (Griffin Gluck), and think they are Danny’s too. She wants to meet them, so Danny needs to bribe them with money and gifts to play his kids Kiki Dee and Bart.

The kids blackmail Danny and force him to take the “family” to Hawaii for a vacation. Danny’s cousin Nick decides to tag along on the trip as Katherine’s new boyfriend Dolf, which leaves Danny to pay for six airline tickets and the priciest rooms at the resort. Once they reach the island Danny has to act like a great dad taking the kids out everyday, fighting with both Katherine and Nick to play up the divorce, while shopping for an engagement ring because Palmer is the one.

One night at dinner Katherine runs into her snobby old roommate from college, Devlin Adams (Nicole Kidman), who is married to a very successful guy. Devlin complains about the losers from college who are single moms and how she could never turn out that way, so Katherine grabs Danny and explains they are a very happily married couple with two kids.

Palmer senses tensions between the two and offers to take Katherine out for a spa day while Danny is left with the two kids. He teaches Michael/Bart to swim which surprises both girls when they return. He is slowly coming around to playing dad and Katherine can see him growing into a better person because of it. Devlin stops by again and invites them out for dinner only to quiz them about how they met and fell in love. The pretend couple share their true feelings for each other about how they are best friends who can share everything with each other without holding anything back. Katherine and Danny end up winning a contest together and the people around them can see how great of a couple of they are, which begins to creep into both of their minds.

When they return to the hotel Katherine finds out Danny is planning to get married and their magical night comes to an end. She makes plans to return home and leave Danny to move on his new life. Before his wedding ceremony Danny begins to think about how special his relationship with Katherine is and that Palmer may not be the one. He has to act quickly to figure out who will make him happier before Katherine returns to the main land and leaves his office to move to New York City.

my thoughts: I know not everyone likes Adam Sandler movies, but Just Go With It is one of his better movies of the last couple of years. He may never capture audience’s attention like he did in the 1990’s, because his films seem to be getting worse. The only thing he has going for him in his recent films is good-looking women playing his girlfriend/wife, which include Jennifer Aniston, Brooke Decker, and Salma Hayek.

In this remake based of the 1969 movie Cactus Flower, Sandler finds himself torn between his gorgeous young girlfriend and his best friend. Aniston looks amazing and can hold her own in comparison to her competition. She has come a long way from being a shy, cute, and funny girl to a sexy women who is smart enough to win any guy. I kinda feel bad Brooklyn Decker because she is casted more for her swimsuit body and then her brains, because she plays the perfect dumb teenage girl who has no clue what is going on around her. The kids played by Bailee Madison and Griffen Gluck are fun to watch because when they see their opportunities, they take them, which complicates everything even more. Nick Swardson’s part as the Russian sheep herder was not necessary, but only he could have played such a silly part and failed miserably at it.

When I first saw Just Go With It at the theatre back in 2011, I left disappointed from how excited I was when I saw the trailer. Last summer I came across it on Netflix and decided to give it a second chance which turned out to be better than the first. On a lazy day this would entertain some people while others would never watch it based on who stars it in.

my star rating: 7 out 10