Film review

Just Go With It

A brilliant film that you can ‘just go with’: 5/5.

With a brilliant cast, this could have been a make it or break it film. It hovered just below the line of being cheesy which made it hilarious but not over the top.

Director Denis Dugan is a good friend of leading role Adam Sandler. The pair has produced a variety of exceptional movies consisting of; Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Grown Ups and Jack and Jill, so ‘Just Go With It’ was bound to be amazing.

The genre of the film is romantic comedy; the funniest film since elf in my opinion, although it is also based on a romantic story.

Danny (Adam Sandler), is found to have been cheated on by his fiancé on the morning of his wedding. After hearing this he decides to become a plastic surgeon with a glamorous lifestyle. He uses his wedding ring to create a new tragic story whenever he meets a girl, all until he meets “the one.”

Palmer (Booklyn Decker) who is portrayed as a young, friendly teacher, finds Danny’s wedding ring and wants an explanation, so all Danny can do is confide in his long term friend and assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston). Katherine is a selfless, considerate and benevolent person. When Danny realises that he is going to lose Palmer, he hatches a plan. He begs Katherine to pretend to be his soon-to-be ex-wife and being so good natured she accepts however it soon spirals out of control and Katherine’s two children get involved.

Bailee Madison (Maggie) and Griffin Gluck (Michael) excel in their performance as Katherine’s two young children. They cover every aspect in which children behave, feel and want to do. Maggie is desperate to be an actress and is forever using a loud, stereotypical English accent. When Michael uses his charm of being innocent and sweet, he finds himself and the family boarding a plane to Hawaii. Although he hardly knows his ‘family’ of which the holiday aimed at swimming with the dolphins consists of, including Palmer, Danny and his mums ‘new boyfriend’ Dalph/Eddie (Nick Swardson).

More and more lies are told as the holiday progresses, and Katherine bumps in to her old nemesis from college Devlin (Nicole Kidman), who looks down on those with children and without a partner. This pushes Katherine to make Danny return the favour, and pretend to be her husband. During more unusual yet amusing events, Katherine and Danny realise that their feelings for one another are developing. This means that when Danny and Palmer’s ‘Hawawi’ themed wedding approaches, it dawns on Katherine she has to move away as she could not possibly work with him every day. However, there is an unexpected twist as Danny realises that him and Katherine will have to live in heartache for the rest of their lives. The end of the film is brought together with a rather cheesy happily ever after.

The amazingly talented actors put together a truly mesmerising and convincing film with scenery so spectacular that it could make anyone want to live in Hawaii. In my opinion there were no flaws and I would recommend this film to just about anyone. I even watched it with my nan who absolutely loved it! So if you feel like a feel- good laugh, watch Just Go With It.