PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):
Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) is a successful plastic surgeon in Los Angeles who feigns unhappy marriages to get women, after having been heartbroken on his wedding day 20 years ago. The only woman aware of his schemes is his office manager Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), a divorced mother of two. At a party, Danny meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a sixth grade math teacher, without his wedding ring on, and they have a connection together. The next morning, she ends up finding the ring, and she assumes he was hiding the fact he was married. She refuses to date him because her parents divorced due to adultery and doesn’t want to be an adulteress herself.
Danny goes to Palmer’s school to try to woo Palmer back. Instead of telling her the truth, he tells her that he is getting divorced from a woman named Devlin, named after Devlin Adams, whom Katherine had mentioned was an old college sorority nemesis. Palmer then insists on meeting Devlin, and Danny agrees. Danny asks Katherine to pose for him, and they go shopping on Rodeo Drive to buy her clothes, so she can look like a trophy wife.
At a hotel having drinks, Danny and Palmer are greeted by a made-over Katherine, who gives them her blessing. However, after hearing Katherine talking on the phone with her kids, Palmer assumes that her kids are Danny’s as well, which Danny goes along with. Danny then privately meets with Katherine’s kids, Maggie (Bailee Madison) and Michael (Griffin Gluck), to get them to play along. Initially, Katherine is furious, but she reluctantly agrees.
Palmer meets the kids, with Maggie using a fake British accent. Michael blackmails Danny in front of Palmer to take them all to Hawaii. At the airport, they are all surprised by Danny’s cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson), who has adopted an Austrian disguise and claims to be “Devlin’s” lover, so he can jump in on their trip to Hawaii. To maintain the lies, Danny is forced to bring him, though their stories are under-prepared and he ends up being “Dolph Lundgren” (not the actor), an Austrian sheep salesman.
At the resort in Hawaii, Danny tells Eddie he’s considering asking Palmer to marry him. Katherine and Danny run into the real-life Devlin Adams (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Ian Maxtone-Jones (Dave Matthews), who allegedly invented the iPod. Because of Katherine and Devlin’s long-time rivalry, Katherine introduces Danny as her husband rather than admit she’s a single mother.
Danny and Palmer spend time with Maggie and Michael, during which Michael breaks down. He says that his (real) father won’t make time for him, causing Palmer to get upset because she assumes he’s sad about his relationship with Danny. Palmer resolves to spend time with Katherine, so Danny can spend time with the kids. Danny teaches Michael how to swim, and Katherine and Palmer look on in admiration at Danny winning the kids over.
Katherine again runs into Devlin, who invites her and Danny out to dinner. Eddie agrees to take Palmer out in the meantime. At dinner, Devlin asks Danny and Katherine to tell each other what they admire most about each other, since she believes that they’re married. Unable to make up that many lies on such short notice, they end up saying honest things to each other, and Danny and Katherine start to feel a connection. But when Palmer and Eddie return from their dinner date, Palmer suggests that she and Danny get married now, since a drunken Eddie had told her about Danny’s plans of engagement. Danny and Katherine are both surprised by her proposition, but Danny ultimately agrees. Danny later calls Katherine regarding his confusion, but Katherine says that she will be taking a job in New York City (that she mentioned to him earlier) to get a fresh start to her life.
The next day, Palmer confronts Katherine regarding getting married to Danny, as she has noticed Danny’s feelings for her, which Katherine dismisses. Katherine then runs into Devlin at a bar and admits that she made up being married to Danny to avoid embarrassment. Devlin confesses that she’s divorcing Ian because he’s gay and also that he didn’t really invent the iPod and made his money after suing the Los Angeles Dodgers after getting hit by a foul ball. Katherine confides in Devlin saying she’s in love with Danny even though they won’t be together. Danny, however, shows up behind her, telling her that he didn’t go through with marrying Palmer and that he’s in love with Katherine, and the two share a kiss.
Danny and Katherine continue their vacation without Palmer, who heads back to the mainland alone, meeting a professional tennis player (Andy Roddick — Brooklyn Decker’s real-life husband) on the plane ride back who shares her interests. Sometime later, Danny and Katherine get married.
REVIEW:
It has been awhile since I’ve watched a romantic comedy, and to be honest I actually had planned to watch something else, but I’ll get to that this weekend.
The plot of this is that Dr. Danny Maccabee is about to get married, but before he walks down the alter, he finds out that his bride wants nothing to do with him, but wants his money, on top of having affair after affair. Danny then goes out to the bar where he meets a highly attractive woman who sees his ring and believe he is married, yet still goes home with him. This begins 20 yrs of one-nigh stand lies that culminate in his meeting Palmer.
Once he meets Palmer, something clicks and he falls in love, but she actually has a good head on her shoulders and doesn’t fall for his lies. This causes Danny to coerce his assistant to be his fake wife, or soon to be ex-wife. Sound outrageous? Well, that’s only the beginning.
The lies keep adding up, including using Katherine’s children in this scheme, a brother with a very bad fake German accent who is some sort of sheep farmer, a trip to Hawaii (thanks to some creative blackmailing by one of the kids), and some confusing twisted lies to Katherine’s frenemy, Devlin.
For all my male readers out, admit it, there is only reason you even know about this film and that is Brooklyn Decker’s slow motion emergence from the water with her boobs bouncing ever so noticeably. Other than that scene being so short, it doesn’t disappoint, but hold on…there are other scenes of Brooklyn in various states of undress, including another swimming scene (including Jennifer Aniston).
On top of those two pieces of total hotness, we get Nicole Kidman (and her abs) as a bonus.
The story here is based on a Broadway play from the 60s, and I believe there was also a film, too, but don’t hold me to that.
The chemistry between all the characters is great.
Adam Sandler seems to get mellower and mellower with each of his films I see, which I guess is fine, but I yearn for the days he returns to his manchild roots.
Jennifer Aniston might as well have gone back to bein Rachel from Friends with this character. Heck, there is even a scene where she has the haircut again. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I actually think it works, especially when she becomes the trophy wife. I really liked her character here. Now, I’m curious to see her in Horrible Bosses.
Brooklyn Decker, in her first big screen role, doesn’t do half bad. She’s no thespian, but she does what she needs to, which is look hot, let her boobs bounce, and be the proverbial other woman. I think she would have been a better choice than what we got in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, though Rosie whats-her-name did ok.
Nick Swardson surprised me. When I saw that he was in this, I somehow knew that he was going to be that annoying character, which he was, but he knew when to capitalize on the annoyingness and when to hold back.
I do have a complaint. I think I said something like this about Forgetting Sarah Marshall and any other film that features hot women in Hawaii. Why, in the name of all that is good and holy, would you keep those amazing bodies of Brooklyn Decker, Jennifer Aniston, and Nicole Kidman (when she shows up) covered up for most of the time they’re down there. It just makes no sense!!!
Also, while the kids were interesting characters, especially the girl, but they seemed to be nothing more than supporting characters. While that was the intent, one would imagine they could have done something more with them. I may be alone in thinking that, though.
So, will Just Go With It cause you to fall in love with romantic comedies? Not really, but it actually is better than you might think, and I’m not just saying that because of the hotness of the ladies. This really is a good flick. Now, I’m not going to say go out and buy the DVD (unless you’re a total horndog and want to run the bikini scenes in slow-mo), but it is definitely worth watching.
4 out of 5 stars
