Blended
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Written by: Ivan Menchell, Clare Sera
Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Nealon, Terry Crews, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Bella Thorne, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Joel McHale, Abdoulaye NGom, Kyle Red Silverstein, Zak Henri, Jessica Lowe, Braxton Beckham, Shaquille O'Neal, Emma Fuhrmann, Dan Patrick
Comedy - 117 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl, 23 May 2014
Written by: Ivan Menchell, Clare Sera
Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Nealon, Terry Crews, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Bella Thorne, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Joel McHale, Abdoulaye NGom, Kyle Red Silverstein, Zak Henri, Jessica Lowe, Braxton Beckham, Shaquille O'Neal, Emma Fuhrmann, Dan Patrick
Comedy - 117 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl, 23 May 2014
Blended, aka The Brady Bunch Goes to Africa, is Adam Sandler’s and Drew Barrymore’s third romantic comedy pairing following 1998’s The Wedding Singer and 2004’s 50 First Dates. Both of those films were amusing in their own way and 50 First Dates was actually quite good. Concerning rom-com duos, Sandler and Barrymore were on a trajectory to be included in the same conversation as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. After Blended, that generous comparison is gone and these two are now in the tier of Richard Gere and Julia Roberts and Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.
After a disastrous blind date, Sandler’s Jim and Barrymore’s Lauren and their hodgepodge of kids all wind up on a South African blended familymoon together. It is best you do not think through about how they all got there; it is a glaring plot hole. It turns out a blended familymoon is a honeymoon for all involved in the parents’ non-traditional second go-around at matrimony. There is the old man and the younger woman around the age of his son, the different races and ethnicities, and Sandler and Barrymore who look like the most traditional couple there even though they are written as the most polar opposites imaginable, she a nitpicky organization freak and he a boorish slob. How will they ever get along together in the close quarters of a five star resort?
The resort’s main jokes are the honeymoon suite the couple must share, a pair of rhinos filmed in the process of making more rhinos, and a group of employees led by a nearly unrecognizable Terry Crews who show up frequently breaking out into song narrating whatever awkward moment just happened, not so much the resort’s Greek Chorus, but their American actor playing Zulu Chorus. For example, they show up on a basketball court after one of Sandler’s daughters shows up another boy at the hoop singing, “You got schooled by a little girl…”; you know, quality song humor like that.
As for the kids, Sandler has three girls, two of them androgynous frequently confused for boys and one of them named Espn, named after his favorite sports channel. Barrymore has two boys, one with extreme hyperactivity and the other enduring a very awkward pubescent stage explained with about a dozen ‘self-abuse’ jokes. Oddly enough, Barrymore is there to help out with girl problems Sandler can’t handle and Sandler steps in to teach the boys about baseball and boxing. Gee, if only these two very different people would stumble into a sort of opposites attract situation.
I admit I genuinely laughed a few times; there are a couple situations where the jokes do not fall immediately flat or are not exploiting an African stereotype. Those effective laughs are just few and far between. Blended is co-written by Ivan Menchell whose credits include a bunch of episodes of The Nanny, another situation comedy about a sort of blended family. This gentleman has found a formula and wants you to know how hysterical he finds odd couples. Director Frank Coraci, working with Adam Sandler in some capacity for a sixth time, continues his streak of lackluster comedies. Coraci is also the man responsible for 2011’s Zookeeper and 1998’s The Waterboy.
I assume Sandler and Barrymore had their pick of any number of rom-com stories to continue their successful pairing as a couple audiences like to see overcome obstacles before they end up happily ever after. Why they chose such a forced and secondhand plot like Blended is a question softball interviewers will most likely fail to ask. Neither star is known for their consistent presence in films remotely considered satisfying; especially Sandler, yet the pair’s previous two movies together might mislead potential ticket purchasers to expect another pleasant exhibition between these two.
Hopefully, the preview’s emphasis on a stale parachute accident and eye-rolling snarky one-liners are enough to warn movie-goers that Blended is a lazy exercise trying to make money off of more preferable Sandler/Barrymore films. The Brady Bunch belongs in the 1970s and as re-runs on basic cable, not as a 2014 comedy in the wilds of high-end Africa luxury.
After a disastrous blind date, Sandler’s Jim and Barrymore’s Lauren and their hodgepodge of kids all wind up on a South African blended familymoon together. It is best you do not think through about how they all got there; it is a glaring plot hole. It turns out a blended familymoon is a honeymoon for all involved in the parents’ non-traditional second go-around at matrimony. There is the old man and the younger woman around the age of his son, the different races and ethnicities, and Sandler and Barrymore who look like the most traditional couple there even though they are written as the most polar opposites imaginable, she a nitpicky organization freak and he a boorish slob. How will they ever get along together in the close quarters of a five star resort?
The resort’s main jokes are the honeymoon suite the couple must share, a pair of rhinos filmed in the process of making more rhinos, and a group of employees led by a nearly unrecognizable Terry Crews who show up frequently breaking out into song narrating whatever awkward moment just happened, not so much the resort’s Greek Chorus, but their American actor playing Zulu Chorus. For example, they show up on a basketball court after one of Sandler’s daughters shows up another boy at the hoop singing, “You got schooled by a little girl…”; you know, quality song humor like that.
As for the kids, Sandler has three girls, two of them androgynous frequently confused for boys and one of them named Espn, named after his favorite sports channel. Barrymore has two boys, one with extreme hyperactivity and the other enduring a very awkward pubescent stage explained with about a dozen ‘self-abuse’ jokes. Oddly enough, Barrymore is there to help out with girl problems Sandler can’t handle and Sandler steps in to teach the boys about baseball and boxing. Gee, if only these two very different people would stumble into a sort of opposites attract situation.
I admit I genuinely laughed a few times; there are a couple situations where the jokes do not fall immediately flat or are not exploiting an African stereotype. Those effective laughs are just few and far between. Blended is co-written by Ivan Menchell whose credits include a bunch of episodes of The Nanny, another situation comedy about a sort of blended family. This gentleman has found a formula and wants you to know how hysterical he finds odd couples. Director Frank Coraci, working with Adam Sandler in some capacity for a sixth time, continues his streak of lackluster comedies. Coraci is also the man responsible for 2011’s Zookeeper and 1998’s The Waterboy.
I assume Sandler and Barrymore had their pick of any number of rom-com stories to continue their successful pairing as a couple audiences like to see overcome obstacles before they end up happily ever after. Why they chose such a forced and secondhand plot like Blended is a question softball interviewers will most likely fail to ask. Neither star is known for their consistent presence in films remotely considered satisfying; especially Sandler, yet the pair’s previous two movies together might mislead potential ticket purchasers to expect another pleasant exhibition between these two.
Hopefully, the preview’s emphasis on a stale parachute accident and eye-rolling snarky one-liners are enough to warn movie-goers that Blended is a lazy exercise trying to make money off of more preferable Sandler/Barrymore films. The Brady Bunch belongs in the 1970s and as re-runs on basic cable, not as a 2014 comedy in the wilds of high-end Africa luxury.
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