2.5 stars. Rated PG-13, for crude content, sexual candor and brief profanity
By Derrick Bang
A modest but fairly decent
romantic comedy lurks somewhere within the clumsy, bloated mess of this movie,
but it’s damn hard to find.
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| Years removed from the dating scene, Jim (Adam Sandler) sets up a blind date with Lauren (Drew Barrymore) at the local Hooters. First impressions aren't so hot; second impressions are even worse. So, naturally, these two will be seeing a lot more of each other. Because, otherwise, we wouldn't have a movie (not necessarily a bad thing). |
As often has been the case with
Adam Sandler’s recent films, the actor seems at war with his own conflicting
sensibilities: a perceived need to reward fans who expect the vulgar, gross-out
slapstick of his early career; and an honest desire to veer toward gentler,
family-friendly material.
The results can be awkward, to
say the least, as we’ve already seen in his two Grown Ups entries, each of which tried for aw-shucks, feel-good
moments that simply didn’t gel with the sexist, moronic “humor” targeted more
specifically at arrested adolescent males.
You’ll find the same unwieldy mix
in Blended, Sandler’s third — and
least satisfying — pairing with co-star Drew Barrymore. I can’t help wondering
if Sandler views Barrymore as his lucky token, given that their first
collaboration, 1998’s The Wedding Singer,
remains one of his most satisfying films. (Mind you, we’re still not talking
Shakespeare; a “superior” Sandler comedy doesn’t raise the bar very high.)
Their sophomore team-up — 2004’s 50 First Dates — wasn’t quite as
successful, but its virtues still overshadowed the coarse and tasteless
elements that by then had become a stronger part of Sandler’s oeuvre.
All of which brings us to Blended, which can be viewed as
something of a cinematic Hail Mary play, coming in the wake of gawdawful bombs
such as Jack and Jill and That’s My Boy. (Frankly, Sandler’s only
truly entertaining movie of late was HotelTransylvania, and it starred only his voice.) Unfortunately, Blended is yet another flick that
doesn’t know what it wants to be, when it grows up: a flaw directly attributed
to the haphazard script from Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera, making inept
big-screen writing debuts.
The results are all over the map,
and director Frank Coraci doesn’t help much. Although he helmed the
aforementioned Wedding Singer, more
recently he has been responsible for the numb-nuts Kevin James comedies Zookeeper and Here Comes the Boom. So let’s just say that Coraci’s tendencies
aren’t likely to support any of Sandler’s efforts to channel his kinder,
gentler self.
