BLENDED PG-13 117 Minutes Director: Frank Coraci Writers: Ivan Menchell, Clare Sera
CAST Adam Sandler...Jim Drew Barrymore...Lauren Kevin Nealon...Eddy Terry Crews...Nickens Wendi McLendon-Covey...Jen
She's an uptight career woman. He's an impulsive loser. Why would these two ever choose to spend time with one another?
BLENDED starts out with a blind date at Hooters. Jim is a single dad, with a dead wife. Lauren is a single mom, with an asshole ex-husband. During the date, Adam Sandler acts like a jerk. Watching SPORTSCENTER, while Drew Barrymore is trying to engage him in conversation. I know, it feels like an episode of HOME IMPROVEMENT. This scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
I don't need to tell you how they all ended up on a family vacation in Africa. Only five minutes of the film takes place on the African savanna. Which means no one really needed to go to Africa. Maybe the real Adam Sandler planned on having an affair with Drew Barrymore. It's plausible, they do have undeniable on-screen chemistry. And this awful film is an elaborate ruse for extramarital activities. Keep in mind, this is only a theory, and it's based on irresponsible speculation. But I don't know of any alternative explanations.
They don't get along at first, but then Jim falls in love with Lauren and then...well, you've seen THE WEDDING SINGER. They both learn something about life...from Billy Idol on an airplane.
Throughout this two-hour ordeal. I hoped Kevin James would make a cameo. Yeah, wishing Kevin James would show up, now that's a sign of a good film. Perhaps he'd be the keynote speaker at a zookeeper conference, and on the way to the La Quinta, Kevin would save everyone from an angry tiger with serious intimacy issues. But James was mysteriously absent. Maybe his schedule wouldn't allow for a 6-month vacation.
There are many things wrong with BLENDED, beyond what I've illustrated thus far. Bad jokes get repeated several times...from previous films. Sandler's daughter looks like a dude, we get it. Also, there was a dead mom gag, which is a tad morbid for such a broad comedy. FULL HOUSE found a way to avoid talking about the nonliving mother. And it made for a better comedy.
There is one thing I liked about this film, and it's Terry Crews. He really took his ten minutes of screen time, and made the most of a bad situation. He'd pop in randomly, singing songs with a band. Like that guy playing guitar in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. Also, Joel McHale wasn't bad, performance wise that is, although he did play a bad guy. As Drew Barrymore's asshole, ex-husband.
So BLENDED is not the worst Sandler comedy...ever. No, he's got 15 other movies that are just as bad. I could have just copied and pasted my earlier review from JUST GO WITH IT. But that would be lazy.
Final Verdict: 5 out of 100