Just Go with It

''Just Go With It'' is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, and produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, and Heather Parry. It is a remake of the 1969 film '' Cactus Flower'', and stars Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. It tells the story of a plastic surgeon who enlists his assistant to help him woo a sixth-grade math teacher.

Production of the film began on March 2, 2010. Originally titled ''Holiday in Hawaii'' and then ''Pretend Wife'', it was produced by Sandler's Happy Madison Productions and released in North America on , 2011, by Columbia Pictures. The film grossed over $214 million, becoming a box-office success. It received negative reviews with criticism for the plot and editing, but some praise for its acting and writing. ''Just Go With It'' won two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor (Sandler) and Worst Director (Dugan).

Plot

Danny Maccabee discovers on his wedding day that his fiancée has been cheating on him. He is also shocked to overhear her and her friends belittling him and his family, and that she is marrying him solely for his success.

A distraught Danny proceeds to walk out and ends up at a bar. While drowning his sorrows, a woman approaches him, and after inquiring on his ring, he lies of being in an unhappy marriage and wins her over.

Years later, Danny is a successful Los Angeles plastic surgeon and has changed his looks. He keeps his wedding ring and continues to feign being in an unhappy marriage with women that he meets to seduce them without having to face long-term romantic commitment. The only woman aware of his scheme is Katherine Murphy, his office manager/assistant and a divorced mother of two.

At a party, Danny removes his ring to tend to a child's scraped knee. Shortly afterwards, he meets Palmer, a young sixth-grade math teacher. They spend the night on the beach together, but Palmer finds Danny’s wedding ring in his pocket the next morning and leaves, upset that he seemingly cheated on his wife with her. She reveals her own parents divorced because of infidelity.

Instead of telling Palmer the truth, Danny claims he is getting divorced from a woman named Devlin after she cheated on him with a man named Dolph Lundgren. When Palmer insists on meeting Devlin, Danny convinces Katherine to pose as her and give them her blessing.

After Palmer overhears Katherine talking on the phone with her children, Michael and Maggie, she assumes they are Danny's, as well, and requests to meet them. Danny convinces Michael and Maggie to go along with the scheme, though they blackmail him to take them all to Hawaii.

At the airport, they run into Danny's cousin Eddie, who is traveling in disguise as "Dolph Lundgren" while running from his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. To maintain the facade, Danny and Katherine are forced to bring him along.

At the resort in Hawaii, Katherine and Danny run into the real-life Devlin Adams, Katherine’s frenemy from college, and her husband Ian Maxtone-Jones. Over time, Katherine becomes impressed by Danny and his way of interacting with her family. Devlin invites the two to dinner, and soon the pair begin to fall in love with each other.

Later, when Danny is about to confess to Katherine his feelings for her, however, Palmer suggests to Danny that they marry the following day, having learned from a drunken Eddie of Danny's plans to get engaged. Though surprised by her proposal, Danny agrees.

Palmer asks Katherine if she still has feelings for Danny, which Katherine dismisses. Katherine runs into Devlin at a bar and admits that she pretended to be married to Danny to avoid embarrassment, and Devlin confesses that she is divorcing Ian, as he is gay.

While Katherine is confiding in Devlin about her feelings towards Danny, he arrives and announces he is not marrying Palmer because he is in love with her, and they kiss. Palmer meets a professional tennis player who shares her interests, and Danny and Katherine eventually marry.

Cast

* Adam Sandler as Dr. Daniel "Danny" Maccabee
* Jennifer Aniston as Katherine Murphy
* Nicole Kidman as Devlin Adams
* Nick Swardson as Eddie Simms
* Brooklyn Decker as Palmer Dodge
* Bailee Madison as Maggie Murphy
* Griffin Gluck as Michael Murphy
* Dave Matthews as Ian Maxtone-Jones
* Jackie Sandler as Veruca
* Rachel Dratch as Kirsten Brant
* Kevin Nealon as Adon
* Heidi Montag as Kimberly
* Minka Kelly as Joanna Damon
* Rakefet Abergel as Patricia
* Dan Patrick as Tanner Patrick
* Mario Joyner as Henderson
* Keegan-Michael Key as Ernesto
* Allen Covert as Brian (Soul Patch)
* Andy Roddick as himself
* Jake Shimabukuro as ukulele player

Reception

Box office

''Just Go with It'' grossed $103 million in the U.S. and Canada and $111.9 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $214.9 million. The film topped its opening-weekend box office with $30.5 million. The biggest market in other territories was Russia, where it grossed $13,174,937.

Critical response

''Just Go with It'' received generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19%, based on 138 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's consensus reads: "''Just Go with It'' may be slightly better than some entries in the recently dire rom-com genre, but that's far from a recommendation." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

''The Telegraph'' named ''Just Go with It'' in its "ten worst films of 2011" list, saying it is "a crass and overpopulated remake of '' Cactus Flower'', served up as a mangy romcom of serial deceptions." Christopher Orr of ''The Atlantic'' noted that "the title itself seems a plea for audiences' forbearance" and is part of a disappointing trend involving "the reimagining of good, if perhaps not quite classic, films associated with the latter 1960s and early 1970s." ''Entertainment Weeklys Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote that ''Just Go With It'' "is saved from utter disaster, though, by Jennifer Aniston", who has "expert comic timing" and "plays like a grown-up", while Nicole Kidman was praised by ''Popmatters'' as the film's sole reasonable performance.

Accolades

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released ''Just Go with It'' on DVD and Blu-ray disc on June 7, 2011. As of 2019, it has grossed $25,014,665 in North America DVD sales.

References

External links

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2010s English-language films
2011 films
2011 romantic comedy films
Remakes of American films
American romantic comedy films
Columbia Pictures films
Films scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Films about families
Films about vacationing
Films based on adaptations
Films directed by Dennis Dugan
Films produced by Adam Sandler
Films produced by Jack Giarraputo
Films set in 1988
Films set in 2011
Films set in California
Films set in Hawaii
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set on Long Island
Films with screenplays by Allan Loeb
Golden Raspberry Award–winning films
Happy Madison Productions films
2010s American films
English-language romantic comedy films
Teen Choice Award winning films