Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Just Go With It Blu-ray Movie Review

Don't go with it.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 8, 2011

The symbol of my humiliation had become a tool to get back on the horse.

What an apt title for this movie. Just Go With It. It stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. Just go with it. The filmmakers could have simply slapped their faces onto a poster, assembled a trailer showing them flopping around a tropical location for two minutes, and expanded said two minutes worth of flopping into 90 minutes (or nearly two hours, as the case is here) of nonsensical, mind-numbing flopping "comedy" and all but guaranteed themselves a hit. Just go with it. And that's exactly what they did. After all, it's Sandler and Aniston, so who won't go with it? Just Go With It is the perfect example of dumbed-down Comedy that passes off a man's ability to pick up a coconut with his rear end as "humor," never mind the entire plot that basically makes a mockery of marriage. But so what? It stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. Just go with it. Because the promise of Comedy and the presence of "comedians" means more than real laughs. Just go with it.

Jen reacts to the Blu-ray's video quality...or is it the movie's low score...or is it the screenshot below? Only her hairdresser knows for sure...

Twenty years ago, on the eve of his wedding, big-nosed groom-to-be Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) learns that his future bride has cheated on him. He cancels the wedding, but when he's later approached by a barfly who takes pity on a make-believe sob story about his terrible marriage and has sympathy sex with him, he decides he's onto something good. He pursues a career in plastic surgery, scrapes his nose down to a normal size and shape, keeps the wedding band on his finger, and successfully beds one woman after another, playing the part of the cheated and down-on-his-luck husband. The only person who knows the truth about his "extramarital" flings is his office assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston). When Danny sleeps with a woman named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) and wins her over on his own merits and not on the same old ploy, he believes he may have found "the one." She's excited, too, until she finds his pretend wedding ring in his pocket. Now, Danny has no choice but return to the well one last time and lie his way towards happily ever after. Palmer believes him to be on the verge of divorce, and she wants to meet the soon-to-be ex to validate his tall tale of "reverse" spousal abuse. Danny turns to Katherine to play the part of his estranged wife, which she agrees to, unknowingly opening the proverbial can of worms that seems destined to lead to disaster, but who knows, maybe true love truly knows no bounds and can withstand any lie of any scope and magnitude.

Just Go With it is directed by the same guy who helmed Grown Ups, a recent Adam Sandler movie with great potential that wasn't fully realized in the end product. No harm, no foul, that movie featured a great cast, a tangible camaraderie amongst them, and a few honest laughs along the way. Just Go With It is also a failure at the end of the day, but even more so; not only is the end result seriously lacking, but the premise wasn't even that strong to begin with. This isn't the first movie that takes the serious institution of marriage and turns it into one big joke, and it won't be the last, but that's not even the film's greatest fault. No, the execution, in this case, is even more mind-numbingly awful than even the idea, for the filmmakers couldn't even find a way to make something this absurd even the least bit funny. The best gags are wrenched into the plot and don't even contribute to the advancement of the story. Plastic surgery horror stories earn the most laughs -- a man who's gone under the knife a few too many times, a woman with uneven eyebrows, another with a broken artificial breast -- and they're only in the movie because Sandler's character is a plastic surgeon, which is right up there with the most unbelievable actor/on-screen profession combinations ever forced into a plot. And it's not like his career choice at all factors into the movie, except that he can plausibly afford the tropical vacation that seems to cost him more than most people pay for a house. Sure, the character once had a humongous nose, but so what? It's not like the did the rhinoplasty himself. None of it really makes sense, none of it really matters, and that's what's wrong with the movie. It's so contrived, so forced, so certain that just plopping a few fan-favorite actors onto the screen and having them act out an implausibly absurd plot will make it funny that it forgets what it really means to be funny. But what the hey, just go with it, right?

Not even the "all star cast" can save this one. Two undeniable cinematic truths state that even the best actors -- and these aren't the best, but they're admittedly far from the worst -- just can't save a poor script, and no amount of gusto can make an unfunny gag funny. The movie manages a few laughs and a handful of cute scenes, both primarily thanks to the young child actors who play Danny Maccabee's (and where and how do they come up with these absurd character names?) pretend children. Otherwise, the characters are stale and unconvincing, their arcs and the plot developments playing as terribly unnatural and only serving as a backdrop to both advance the story and frame the unfunny jokes. The movie is also too long and unbalanced, stretching out all of the irrelevant scenes and quickly gliding past those few moments that actually matter to the development of the characters and the story. Even the score is RomCom generic, breezy cheesy bubbly and sounding like it's been lifted from every other movie from the last couple of decades in the same mold as this. If there's a plus, it's the gorgeous natural locations that light up the screen. The studio probably could have just taken planeloads of people to Hawaii and charged them the price of a movie ticket to walk around on the beach for two hours, completely foregoing the cost of making the movie. At least that would have made more people happy than will this clunker of a Comedy. Don't go with it.

Just Go With It Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Just Go With It might fizzle as a movie, but as a Blu-ray, it sizzles. Sony's drop-dead gorgeous 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer dazzles with every passing moment, delivering an image that's impeccably detailed, wonderfully colored, and incredibly clear. Indeed, fine detail is mesmerizingly strong, whether the texture of a leather couch or the fine lines in a polished wooden bar, or the more general and always-evident facial, human hair, and clothing textures. Detail even holds up at a distance; the image remains sharply defined in the longest of shots, whether clumps of dense foliage or overhead views of manmade objects. Where the transfer really shines, however, is in the combination of color and clarity. No color goes unseen in Just Go With It; sparkling blue waters, lush green tropical vistas, and any number of bright-colored clothes are displayed with unmatched precision. Colors never go dull or excessively hot, and the incredible cleanliness and clarity the image provides only serves to enhance the never-ending palette. Black levels are perfectly balanced, and flesh tones remain natural throughout. The transfer is free of banding, blocking, and other debilitating no-no's. Sony's always on the cutting edge of Blu-ray perfection, and this is just the latest jewel in the studio's 1080p crown.

Just Go With It Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Just Go With It features a satisfying and pretty much flawless DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. True, this one's not as aggressive or exciting as some action extravaganza, but that doesn't mean it can't deliver a precision audio experience within the confines of its own limitations. Music is delightfully reproduced, enjoying a rich and full texture that captures every little sonic nuance throughout the entire range, particularly in the array of tropical beats that permeate the film. Clarity is impeccable throughout, whether in music or various background ambient effects that bring several environments to splendid life. Crashing waves, chatty seagulls, and the din of various tropical locales effortlessly open up the film's tropical worlds and transport listeners into the destination locations. The surround channels carry both music and effects, but the bulk of the material is seamlessly and spaciously delivered by the front three. Rounded out by faultless dialogue reproduction, Just Go With It sounds fantastic from top to bottom.

Just Go With It Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Just Go With It goes way overboard in the supplemental department, delivering a pair of commentaries -- one of which amounts to little more than people laughing -- and the motherlode of junk featurettes, all of which altogether create a big pile of nothing in support of perhaps the worst movie in Adam Sandler's career.

• Audio Commentary: Adam Sandler, Nick Swarsdon, and "the filmmakers" man track one. Unfortunately, the track is difficult to follow as the additional participants are not immediately identified. Nevertheless, it's a standard light multi-participant commentary. They laugh at the film and at one another and at the various stories they recall from the set and their lives. There's plenty of laughing at jokes many viewers probably won't get, intercut with some basic analysis of the film and general recollections of the shoot.
• Audio Commentary: Director Dennis Dugan delivers a more straightforward commentary that offers a traditional point-by-point look at the movie, his comments recored two weeks after the film's release. There are several silent stretches, but he shares plenty of pertinent information as it relates to the making of the film, its home video release, and more.
• Laughter is Contagious (1080p, 4:39): A fancy name for "gag reel."
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 16:57): Eddie Fights Bridesmaids, Extended Office Scene, Extended Eddie Scene, Eddie Leaves Number, Adon at Rio Spa, Shutters, Beginning, First Class, Hotel Arrival, Bamboo, Jungle Talk, Diaper, Spa Belgian Earthquake, Join Contest, and Airplane.
• Adon: Living Plastic (1080p, 2:30): Actor Kevin Nealon discusses taking his Just Go With It makeup on the town.
• Along Came a Prop Guy (1080p, 2:53): Plastic spiders take over the set.
• Decker's Got Gas (1080p, 2:19): Actress Brooklyn Decker plays a prank with an iPhone app that makes fart noises.
• Dolph -- Not the One From Rocky IV (1080p, 6:11): Cast and crew talk up Actor Nick Swardson, and the man himself discusses his character and playing in the film.
• Kevin Nealon: The Plastic Man (1080p, 5:31): The extras once again join Kevin Nealon, this time for a look at the three-hour application of his plastic-surgery-gone-wrong makeup and his thoughts on the making of the film.
• What's a Dugan? (1080p, 5:27): A look at the man who directed Just Go With It.
• Look Who Else is in the Movie (1080p, 1080p, 2:40): Several of the tertiary performers get a few more minutes of fame.
• Sneaky Kiki & Bart the Water Fart (1080p, 1:31): A short piece that focuses on young actors Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck, two of the only bright spots in the movie.
• The Perfect Couple: Jen and Adam (1080p, 5:51): The two mega-stars discuss playing in the movie while cast and crew sing the couple's praises.
• The Not So Perfect Couple (1080p, 3:52): A look at the work of Nicole Kidman and Dave Matthews.
• Decker's First Role (1080p, 4:20): Cast and crew discuss working with newcomer and swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker.
• Shooting Hawaii (1080p, 5:35): Surprise! This piece looks at shooting in Hawaii.
• Grand Wailea Promo (1080p, 7:08): An extended commercial for the popular Hawaii destination getaway.
• Previews: Additional Sony titles.
• BD-Live.
• Movie IQ.
• DVD Copy.

Just Go With It Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unfunny, unnecessary, and made pretty much only because people still trust the likes of Sandler, Aniston, and to a lesser extent Director Dennis Dugan to make them laugh enough to lay down a few dollars on a movie ticket, Just Go With It is a movie that lives up to its title. It's a movie that's on cruise control from the outset but that quickly veers off the side of the road and crashes because nobody cares what's going on, so long as Sandler and Anniston can appear in the advertisements. It's bad enough that the movie plays so fast and loose with marriage, but honestly, that's the least of its problems. Running far too long and lacking in humor, the film just never comes together and barely manages to elicit a chuckle or two, and even those come from scenes that really aren't even pertinent to the storyline. Hopefully, the next Sandler/Dugan film, Jack and Jill, will fare better than this. Sony's Blu-ray release of Just Go With It features a sparkling video transfer, a strong lossless soundtrack, and plenty of extras, so fans can buy with confidence, but newcomers should definitely rent before purchasing.