Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Snatched Blu-ray Movie Review

Amy Schumer Outside.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 11, 2017

Amy Schumer made a perhaps unexpectedly auspicious big screen starring debut in 2015’s Trainwreck, a film for which Schumer also provided the screenplay. Schumer’s back in Snatched, a film whose title, somewhat like Schumer’s television series Inside Amy Schumer, hints at the comedienne’s raunchier tendencies, and while the comedy is decidedly more fitful and less emotionally engaging than in Trainwreck, there are probably enough laughs here to sustain any Schumer fans wary of a so-called sophomore slump. The film has certain elements in common with The Guilt Trip, with a “mother and child reunion” going completely haywire during a journey, and in another way it also is at least somewhat comparable to elements in The Ref, with would be captors figuring out they’ve gotten a lot more than they bargained for. Snatched could have used a little more of the wary honesty that Schumer’s screenplay exploited in Trainwreck, but instead the film tends to fall back on admittedly funny schtick laden elements as Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) and her mother Linda (Goldie Hawn, coming out of supposed “retirement” for this picture) embark on the vacation from hell, one that almost instantly ends up with the two becoming pawns in a kidnapping scheme.

One of the interesting things about Schumer’s character in Trainwreck is that she was emotionally stunted, but at least she kind of knew it. That same level of self-awareness certainly is not part and parcel of Emily’s makeup, something that is probably squarely attributable to the helicopter parenting style of Linda. At least Emily has managed to get out from under Linda’s thumb, something that hasn’t yet happened to Emily’s spoiled and, well, emotionally stunted brother, Jeffrey (Ike Barinholtz). When Emily is summarily dumped by her boyfriend, she finds herself holding a non-refundable ticket to Ecuador, and perhaps against her better judgment decides to ask Linda to accompany her. Within a day or two, Emily has supposedly found her dream man, a guy named James (Tom Bateman), though of course Linda is convinced even stepping outside of the hotel isn't a safe prospect. James seemingly realizes Linda's fears when he takes the two on a rural excursion where the women are promptly kidnapped.

Katie Dippold’s screenplay tends to refrain from going for the gusto in terms of the interrelationship between Emily and Linda, delivering okay character beats that at least competently convey the dysfunctions between the two, but never tipping over into really scabrous territory that might have delivered more consistent laughs. Instead, the film tends to generate the most hilarity from some unabashedly silly sight gags, as well as from some cartoonish turns in supporting roles, notably a wonderful Christopher Meloni as an ostensible savior named Roger Simmons whose apparent tour guide skills may be something of an illusion. Much less effective are bits provided by Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack as two erstwhile black ops members who are also vacationing at the same resort where Emily and Linda initially stay.

The film has some kind of odd moments of lethargy, including right after the women have been taken captive, and there’s a feeling, due to several elisions that aren’t adequately explained, that some elements may have been left on the cutting room floor (a hypothesis that the copious deleted and extended scenes included on the Blu-ray tends to support). This includes the sudden connection to Morgan Russell (Bashir Salahuddin), a State Department official who fields calls first from Emily (who finds a pay phone in the wilds of the Colombian jungle—what are the odds?) and, later, Jeffrey, who has also gotten a call from the kidnappers demanding ransom be paid. Is there only one guy at the State Department taking calls from kidnap victims and their kin? (There is some passingly hilarious material during these calls, especially the ones between Russell and Jeffrey.)

But it’s the sight gags that repeatedly provide the loudest guffaws in the film. Some of these are related to Emily’s perhaps unexpected talents at taking out the various nemeses the women confront (“You’re a very talented murderer,” Linda offers when Emily begs for just one compliment). A predictable one arrives when Roger is leading the women through a dense jungle environment and encounters a seemingly unpassable gorge, and, later, a gross out moment that might have been more at home in a film directed by Schumer’s former collaborator Judd Apatow provides “ewww” filled laughs when it’s discovered that Emily has perhaps the largest tapeworm ever to burrow inside a human’s intestines.

With a little bit more time devoted to actually developing its characters, Snatched probably could have attained something closer to the commendable emotional resonance of Trainwreck, even as it plied the (Amazon?) waters of schtick laden sight gags. As it stands, it’s often laugh out loud funny, but intermittently so, with a kind of lurching quality that takes two steps forward, one step back. Schumer and Hawn make a wonderfully charismatic leading duo, but the writing doesn’t always deserve their level of star power.

Snatched Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Snatched is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Hawaii evidently stands in for the supposed Ecuadorian and Colombian scenes, but despite that seeming opportunity for incredible scenery, Snatched has a somewhat drab and tamped down palette. Dark, dusty greens predominate in the jungle scenes, as might be expected, but there's a slight yellowish tint to much of the film as well. Detail levels are routinely high throughout the presentation, with the exception of some green screened and/or digitally tweaked imagery (the cliffside scene in notably softer in terms of the CGI elements). A prevalence of dark sequences, including several nighttime scenes as well as moments in dimly lit environments like the prison where the women are briefly kept, tends to at least slightly tamp down fine detail levels at times.

Snatched Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Snatched features a fun DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that benefits from a glut of ambient environmental sounds when the film ventures out of doors, and not necessarily just relegated to the long jungle sequence (there's a great moment of directionality when a dog barks in the left channel just as Emily gets to Linda's house early in the film). The supposed Ecuadorian scenes feature a nice wash of ocean sounds that fill the side and rear channels quite effectively in a poolside scene between Emily and Linda. There's a fairly regular supply of source cues that underscore various moments and those also spread through the surround channels very well. Dialogue is always presented cleanly and clearly, and it along with some goofy sound effects are well prioritized with excellent fidelity.

Snatched Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 12:43)


• Extended and Alternate Scenes (1080p; 14:08)


• Gag Reel (1080p; 2:43)


• Director Commentary by Jonathan Levine


• Trailers (1080p; 4:28)

Snatched Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My hunch is just about everyone will get quite a few laughs out of Snatched, but the film is inconsistent and encounters several energy deficits along the way. The film would have had a lot more emotional resonance and even comedic value if these oddly endearing characters (including the almost completely undeveloped supporting ones) had been allowed to breathe a little bit more. Schumer and Hawn make for a very charismatic leading pair, and that alone may be enough to invite viewer interest. Technical merits are strong, and with caveats noted, Snatched comes Recommended.