Blended

Adam Sandler’s astonishing run of bottom-of-the-barrel comedies continues with Blended, which follows Jim (Sandler) and Lauren (Drew Barrymore) as they fall for one another during an expensive African vacation with their respective families. Filmmaker Frank Coraci has infused Blended with a bland and almost astonishingly lazy feel that’s evident right from the get-go, with the movie’s one-dimensional characters forced into a storyline that couldn’t possibly be more uninvolving or pedestrian. It doesn’t help, either, that scripters Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera have packed the proceedings with one eye-rollingly misguided element after another, with, for example, the film’s treatment of Jim’s eldest daughter (Bella Thorne’s Hilary) nothing short of abominable (ie there’s a recurring, very unfunny gag revolving around various characters mistaking her for a young boy). The episodic structure ensures that Blended suffers from a terminal lack of momentum that grows more and more problematic as time slowly passes, as the viewer is subjected to one misguided, desperately unfunny set piece after another (eg Jim rides an ostrich, Lauren goes parasailing, etc). Sandler and Barrymore’s charm and chemistry is, it goes without saying, rendered completely moot, and it’s ultimately clear that only Terry Crews, cast as an absurdly enthusiastic guide/host, is able to make anything resembling a positive impact. The end result is a typically worthless Sandler vehicle that wears out its welcome almost immediately, and it’s now difficult to recall a time when Sandler wasn’t appearing in objectionable, entirely horrible movies.

* out of ****

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