I see few movies reluctantly, but I could smell this one coming as my darling daughter dragged me to it. I'd seen it in the many, many commercials and previews I've seen for it, all the time wondering why a romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore could look so bad. Even 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler himself was a decent rom-com. Then it hit me. This isn't a Drew Barrymore movie, it's an Adam Sandler movie, and I had solved the problem. Grown-Ups aside, when Adam Sandler gets together these days with a few friends to have a few laughs, he decides to film it and is never able to translate what I'm sure is a hilarious few weeks of work for them into an even halfway enjoyable 2 hrs for those of us paying to see it.
In this case, I mainly blame direction, but with the recent Here Comes the Boom and ZooKeeper under his belt, I shouldn't have been surprised. (Frank Coraci, what's happened to you since The Wedding Singer!?!?). There are some good actors in this movie who can't even deliver simple one liners with any kind of comic timing, and I'm sure they all tried their best. Few things upset me more than when a bad director blemishes an otherwise laudable career because I bet most people blame the actor. Of course, there is some blame there as well, since they must have seen the script, and I do give some actual credit to whoever cast this mess because they somehow convinced seasoned as well as up and coming promising actors to participate.
Take your pick of poorly rendered aspects of this movie - offensive racist and sexist jokes/themes, check! going for over the top physical comedy and failing miserably, check! There were even scenes that had potential and I had (well, not high, but moderate) hopes for that were sloppily directed and edited, leaving the audience with no payoff.
There were a couple of things I liked about the film. 1) They were successful in making the strikingly beautiful Bella Thorne look frumpy and she really gave herself over to the part, which let her acting skills shine through when others seemingly gave up. 2) The overall theme of step-families was unexpectedly pretty true to real life. There were no fairy tales here, just a multitude of varied responses to the often difficult realities of blending families and I appreciate realism, so it got me there.
Overall, the movie was uneven with many lows and no real highs and the only people who might really enjoy it are under 8 years old, but it's rated PG-13 and I wouldn't want to start the conversations this movie would undoubtedly cause with that set, especially while they are simultaneously laughing at potty jokes. Rent Yours, Mine & Ours (2005, PG, Rene Russo & Dennis Quaid) instead.
2 out of 5 stars
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