Netflix users seem to have been loving low-rated Adam Sandler movies in recent months, and another one just hit the Top 10 list in the U.S. Just Go With It is at number 8 at the time of this writing, bringing back some bizarre memories from 2011. If you haven’t revisited this rom-com in a while, prepare for a shock.
Just Go With It stars Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as co-workers and friends with a unique relationship. The movie begins by explaining that Sandler’s character Danny got cheated on by his fiance when he was young, and that he now uses fake stories about getting cheated on to entice other women with no need for commitment. Aniston’s character, Katherine, sometimes helps him in these endeavors while working as the office manager at his plastic surgery office. Things get more complicated when Danny asks Katherine to pose as his fake estranged wife to get out of one of his schemes.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Forced to escalate further, Danny gets Katherine’s children in on the scheme, Maggie (Bailee Madisen) and Michael (Griffin Gluck). They blackmail him into taking them all on a vacation to Hawaii, and Danny’s cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson) lies his way onto that trip as well. In Hawaii, they meet Katherine’s rival Devlin (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Ian (Dave Matthews), and more lies are gradually layered on top.
The movie gets more absurd from there, and includes even more notable stars like Rachel Dratch, Kevin Nealon, Minka Kelly and Keegan-Michael Key. It was also relatively successful at the box office, but none of this was enough to save it from the scorn of critics. Just Go With It has 19 percent positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critical 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.”
Just Go With It is technically a remake, though more accurately an adaptation. It is based on a play called Cactus Flower by Abe Burrows, which was adapted into a film by the same name in 1969. The movie starred Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman, but the plot was far different from the one depicted here.
Cactus Flower was never on the table as a title for Just Go With It. The movie was originally supposed to be called Holiday in Hawaii, and then Pretend Wife. These working titles were scrapped before the release.
While it was not a critical hit and did not leave much of a mark on the pop culture zeitgeist, Just Go With It is having a bit of a resurgence right now. If you want to check it our for yourself you can stream the movie on Netflix.
