Tell me no lies

Plato’s disdain for comedy has been considered snobbish by comedy enthusiasts, even more than his contempt for democracy. They would always come up with the many superior qualities of comedy as a distinct genre. However, I found myself more in sync with Plato after watching Dennis Dugan’s new film Just Go With It. Those who cannot understand Plato’s objections to comedy should watch this movie. This film can boast of everything that can go wrong with comedy.

The plot is the movie’s weakest link — it is so uninspiring that I can’t decide whether it is excessively predictable or unbelievably far-fetched. Danny (Adam Sandler) is a potential cardio surgeon about to get married to an unfaithful and materialistic girl. By a stroke of sheer luck he realises how wrong this girl is for him, and breaks up with her. Danny also realises he can hook up with any girl he chooses without any worries of future commitment if he poses as the victim of heart-wrenchingly difficult marriage, using his never-been-used wedding ring as bait. Years go by and Danny becomes a successful plastic surgeon and a canny womanizer. Little does he know that his latest fling, Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), will actually think he is still married when she finds his ring.

Along comes his assistant/friend Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) who is a single mom of two. Danny begs Katherine to pose as his cruel, heartless first wife in order to string Palmer along and win her heart. The idea here, of course, is that once you start to lie, you should ‘just go with it’ — in case you didn’t catch the witty connection.

The rest of the movie is a slow and painful journey to the one special moment when Danny comes to understand which girl he really wants to marry.

Besides the lousy plot development, the dialogue is barely humorous. Adam Sandler, who can sometimes be ludicrously hilarious, is absurd instead of amusing. Jennifer Aniston is no doubt enchanting and elegant to look at but when it comes down to acting it is not surprising that she does a very average job as usual. Sandler and Aniston could have brought together two different types of audiences: the rude-guy comedy freaks and the romantic-comedy addicts; but sadly we have yet to wait for such movie. Nicole Kidman’s small role could have been an added attraction to the movie but her character is not given enough space to breathe on its own.

Highly predictable, dull and uninspiring, Just Go With It is below average — and has just about put me off the California golden girl Jennifer Aniston for good.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 1^st, 2011