Blended: Movie Review

Over the past decade, watching a new comedy starring Adam Sandler felt more like a chore than a good time. I would be lucky if one of this post “50 First Dates” movies got a chuckle or two out of me. Thankfully, Sandler has teamed up with his director and co-star of “The Wedding Singer”, which happens to be one of my favorite Sandler led comedies. So much of what works in “Blended” is thanks to Drew Barrymore, who helps make even the weakest of material, pleasant. The actress, is just that charming.

“Blended” starts out on a blind-date from hell at Hooters between Jim (Sandler) and Lauren (Barrymore). These two people can’t get the date over with soon enough. After a couple more public run-ins post-date, Jim and Lauren and the five kids they have between them wind up on a family trip to Africa. They soon realize that they are staying at a blended resort, which helps newly formed families come together, step-parents, step-children, etc. One stand out, is the young actress Bella Thorne, who plays Jim’s oldest daughter Hillary. Jim can’t bare to see his daughter grow up, so he dresses her in boys clothes, gives her a boys haircut and calls her Larry. No matter how much he tries to make her unattractive, she still comes across looking like a young Keira Knightley.

“Blended” works better than much of Sandler’s recent work, because in all honesty, the message and the characters are more honest. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of stupid on display. The usually enjoyable Terry Crews began to get on my last nerve and I wish Kevin Nealon’s character was completely cut from the movie.

I wouldn’t say “Blended” is leaps and bounds better than most of Sandler’s recent work, but there are a decent amount of laughs and like I said, Barrymore seems to counterbalance Sandler. It also helps that despite some personality issues, the main characters happen to be a good people and we want to see the happy.

By: Marc Ferman