Just Go With It (2011) 
 
 I should start by confessing that I spent a lot of time before the screening of “Just Go With It” — and a few stretches while it was actually going on — trying to remember what the darn thing was called. I may have to look up the title a few more times before this review is done, and the movie is likely to live on in my memory (to the extent that it will) as “that one with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in Hawaii.” Which pretty much sums up both the appeal and the limitations of this passive-aggressive, naughty but nice, sometimes obnoxious and occasionally quite funny late-winter romantic comedy. 
 
 “Just Go With It” remakes, updates, spices up and tones down a 1969 film called “Cactus Flower.” Without going into decline-of-civilization nostalgia — draw your own conclusions from the fact that the role now taken by Ms. Aniston belonged back then to Ingrid Bergman — I have to say that the old title was much better. It’s prickly and pungent, whereas the new version barely rises to the level of a slogan and seems to have been designed to excite search engines rather than flesh-and-blood audiences. 
 
 Still, this movie is better than “Grown Ups” or “The Bounty Hunter” or the one with Ms. Aniston and Aaron Eckhart that I can’t be bothered to Google right this minute. Mr. Sandler plays Danny Macabee, a wealthy, unattached Los Angeles plastic surgeon whose early heartbreak, on what was supposed to be his wedding day, has authorized 20 years of guiltless promiscuity. Danny wears a wedding ring, which he accessorizes with made-up tales of extreme marital woe to ensure an endless string of no-strings hookups. But then one night he meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a 23-year-old schoolteacher with a superb bellybutton, and by the time they wake up together on the beach he thinks she might be The One. 
 
 Which means Danny must divorce his nonexistent wife, whom his new sweetheart insists on meeting. He recruits his longtime assistant and receptionist, Katherine (Ms. Aniston), and treats her to a Beverly Hills shopping makeover that allows this mousy single mom to reveal that she had been a fox all along. The aftermath also allows Ms. Aniston to display her sometimes-dormant (like in that Aaron Eckhart thing) comic talents, which are as sharp and sleek as her shoes and outfits. Katherine’s first meeting with Palmer — in which Ms. Aniston, or rather her character, impersonates a boozy, cynical Los Angeles dowager — is also one of a handful of lively and successful comic set pieces that keep the movie from lapsing into by-the-numbers hack work. (This is as good a time as any to mention that the director is Dennis Dugan, who has competently steered a number of other Adam Sandler vehicles, including “Happy Gilmore” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”) 
 
 Nick Swardson shows up for goofy-sidekick duty as Danny’s loser cousin Eddie, who spends much of the movie pretending to be a nerdy German Internet sheep broker named Dolph Lundgren. It makes sense in context, or rather it doesn’t, which is a good thing, since Mr. Sandler’s movies work best when the sentimentality and self-congratulation are disrupted by anarchic nonsense. And the story, derived by the screenwriters Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, from two stage plays by way of I. A. L. Diamond’s “Cactus Flower” script, contains enough pure farce to generate some momentum and surprise. 
 
 Katherine’s initial, reluctant imposture is complicated when Palmer discovers that she has a daughter (Bailee Madison) and a son (Griffin Gluck), whose father Danny must then pretend to be. Mr. Sandler, who built a career on childishness, often seems more comfortable horsing around with kids (or other maturity-resistant grown men) than getting all lovey-dovey with adult women. And in his scenes with these children he shows both pushy, rude playfulness and generosity, helping the young performers rise above generic movie-brat cuteness and earn some laughs on their own. 
 
 All in all, the hit-to-miss ratio of “Just Go With It” is not so terrible. Which is not to say the movie is anything special. The sexual politics of “Cactus Flower” are interestingly awkward, looking anxiously back to the ’50s and flinching at the onset of feminism, but this version occasionally lets loose an unacknowledged snarl of regression and resentment. None of the women have professional ambitions or money of their own; their primary asset is “hotness.” Ms. Aniston proudly shows herself off in a bikini — and looks great, it must be said — while Mr. Sandler keeps his shirt on, hanging loosely over his baggy pants. Yes, I know, the double standard is nothing new, but a wittier, less insecure movie might have at least had some fun with it. 
 
 But Mr. Sandler is not really willing to risk making fun of himself. He is too much of a bully for that. The infantile hostility that has always been part of his schtick seems increasingly tired, and “Just Go With It” is flecked with mean, lazy gags. There is some cheap homophobia at the end, and a lot of the kind of misogyny that treats the existence of nonthin, nonrich, nonwhite women as a joke in itself. 
 
 On the other hand there is the very thin, very rich and extremely pale character played by Nicole Kidman, who pops up, once the action has moved to Hawaii, to serve as a foil for Ms. Aniston and to remind viewers of her own comic talents. She seems to be having a pretty good time, as do most of the other performers, as if the movie were following the advice of its genial, forgettable title. 
 
 “Just Go With It” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It is frequently risqué, but always safe. 
 
 JUST GO WITH IT 
 
 Opens on Friday nationwide. 
 
 Directed by Dennis Dugan; written by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, based on the “Cactus Flower” screenplay by I. A. L. Diamond and the stage play by Abe Burrows, based on a French play by Barillet and Gredy; director of photography, Theo Van de Sande; edited by Tom Costain; music by Rupert Gregson-Williams; production design by Perry Andelin Blake; costumes by Ellen Lutter; produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo and Heather Parry; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. 
 
 WITH: Adam Sandler (Danny), Jennifer Aniston (Katherine), Nick Swardson (Eddie), Brooklyn Decker (Palmer), Dave Matthews (Ian Maxtone Jones), Bailee Madison (Maggie), Kevin Nealon (Adon), Griffin Gluck (Michael) and Nicole Kidman (Devlin Adams). ||||| Just Go With It 
 
 'Just Go With It' review: Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler push empty rom-com experience 
 
 Sony Pictures 'Just Go With It', starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, has plenty of chemistry but it's an empty rom-com as a whole. 
 
 Romantic comedy about friends posing as spouses. With Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston. Director: Dennis Dugan (1:56). PG-13: crude humor, sexuality. At area theaters. 
 
 What is it with Jennifer Aniston? Commitment issues? Low self-esteem? Because there's got to be a reason she makes so many poor choices. 
 
 
 
 I'm speaking, of course, about her taste in scripts, which is so baffling it's time to suggest either therapy or a change in management. The curse strikes again in "Just Go With It," a witless rom-com that is only marginally watchable thanks to Aniston and her costar, Adam Sandler. 
 
 
 
 They do work well together, in the sense that both are charismatic pros who know how to sell a project. But frankly, it's depressing to watch two likable talents pushing such a blatantly empty experience. 
 
 
 
 The suspension of disbelief begins immediately, when we learn Aniston's Katherine is a frumpy, single receptionist working for Sandler's Danny, a playboy plastic surgeon. Meanwhile, supermodel Brooklyn Decker plays Palmer, the twentysomething teacher who falls instantly for Danny. Unfortunately, their romance hits a snag when she finds the fake wedding ring he uses to seduce single women. 
 
 
 
 Since he implies he's getting a divorce, she insists on meeting his ex — to be played, of course, by Katherine. And once Katherine's kids appear, Danny has to pretend they're his, too, even when they all end up in Hawaii together. Naturally, further complications ensue, especially when Katherine's nemesis (Nicole Kidman, simultaneously frozen and broad) suddenly arrives with her pushy husband (Dave Matthews). 
 
 
 
 Writers Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling have lazily adapted their crude, formulaic screenplay from 1969's "Cactus Flower," a movie that also relied heavily on the charms of its leads (including an Oscar-winning Goldie Hawn). 
 
 
 
 Unlike Hawn, however, Decker brings only her obvious assets to the role, so director Dennis Dugan shoots her swimming and showering, leaving the heavy lifting to the experts. 
 
 
 
 Sandler, who's worked with Dugan since "Happy Gilmore," is so relaxed and amiable it often seems as though he's improvising. And Aniston keeps up nicely, with a looseness that's been lacking in her recent films. 
 
 
 
 But that only makes this wasted opportunity--which never feels like anything more than a swiftly-brokered deal between their agents--increasingly frustrating. And when our ever-underachieving heroine looks at the beautiful, utterly bland Decker and sighs, "I'm not that," you can't help wishing she'd say it with a little more pride. 
 
 Don't Miss: It's no surprise when Decker rocks a bikini. But who would have expected Kidman and Aniston to throw down in the fiercest hula battle in cinematic history? ||||| The best thing about the new Adam Sandler comedy "Just Go With It" (I'm assuming "Just Bear With Me" was already taken) is Rachel. And by that I mean Jennifer Aniston , playing a slight variation of the pretty, pragmatic waitress with great hair and even better comic timing whom America (or large parts of it) fell in love with over the 10-year run of "Friends."In "Just Go With It," whose title really has to be read as a plea from the filmmakers, given all the leaps of faith they want you to take with a movie that's really more like a loose improv session, or an extended party game — oh wait, what was I saying…Aniston plays Katherine, a single mom working as an assistant to Sandler's successful plastic surgeon, and she's got the frumpy wardrobe to prove it. If you're inclined to buy the premise, the way for a nerdy guy to bed an endless succession of great-looking chicks is to pretend he's married. I gather it's all part of the feminine mystique as defined by boobs (as in boys, not breasts) that a wedding ring and a bad marriage are the ultimate aphrodisiac. Right.Anyway, Dr. Danny has finally met a gorgeous girl ( Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl Brooklyn Decker ) who likes him even without the wedding ring. Since he really likes this girl back, when she discovers his fake gold band and declares she won't date a married man, he undertakes a cover-up of Watergate proportions to try to keep her. The plan involves getting Katherine to pose as his wife, conscripting her kids, concocting a divorce, funding a "Pretty Woman" makeover and before you can say, "Huh?" the new girlfriend, the fake ex, the fake kids and the fake ex's fake flame ( Nick Swardson ) are off to Hawaii to swim with dolphins. Don't ask.The whole idea somehow seemed more plausible in 1969 when the screen version of "Cactus Flower" was first trotted out, winning Goldie Hawn an Oscar for her turn as the girlfriend. It was based on the Tony-winning stage play, which itself was based on the French stage play, which makes sense. After all, if anyone knows what to do with a sexy farce it's the French.Still, the movie is a good fit for Aniston. One of her gifts, which director Dennis Dugan , a long-time Sandler collaborator, exploits in a good way is her ability to look as believable in a shapeless, off-the-rack shift and sandals as in a body-hugging, off-the-shoulder mini and stilettos. But — and this is the big one that most of Hollywood doesn't get since they keep casting her in one failed romantic comedy after another — he also understands that while she's hot, she's not, as in mouth-drooling, pulse-racing, temperature-raising hot. Her on-screen kisses and clinches are more sisterly and sincere than sexy. Maybe she's a slow burner, but at least on screen, no one has figured out yet how to light that fire.All of those girl-next-door, punch-you-in-the-arm-if-she-likes-you qualities make a good comic match for Sandler, though, who's got the whole not-sexy thing going too. His nerdy naughty-but-nice persona has proved appealing to males and females alike, and coupled with his mumble-funny self-deprecating patter, it has made him a box-office billionaire ($3 billion and counting), which means Hollywood will let him do whatever he wants. And that is what happens here.There's not much to say about Dugan's directing; even he admits in the production notes that his main job is to let Sandler be Sandler. Ditto writers Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling. Their screenplay may be based on "Cactus Flower" but it's been pureed almost beyond recognition in the Sandler blender. There's a wacky mean-girl turn by Nicole Kidman , who plays Devlin, Katherine's old college nemesis. Complications abound when they bump into each other in Hawaii, and not just in that old-scores-to-settle way. Devlin is what Katherine has adopted as her fake wife name, and it's also what her kids and Dr. Danny call poop. So along with all the other potty-mouth stuff, there is a lot of Devlin name-dropping going on. Ha, ha, ha.The kids, Bailee Madison ("Bridge to Terabithia") and Griffin Gluck, have some cute bits as the precocious sort who squeeze a lot out of Dr. Danny in return for calling him Dad. Decker definitely has what it takes to look really good in an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie … or at least I think that's what the filmmakers meant when they raved about her "natural talent." Swardson has his moments masquerading as the fake boyfriend, essentially providing the outrageous to counterbalance the generally low-key comedy elsewhere, though there is a sheep punch line that gets punched a few times too many.If you're a Sandler film buff, the comedy is classic Sandler and will probably satisfy. Still, the best thing about the movie remains Aniston — she is reason enough to just go with it.
– Critics think Just Go With It isn’t too memorable—a 23% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though fans are much kinder at 79%—but they say stars Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler turn in solid performances: To AO Scott, it will forever be just “‘that one with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in Hawaii,’” he writes in the New York Times. “Which pretty much sums up both the appeal and the limitations of this passive-aggressive, naughty but nice, sometimes obnoxious and occasionally quite funny late-winter romantic comedy." Aniston basically plays her Friends character, writes Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times. “If you're a Sandler film buff, the comedy is classic Sandler and will probably satisfy. Still, the best thing about the movie remains Aniston—she is reason enough to just go with it.” In the New York Daily News, Elizabeth Weitzman is a little harsher: the stars “do work well together, in the sense that both are charismatic pros who know how to sell a project. But frankly, it's depressing to watch two likable talents pushing such a blatantly empty experience.”