( EW ) -- If `` The Wedding Singer '' is the `` Annie Hall '' of Adam Sandler movies , then `` Blended '' is his `` Anything Else . '' Sandler and Drew Barrymore unite for a third time , after `` 50 First Dates , '' but like an unhappy old married couple staring at the clock , they ran out of fresh and meaningful things to say years ago . Sandler plays a Dick 's Sporting Goods employee named Jim who lost his wife to cancer and has n't a clue how to raise his three daughters . The eldest , for example , is named Hilary ( Bella Thorne ) but Jim calls her Larry â€ ” presumably because she 's good at basketball and has Larry Bird 's 1979 hairstyle . 'The Giver ' character posters : The eyes have it . Barrymore plays Lauren , a working single mom with two holy terror sons , one of whom is pulsating with puberty and a pornography obsession . Jim and Lauren get set up on a disastrous blind date , and both part ways hoping to never see the other again . But before you can say , `` Hey guys , it 's Adam . I convinced a studio to finance our group vacation to South Africa as long as we make a movie with oodles of product placement , '' both families are thrust together at a luxurious resort that specializes in blended and nontraditional-family vacations . How and why ? Does it really matter ? Once in South Africa , mutual loathing turns to mutual respect , with Lauren giving Hilary a makeover and Jim helping Lauren 's boys with sports . When Lauren discovers Jim 's sensitive soul , and Jim sees Lauren in a sexy black dress ... well , I do n't want to ruin the ending for you ! 'Godzilla ' : The secrets behind the roar . `` Blended '' is dotted with familiar faces from previous Sandler comedies and a few hammy celebrity cameos , but only Kevin Nealon -- who plays a middle-aged dad enamored with his buxom new bimbo -- delivers any solid laughs . ( Poor Joel McHale did n't even get to visit Africa for the lackluster assignment of playing Lauren 's douche-y ex , whose one-line character description must 've been , `` Craig Kilborn in 'Old School . ' '' ) Though he 's starring in promising upcoming films from directors Tom McCarthy and Jason Reitman , Sandler still seems shackled with the golden handcuffs of making easy , lucrative comedies , from `` Click '' to `` Bedtime Stories '' to `` Grown Ups . '' In `` Blended , '' his comic flab has never felt as thick , and this hackneyed `` family-friendly '' entertainment feels less like a movie than a bad sitcom re-run . Grade : D+ . See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
Adam Sandler and Drew Carey star in ` ` Blended '' But they ran out of fresh things to do years ago . ` ` Blended '' is more of a bad movie re - write than a comedy .