Blended

When the first scene of the movie takes place in a bathroom, you have to credit Adam Sandler for being in on the joke and tweaking anyone who expects the worst from Blended. However, after seeing it, you have to admit it is not half as horrendous as some of his other movies.

Sandler stars as Jim – the widowed father of three girls who tries his best, but kind of lacks that intuition that would help him raise them into women.

Drew Barrymore stars as Lauren – the divorced mother of two boys who tries her best, but kind of lacks that intuition that would help her raise them into men.

The two of them end up on a blind date together that goes epically wrong, but they keep running into each other because circumstance and necessary plot devices cannot be ignored.

Through a twist fate too complicated to go into here, they end up sharing an amazing African Safari vacation, and these two opposites start to realize each one might be what the other needs.

Blended is mix of romance, bawdy humor and silliness that needs a jump start in the pacing, and tends to drone on towards the end.

It’s not horrible (I wonder if that quote will make it to a poster or newspaper ad). Writers Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera toss out all sorts of attempts at humor on every level, with some making you giggle, and others that will make you groan. They aren’t as fascinated with the potty humor as we have seen in so many other Sandler movies, but Blended doesn’t quite hit the emotional highs Menchell and Sera want to reach because all of it is predictable (and without the charm we saw in last week’s predictable movie, Million Dollar Arm). Charm here is forced charm stuffed to fit in around typical, juvenile humor.

Because it is so average, the entire cast is giving The Old College Try to make Blended into something hilarious. Terry Crews proves to be the most dedicated man in Hollywood as he drains every ounce of funniness out of his crazy, over-the-top character (a singer at the resort who is sometimes inappropriate and off topic). Meanwhile, Sandler and Barrymore rely on our nostalgia for the other times this pair of opposites won over our hearts and minds. Blended is not as amazing as The Wedding Singer, but longtime fans will feel comfortable seeing these two united again on screen.

Shockingly, only some of Sandler’s crew is here in Blended. There’s no Spade, no Schneider, no Rock and no James. I guess someone had to suffer the budget cuts to afford Barrymore.

Blended is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and language.