Just Go WIth It

Year 5, Day 34 - 2/3/13 - Movie #1,335

BEFORE: Wrapping up the Aniston 5-play tonight - and an unexpected theme has developed during the first few days of Romance Month, that of deception.  In "Picture Perfect", Aniston's character created a fake boyfriend in order to get a promotion, and last night Ben Stiller's character pretended to like spicy food and salsa dancing in order to get with Aniston.  This film looks like it will fit right into that same pocket.

THE PLOT:  On a trip to Hawaii, a plastic surgeon convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfriend.

AFTER:  Another unexpected theme this week - appearances from people I knew in college.  There was most of the cast of "The State" in "Wanderlust", and my ex-roomie Judah Friedlander turned up in "Along Came Polly".  Plus my 8mm film class nemesis Brett Ratner, who produced "Horrible Bosses" - I think he still owes me about a dozen hours of crew time, since he never showed up to work camera for me when he was supposed to.  I also lived in the same NYU dorm as Adam Sandler, I think he was a senior when I was a sophomore, and he lived in the penthouse, which was the most coveted room in the building, and graduated in 1988, a year before I did.  It makes me wonder where I'd be now in my career if I'd had better people skills back then.

Here Sandler (last seen in "The Longest Yard") plays Danny, a guy who wears a wedding ring even though he's not married, because of that old chestnut about single women being more attracted to married men.  Those kind of women are not really the type interested in commitment, but he's OK with that.  I don't know if the old saying is true, but it seems like faulty logic to me.  Perhaps women feel safer with a married man, and that leads to a certain comfort level which can lead to other things, but it still seems like a faulty plan.

So when the new girl that he falls for finds his wedding ring, and it's too late to give her the usual lie, he comes up with a new lie, which leads to another lie to explain that one, and so on.  Before long he's enlisted his nurse and her children to pose as his family, and they take a trip together, because that's not likely to be awkward at all.

NITPICK POINT: There are many more workable lies to explain why a man has a wedding ring in his possession.  How about "It's my grandmother's ring, I carry it as a good luck charm, I'm saving it until I meet the right girl?"  See?  Much easier.  You're welcome.

Also appearing, for the 2nd night in a row - the island of Hawaii.  I'm beginning to suspect that people are setting films there so they can have something of a free vacation while shooting a film. 

As more people get caught up in the web of lies, and Danny pays for the most expensive vacation ever just to cover up (even though it seems paying for sex directly would be much, much cheaper) the plan is forced to follow the rules of improv - the main one being that whatever anyone suggests, you can't deny it, you must accept it (or "go with it").  It also means that if a character starts doing a weird accent, they have to keep it going for the rest of the film, which is unfortunate.

When the fake wife meets an old college rival (hmmm...) she enlists her fake husband to keep a different charade going, and before long no one is really who they say they are, and no one can keep all of their lies straight.

Another thing these romantic comedies love to do is pull the old switcheroo, a long-standing tradition that dates back at least to "The Philadelphia Story" (probably way back to Shakespeare, but that would require research...), so you can kind of count on plans going awry and someone ending up with a different person than they originally intended to.  In this case people who spend time together, pretending to be a former couple, have so much fun together that it leads them to think they might belong together in the long run.

Which kind of is a metaphor for acting in general - how many times have you heard about actors falling in love while playing a couple in a movie?  And for every situation like that the public finds out about, there's probably a dozen hookups on the DL.  It's not that actors can't tell fantasy from reality, it must be that they feel a spark of something while spending time together acting like a couple, and get the idea to replicate it in the real world.   Speaking of college, I met my first wife in comedy writing class, where there were a lot of improv exercises.  Once you break down the barriers and act silly with someone, it leads to a certain familiarity, and that can be a starting point for a real relationship. 

I'm awarding an extra point tonight just for the soundtrack - lots of Police or Sting songs mashed-up with more modern pop songs, and I love a good mash-up.  This put a new spin on using old, tired classic rock songs.  No worn-out anthems like "Back in Black" that have been used in literally hundreds of movies.

Also starring Brooklyn Decker, Nicole Kidman (last seen in "Days of Thunder"), Nick Swardson (last seen in "30:Minutes or Less"), Dave Matthews, with cameos from Kevin Nealon (last seen in "Anger Management"), Rachel Dratch (last seen in "I Hate Valentine's Day"), Dan Patrick, Keegan Michael Key (last seen in "Wanderlust"), Andy Roddick,

RATING: 5 out of 10 grass skirts