Blended

Vulture

You've seen Blended dozens of times. Guy chases the girl, guy loses the girl, guy gets the girl back, they kiss, everyone cheers, the end. But even though it's nothing radically new, it's a familiar, feel-good movie that you're happy to watch again. It doesn't pretend to be anything extraordinary, and because of that, it's an uplifting and occasionally special comedy.

Blended starts out on a blind date gone wrong between widower Jim (Adam Sandler) and divorcee Lauren (Drew Barrymore). Coincidentally, both end up hearing about the exact same vacation package to a beautiful African resort. Thinking it would be perfect for his three daughters and her two sons, they take the chance to get away. When they run into each other during the resort's blended family event, the two families soon discover they're in for a wild adventure leading up to the foreseeable happy ending. Proven in their past collaborations for movies The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, Sandler and Barrymore do some of their best work together, complimenting each other's artistry in every shared scene.

The film's supporting cast of characters helps to make Blended different from others of its kind. The charming performances by youngsters Kyle Red Silverstein (who I'm convinced is Nolan Gould's doppelgänger) and Alyvia Alyn Lind evoke an impressive balance of fun and innocence, while Bella Thorne brings heart and laughter to the androgynous Hillary (aka "Larry"), and the comedic timing of resort employee Nickens (Terry Crews) and his merry band of backup performers is nothing short of perfect.

Despite having an epilogue that stretches out a bit long and some unsuccessfully forced humor, Blended is an otherwise brilliant comedy. It's just as funny (and in some aspects, better) than 2014's Bad Words and Neighbors. Although it's nothing for the history books, it's the best that I've seen Adam Sandler in years, partially because it never gets as unnecessarily dramatic as some of his other works like Big Daddy or Mr. Deeds. Not since 2007's Click have I been so convinced that Adam Sandler still has a few surprises up his sleeve.

Don't listen to the other critics - listen to me. Go see the Adam Sandler movie in Africa. Go back to a time when you weren't able to predict the ending to every romcom on the planet, and put yourself in the mindset that a movie with goofy sex jokes and a lot of laughs could be the feel-good film of the year. If you go into Blended with that mindset, you might just be surprised to find yourself enjoying an Adam Sandler movie in this decade. Isn't it time we had another light-hearted comedy to our list of lovable movies? Well, believe it or not, Blended might just be that movie.

Rating: 4/5