Theres a scene midway through this Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore debacle that sees the two stars, playing single parents propelled together on a South African resort, by chance meet up for morning coffee. They dont say much, commiserating over their respective kids sleeping habits, but what they do say is believable, prompting an unhurried, unforced chemistry. They then turn and look across the lake, and witness two poorly rendered CGI rhinos copulating with great enthusiasm. Blended suffers from a fundamental lack of trust in its audience, following every unexpectedly smart exchange with a numbskull pratfall or one-liner. Barrymore's character in particular suffers from this. While the actress was charismatic and charming in films like The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, this time she simply finds herself at the wrong end of lame jokes and sight gags. One scene in particular has Barrymore spitting out food grotesquely in a really uninspired bit of physical humour that takes the idea of a "bad first date" and does the most obvious dumb things with it. Granted, Barrymore brings the best out of Sandler whenever shes permitted a little leeway, but that doesn't happen often.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
