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Just Go with It

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"Pretend Wife" redirects here. Not to be confused with The Make-Believe Wife.
Just Go With It
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDennis Dugan
Screenplay by
Based onCactus Flower
by I. A. L. Diamond
Cactus Flower
by Abe Burrows
Pierre Barillet
Jean-Pierre Gredy
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTheo van de Sande
Edited byTom Costain
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release dates
  • February 8, 2011 (2011-02-08) (New York City)
  • February 11, 2011 (2011-02-11) (United States)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[1]
Box office$214 million[2]

Just Go With It is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling, and produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, and Heather Parry. It is a remake of the 1969 film Cactus Flower,[3] and stars Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. It tells the story of a plastic surgeon who enlists his assistant to help him woo a sixth-grade math teacher.

Production of the film began on March 2, 2010. Originally titled Holiday in Hawaii and then Pretend Wife,[4] it was produced by Sandler's Happy Madison Productions and released in North America on February 11, 2011, by Columbia Pictures. The film grossed over $214 million, becoming a box-office success. It received negative reviews with criticism for the plot and editing, but praise for its writing and acting. Just Go With It won two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor and Worst Director.

Plot

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Danny Maccabee discovers on his wedding day that his fiancée has been cheating on him. He is also shocked by her and her friends belittling him, and his family, and how she is only marrying him for his success. A distraught Danny proceeds to walk out and ends up at a bar. While drowning his sorrows, a woman approaches him and after inquiring on his ring, he lies of being in a unhappy marriage and wins her over.

Years later, Danny is a successful Los Angeles plastic surgeon and has changed his looks. He keeps his wedding ring and continues his guise feigning being in an unhappy marriage with women that he meets in order to seduce them without having to face long-term romantic commitment. The only woman aware of his scheme is Katherine Murphy, his office manager/assistant and a divorced mother of two. At a party, Danny removes his ring to tend to a child's scraped knee. Shortly afterwards, he meets Palmer, a young sixth-grade math teacher. They spend the night on the beach together, but Palmer finds Danny’s wedding ring in his pocket the next morning and leaves, upset that he seemingly cheated on his wife with her. She reveals her own parents divorced because of infidelity.

Instead of telling Palmer the truth, Danny claims he is getting divorced from a woman named Devlin after she cheated on him with a man named Dolph Lundgren. When Palmer insists on meeting Devlin, Danny convinces Katherine to pose as her and give them her blessing. After Palmer overhears Katherine talking on the phone with her children, Michael and Maggie, she assumes they are Danny's as well and requests to meet them. Danny convinces Michael and Maggie to go along with the scheme, though they blackmail him to take them all to Hawaii. At the airport, they run into Danny's cousin Eddie, who is traveling in disguise as "Dolph Lundgren" whilst running from his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. To maintain the facade, Danny and Katherine are forced to bring him along.

At the resort in Hawaii, Katherine and Danny run into the real-life Devlin Adams, Katherine’s frenemy from college, and her husband Ian Maxtone-Jones. Over time, Katherine becomes impressed by Danny and his way of interacting with her family. Devlin invites Katherine and Danny out to dinner, and Danny and Katherine begin to fall in love with each other. Later, however, Palmer suggests to Danny that they marry the following day, having learned from a drunken Eddie of Danny's plans to get engaged. Though surprised by her proposal, Danny agrees.

Palmer asks Katherine if she still has feelings for Danny, which Katherine dismisses. Katherine runs into Devlin at a bar and admits that she pretended to be married to Danny to avoid embarrassment, and Devlin confesses that she is divorcing Ian, as he is gay. While Katherine is confiding in Devlin about her feelings towards Danny, Danny arrives and tells Katherine he is not marrying Palmer because he is in love with her, and they kiss. Palmer meets a professional tennis player who shares her interests, and Danny and Katherine eventually marry.

Cast

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Reception

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Box office

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Just Go with It grossed $103 million in the U.S. and Canada and $111.9 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $214.9 million.[5]

The film topped its opening weekend box office with $30.5 million.[6] The biggest market in other territories being Russia, where it grossed $13,174,937.[7]

Critical response

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Just Go with It received generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19%, based on 138 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's consensus reads: "Just Go with It may be slightly better than some entries in the recently dire rom-com genre, but that's far from a recommendation."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[10]

The Telegraph named Just Go with It in its "ten worst films of 2011" list, saying it is "a crass and overpopulated remake of Cactus Flower, served up as a mangy romcom of serial deceptions."[11] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic noted that "the title itself seems a plea for audiences' forbearance" and is part of a disappointing trend involving "the reimagining of good, if perhaps not quite classic, films associated with the latter 1960s and early 1970s."[3] Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote that Just Go With It "is saved from utter disaster, though, by Jennifer Aniston" who has "expert comic timing" and "plays like a grown-up."[12]

Nicole Kidman was praised by critics as the sole bright spot.[13]

Accolades

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List of awards and nominations
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result Ref.
Golden Raspberry Awards April 1, 2012 Worst Actor Adam Sandler (also for Jack and Jill) Won [citation needed]
Worst Supporting Actor Nick Swardson (also for Jack and Jill) Nominated
Worst Supporting Actress Nicole Kidman Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Adam Sandler and either Jennifer Aniston or Brooklyn Decker Nominated
Worst Director Dennis Dugan (also for Jack and Jill) Won
Teen Choice Awards August 7, 2011 Choice Movie: Romantic Comedy Just Go with It Nominated [14]
Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy Adam Sandler Nominated
Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy Jennifer Aniston Nominated
Choice Movie Breakout: Female Brooklyn Decker Won
Choice Movie: Chemistry Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston Won

Home media

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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Just Go with It on DVD and Blu-ray disc on June 7, 2011. As of 2019, it has grossed $25,014,665 in North America DVD sales.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Horn, John (February 10, 2011). "Word of Mouth: 'Just Go With It' plays the demographics". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 17, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
  2. ^ "Just Go With It (2011)". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
  3. ^ a b Orr, Christopher (11 February 2011). "'Just Go With It': A Sad Union of the Saccharine and Scatological". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  4. ^ Borys Kit (2009-12-08). "Sandler, Aniston playing 'Pretend'". The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen Business Media. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  5. ^ "Just Go with It". boxofficemojo.com. IMDB. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  6. ^ "Just Go with It Weekend Grosses". boxofficemojo.com. IMDB. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  7. ^ "Just Go with It Foreign Totals". boxofficemojo.com. IMDB. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  8. ^ "Just Go with It". Rotten Tomatoes. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  9. ^ Just Go with It Reviews Archived 2018-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Metacritic. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  10. ^ John Young (February 13, 2011). "Box office report: 'Just Go With It' barely beats 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never' in photo finish". Entertainment Weekly. the PG-13 film scored a strong "A-" rating
  11. ^ "Ten worst films of 2011". The Telegraph. London. December 15, 2011. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  12. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (11 February 2011). "Movie Review: Just Go With It". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011.
  13. ^ Solis, Jose (13 June 2011). "Not Even Nicole Kidman Completists Should Suffer Through 'Just Go With It'". Popmatters. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Blake Lively Wins Choice TV Drama Actress The Teen Choice Awards! Here Are More Winners!". Hollywood Life. August 7, 2011. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  15. ^ "Just Go With It". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
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