House Calls: Adam Sandler Can't Beat The Rom-Com Curse In "Just Go With It"

This week’s slate of DVD/Blu-ray releases also includes Breaking Bad’s badass third season, True Grit, and the awful Sanctum.

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just-go-with-it-dvd-coverJust Go With It

Coolest extra: Commentary with Adam Sandler and Nick Swardson (DVD); “Decker’s First Role” featurette (Blu-ray only)

Complex says: It’s bad enough that the rest of Hollywood has been bitten by the remake bug, but Adam Sandler, too? Sadly, yes, even the Sandman is guilty of pilfering from old material. With Just Go With It, the million dollar slacker provides his vulgar, juvenile spin on Cactus Flower, a pleasant 1969 comedy that starred Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman and centered on a playboy dentist who avoid serious relationships by faking marriage until he meets “the one” and has to produce a fake spouse.

The original, while not the iconic Matthau or even-more-iconic Bergman’s most celebratory hour, was witty and clever enough to earn an easy A; Just Go With It, dirtier and more rudimentary than most Sandler fare, is brain-dead by comparison. Though slightly better than his last redo, 2002’s dreadful Mr. Deeds, Just Go With It comes nowhere near any of his best flicks. It’s not a total washout, though; usually an empty vessel in forgettable romantic comedies, Aniston is surprisingly on-point alongside an equally improved Sandler, who’s less buffoon and more tolerable nice guy in this one. The movie’s best moments come whenever the two of them trade one-liners and expository dialogue with one another.

Which, unfortunately, doesn’t happen often enough. Just Go With It suffers from an insufferable turn from Nick Swardson as the obnoxious sidekick-type, an abundance of unnecessarily employed poop and fart jokes, and the cliché setting change to a Hawaiian resort, a lame relocation of story that casts Just Go With It in the same actors-taking-a-free-scenic-vacation light as the also underwhelming Couples Retreat and Sandler’s 2010 unfunny comedy Grown Ups.

The Happy Madison honcho’s diehard and, yes, most forgiving fans will no doubt get some yucks; for those unable to completely shut their brains off, there’s only Brooklyn Decker’s vapid, breasts-first/acting-skills-last presence. Admittedly, that’s far better than traditional Sandler cohort Rob Schneider, who’s thankfully nowhere to be seen in Just Go With It. So, yeah…not a total washout.

Buy it now: Just Go With It

 

 

breaking-bad-third-season-dvd-coverBreaking Bad: The Complete Third Season

Coolest extra: “Silent But Deadly: The Brothers Moncada” featurette (DVD/Blu-ray)

Complex says: Prior to Breaking Bad’s third season premiere in March of last year, critics and loyal AMC viewers alike were already well aware of the fact that the Bryan Cranston-anchored, incredibly dark drama was the best damn show on television. Yet, by season’s conclusion three months later, a whole new understanding had been met: Breaking Bad is one of the greatest idiot-box programs of all time.

Sounds a bit overboard? Pick up this 13-episode set, watch every one attentively, and try not to admit that eps such as “One Minute,”“Fly,” and “Half Measures” aren’t brilliantly written, bravely acted, unbelievably brutal, and emotionally taxing. Or that the dynamic between cancer patient turned crystal meth kingpin Walter White (the superb Cranston) and punk wigger turned hardened drug-pusher Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) isn’t endlessly fascinating. Or that the dialogue-free Salamanca brothers (Daniel and Luis Moncada) aren’t two of the most intimidating small-screen villains imaginable.

Breaking Bad’s third season is all about past mistakes (i.e., killing a Mexican drug capo in Season Two) coming back to haunt Walt at a time when his personal stresses (i.e., revealing his narcotics hustle to his disenchanted wife) are tougher than ever. Series creator Vince Gilligan and his writing staff were able to push Walt to new depths without sacrificing any of the peripheral characters, all of whom earned more story-time in Season Three, especially Walt’s DEA agent brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris, who’s a monster in “One Minute”).

With Season Four set to premiere on July 17 (which is too far away, if you ask us), Breaking Bad: The Complete Third Season hits shelves with plenty of time for sleepers to wake the fuck up, smell the meth, and catch up with—we’ll say it again—one of the best TV shows ever.

Buy it now: Breaking Bad: The Complete Third Season

 

 

sanctum-dvd-coverSanctum

Coolest extra: “Sanctum: The Real Story” featurette, which shows the real-life events that inspired the movie (DVD/Blu-ray)

Complex says: Turns out, the almighty James Cameron, a.k.a. Mr. Avatar himself, doesn’t have the unfuckwitable Midas touch after all—at least not when he’s simply producing a project. The proof lies in Sanctum, a cave-diving adventure that’s little more than a couple of well-shot action sequences tucked underneath embarrassingly bad acting, the cheesiest of dialogue, and a predictable script.

Much like Avatar, Sanctum seems to have spawned from a purely visual idea, one that only required a screenplay to pad out a feature film’s running time. Director Alister Grierson shoots the film with a National Geographic eye, only concerned with the cave’s physical interiors and how the human-bodies look when climbing the walls and swimming through the crystal clear water. Whenever he’s required to stage a character-driven scene, however, Grierson makes M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening seem like a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. The cast’s worst offender is Ioan Gruffudd, continuing his reign of line-botching terror started in those Fantastic Four debacles.

Sanctum deserves a slight nod for its dependence on flesh-and-blood stuntwork and not rampant computer graphics; such props are ultimately squandered, though, in an underground sea of ineptitude. It’s a beautifully photographed Discovery Channel special masquerading as a hotbed of poor acting and stilted writing; hopefully, Cameron was distracted by his money to realize he was backing fictionalized movie, not an action-packed documentary. If he supported Sanctum knowingly, his common sense must still be trapped somewhere in Pandora.

Buy it now: Sanctum

 

 

true-grit-dvd-coverTrue Grit

Coolest extra: “From Bustles To Buckskin: Dressing For The 1880s” featurette (DVD); “Colts, Winchesters & Remingtons: The Guns Of A Post-Civil War Western” featurette (Blu-ray only)

Complex says: You've got to admire filmmaking heavyweights Joel and Ethan Coen: At this point in their careers, they’ve pretty much earned carte blanche to make whatever the hell kind of movie they want. After finally earning Best Director honors from the Academy with the 2008 dramatic thriller No Country For Old Men, revisiting their quirky comedy urges for 2008’s Burn After Reading, and then scratching their independent itch with 2009’s lo-fi gem A Serious Man, the Coen Brothers opted to not only tackle a genre remake for their next mainstream look—they decided to play things conventionally. In other words, very un-Coen-like.

The result is the straightforward western True Grit, a remake of the 1969 John Wayne flick adapted from acclaimed author Charlis Portis’ novel of the same name. Save for a couple of extended and electric dialogue exchanges, the story of a resourceful 14-year-old (first-timer Hailee Steinfeld) avenging her father’s murder alongside a drunken U.S. Marshal (Jeff Bridges) and a much more stable Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) is presented as a traditional cowboy pic. Their usual trademarks (random outbursts of bloody violence, uncomfortable humor) are toned down considerably in favor of western nostalgia, a move that shows their appreciation for the genre yet also drains True Grit of exceptionality.

What’s not so standard, however, is the performance from Steinfeld, who commands scenes and maneuvers around lengthy monologues with the gusto of powerhouse actresses three times her age. She’s required to pick up the slack as Damon checks in with a curiously uneven turn. Helping the starlet out is Bridges, in a questionably Oscar-nominated performance that’s entertaining, if not mildly lasting.

True Grit’s huge box office tally ($171 million domestic) might hint that it’s the best western to hit screens in recent years, but that’s not the case; both The Assassination Of Jesse James By That Coward Robert Ford (2007) and the Russell Crowe-led 3:10 To Yuma remake (also ’07) are far superior. Throw those in your queue if you’re in the mood for a modern-day western urge—True Grit, while still a worthy watch, can wait for its DVR life.

Buy it now: True Grit

 

 

posse-blu-ray-coverPosse (Blu-ray)

Coolest extra: None available

Complex says: One older western that we’re pretty sure the Coens didn’t refer to for inspiration is Mario Van Peebles’ Posse; had they been, True Grit could’ve very well starred Lil Mama, Ice Cube, and Common instead of Steinfeld, Bridges, and Damon. Basically hip-hop’s answer to 1988’s Young Guns, Posse is your typical “revenge” western, about a group of black soldiers (led by Van Peebles himself) teaming up with a white dude to empty lead into the honkies that wronged them.

Not a bad set-up, right? Nope—hard-nosed vengeance tales are often the best kind of movies. But consider the cast behind Van Peebles: Big Daddy Kane, Tone Loc, and Stephen Baldwin (as, yes, the white dude), as well as an exaggeratedly racist villain played by the always hammy Billy Zane. Posse isn’t a flick that needed a Blu-ray re-release, frankly, but this new, restored edition does allow one the chance to peep the gorgeous Salli Richardson’s 26-year-old, exposed boobies in a pristine digital transfer.

Since True Grit’s only female participant is fourteen, you’ll find no such glorious T&A in the Coens’ flick. So, clearly, it’s “home video advantage: Marion Van Peebles.” We’re sure the Academy would love that.

Buy it now: Posse (Blu-ray)

 

 

the-out-law-josey-wales-blu-ray-coverThe Outlaw Josey Wales (Blu-ray)

Coolest extra: “Clint Eastwood’s West” featurette

Complex says: Drawing “Random Western Week” to a close is a classic that wholeheartedly earns our recommendation without any gratuitous female nudity: Clint Eastwood’s fifth directorial effort, and ninth western as an actor, The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Violent but also funny and at times sentimental, Josey Wales marked a turning point in Eastwood’s legendary western run. Prior to the film’s 1976 premiere, he was mostly known for the non-talkative toughs he played in director Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” trilogy (1964’s A Fistful Of Dollars, 1965’s A Few Dollars More, and 1966’s The Good, The Bad, The Ugly); in The Outlaw Josey Wales, his titular character—a former Confederate soldier being pursued by his old commanders after deserting during the Civil War—strikes up some cordial, and even playful, banter with a misfit crew of supporting characters, namely a Cherokee Indian (Chief Dan George). Flashing some charismatic personality, Eastwood’s performance here, along with his solid handling of actors and action as a director, separates Josey Wales from the rest of his westerns with lighter accessibility.

That’s not to say that the film is pillow-soft; we’re still talking about old-school Clint here. Of all this week’s western DVD/Blu-ray releases, this 35th anniversary edition of an Eastwood standard is the obvious top choice, made even greater by a 29-minute supplement, titled “Clint Eastwood’s West,” that pays homage to the man’s impeccable legacy within the genre through interviews with Morgan Freeman (his Unforgiven co-star), Oliver Stone, James Mangold (director of the 3:10 To Yuma remake), and Eastwood himself. It’s no naked Salli Richardson, but that’s quite all right.

Buy it now: The Outlaw Josey Wales (Blu-ray)

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