Blended marks the 3rd instalment of what I like to call the “Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler need to get a room” saga and in my opinion it is, overall, the worst.
There are plenty of references to The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates but they are mostly clumsy and forced, especially an old character’s appearance in the grocery store.
Nearly 2 hours long, this movie wouldn’t have suffered from being half an hour shorter although I’m guessing they wanted to take as much advantage of the setting as possible. It features some amazing shots of Africa which are golden and rich, making the scenes filmed elsewhere grubby and harsher.
However…
I used to really respect Drew Barrymore before I watched this film. Now I’m not sure whether she is just an awful actress or she is playing someone I can’t stand really well (it’s the James Franco 127 Hours dilemma all over again!) Joel McHale is perfectly arrogant as Barrymore’s ex husband and Abdoulaye NGom is mildly amusing as the resort host.
The star of the show, however, has to be Alyvia Alyn Lind who plays Sandler’s youngest daughter. I generally dislike most kids, as I may have mentioned before, but she is absolutely adorable and has some classic lines that only cute kids can get away with.
I feel I must say something about the band in Blended, I just can’t think of anything other than to point out that they reminded me of Oompa Loompas in the way they would pop up. It’s the sort of thing that usually pisses me right of, if you’ll excuse the French (after the week they’ve had you really should) but I have to admit to the odd giggle. The use of colour in their scenes is great and might even make up for the fact that a lot of people are going to find their presence just a little bit too much at times.
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