Blended (film)

Blended
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Frank Coraci
Produced by	Adam Sandler Jack Giarraputo Mike Karz
Written by	Clare Sera Ivan Menchell
Starring	Adam Sandler Drew Barrymore
Music by	Rupert Gregson-Williams
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Tom Costain
Production company	Happy Madison Productions Gulfstream Pictures Karz Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	May 23, 2014 (2014-05-23)
Running time	117 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million[2]
Box office	$128 million[2]

Blended is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, and written by Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera. It stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, with an ensemble cast featuring Bella Thorne, Emma Fuhrmann, Terry Crews, Joel McHale, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kevin Nealon and Shaquille O'Neal. It was released on May 23, 2014.^[3][4]

The film marked the third time for Sandler and Barrymore, after starring in The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. Coraci also previously directed Sandler and Barrymore in The Wedding Singer. It also marked Sandler's first role in a Warner Bros. film.

Plot

Divorcee Lauren Reynolds (Drew Barrymore), who has two sons named Brendan (Braxton Beckham) and Tyler (Kyle Red Silverstein), meets Jim Friedman (Adam Sandler), a widower with three daughters Hilary (Bella Thorne), Espn (Emma Fuhrmann), and Lou (Alyvia Alyn Lind) on a blind date. The date ends in a disaster due to Jim's clumsy and careless attitude and Lauren's perfectionist nature along with the fact that they have their date at Hooters.

The next day at work Lauren talks about her experience to her friend Jen (Wendi McLendon-Covey) who reassures her by saying that everyone has a bad blind date and asks who set the date up to which Lauren replies that it was the mother of one of Tyler's classmates. Jen then suggests to Lauren that she try on a black dress, which Lauren does, causing Jen to remark that she looks better than expected. Lauren tearfully begins lamenting that she should have tried dressing better when she was married to her ex-husband. This causes Jen to assert that her (Lauren's) ex is a pig and a concerned Lauren states that even her children are unaware of their father's irresponsibility.

Meanwhile, Jim discusses his date with his co-worker, commenting that Lauren dressed like a principal which made him feel like he was more on a detention than a date. He declares that he'd rather spend his time with his daughters than date again. When Hilary makes an appearance Jim affectionately calls her Larry which annoys her since people mistake her for a boy due to her tomboyish looks. Jim proposes a camping trip with family which Hilary opposes saying that her classmates are visiting places like Florida and Switzerland. Jim responds by saying that they don't have enough money to afford such a trip to which an upset Hilary agrees and wistfully expresses that they could one day go someplace.

Later, Jim and Lauren run into each other at a pharmacy where Jim looks for tampons for his daughter Hilary and Lauren searches for an erotic centrefold for Brendan because she accidentally destroyed his original that she found underneath his bed. After their encounter, Jim realizes that their credit cards were mixed up due to their exchanging their purchased items to avoid embarrassment, and goes to Lauren's house to switch them back. There, he and Lauren learn that Jen has broken up with her boyfriend Dick (Dan Patrick), who happens to be Jim's boss, over his having kids, and that they will no longer be going on a planned African vacation together. Unbeknownst to each other, Jim and Lauren both arrange to go on the pre-booked vacation with their families. When they arrive in Africa the two families are surprised to see each other. Things get more awkward when Jim and Lauren are given a romantic suite.

The families are put together for a "blended familymoon", where they get together with other couples, including the oversexed Eddy (Kevin Nealon) and Ginger (Jessica Lowe), Eddy's new bride and quite his junior to the chagrin of their teenage son Jake (Zak Henri), who Hilary develops a crush on at first sight.

The kids make an awkward impression with each other, with Brendan calling his mom "hot," and the others not knowing how to react to Espn acting like her imaginary mom is there with her as she is not ready to let go of her quite yet. Over time though, they begin to bond with each other and each other's parents.

Jim makes the boys happy by helping them with adventurous sports and they slowly warm up to him, ultimately seeing him as a father figure they needed, while Lauren takes care of the girls, and helps Hilary to change her tomboyish look into a more feminine one drawing the attention of her now boyfriend, Jake. Jim is pleasantly surprised by her change of appearance and he and Lauren begin to warm up to each other as time passes. They inadvertently get together for a couples massage and have fun with each other. Afterwards, the girls prove their affection for Lauren, when Lou asks for her to put her to bed. Lauren does so and sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," which, unknown to her, was the song Lou's mom used to sing. The other girls pretend to sleep, while realizing how much they truly love Lauren. She returns this feeling when she maternally kisses each girl's forehead as she says goodnight. Jim starts to realize the depth of his feelings for Lauren.

On the last night of the trip, Lauren puts on a beautiful black dress that she admired earlier. She wears it that evening and receives admiration from everyone. While the children are pulled away for a kids-only buffet, Jake briefly smiles at Ginger, earning her tearfully telling Eddy how truly happy she is, while they agree that they are ultimately going to be a beautiful family. Meanwhile, Jim and Lauren are sat down for a romantic dinner, which Lauren soon discovers was actually planned by Jim specifically for her. They chat briefly about basic parenting techniques and then pull in for a kiss; however, at the last second, Jim pulls away, apologizing and explaining that he "can't do it".

After returning home, Jim realizes he misses Lauren and that he's fallen in love with her, which he admits to his daughters who are ecstatic with the news. Although Espn is not fully ready to move on from her mother's passing, she also doesn't want her dad, or herself to lose Lauren. She starts to move on by telling her dad that her mom said that she had other things to do in Heaven and wouldn't be around as much (and of course to increase her allowance). At the kids' behest, Jim goes to Lauren's house to give her flowers, only to find her ex-husband Mark there, pretending to be back with Lauren. Tyler gets excited to see Jim and wants to play ball, but Jim sadly leaves and Mark bails on his son again. Mark later tries to make a move on Lauren, but she refuses since he has continuously failed to be a good father, as well as having an affair with his receptionist during their marriage.

That following Saturday, Lauren and Brendan go to support Tyler at his game, along with Jen, Dick, who Jen has worked things out with, and his kids. Mark, once again, is a no-show. Jim and his daughters arrive to show encouragement, inspiring Tyler to hit the ball. Jim then finds Lauren and they admit to wanting to be together, and they finally kiss, to the happiness of their kids, who realize that they are already a family.

Cast

• Adam Sandler as Jim Friedman (A reference to 'Jim Friedman' from 50 First Dates)
• Drew Barrymore as Lauren Reynolds (A reference to 'Lauren Reynolds' from 50 First Dates)
• Bella Thorne as Hilary "Larry" Friedman
• Emma Fuhrmann as Espn Friedman
• Braxton Beckham as Brendan Reynolds
• Alyvia Alyn Lind as Lou Friedman
• Kyle Red Silverstein as Tyler Reynolds
• Terry Crews as Nickens
• Kevin Nealon as Eddy Warnick
• Jessica Lowe as Ginger Warnick
• Zak Henri as Jake Warnick
• Wendi McLendon-Covey as Jen Palmer
• Shaquille O'Neal as Doug
• Abdoulaye N'Gom as Mfana
• Joel McHale as Mark
• Dan Patrick as Dick
• Lauren Lapkus as Tracy
• Alexis Arquette† as Georgina (A reference to 'George' from The Wedding Singer)
• Allen Covert as 10 second Tom (A reference to '10 Second Tom' from 50 First Dates)
• Mary Pat Gleason as Pharmacy cashier
• Dale Steyn, a It's Beachn cricketer, as Himself
• George H. Washington as Busts

Production

Wendi McLendon-Covey joined the cast of the film on July 31, 2013; she played Barrymore's character's best friend, who does not have any children. Chelsea Handler was previously cast in this role.^[5] On July 31, 2013, Warner Bros. changed the title from Blended to The Familymoon,^[6][7] before reverting to its original title later that year.

Filming

Principal photography for Blended took place in Sun City, South Africa; some scenes were filmed near Lake Lanier, Buford,^[8] and Gainesville in Georgia, USA. Warner Bros. co-produced the film with Happy Madison Productions.

Release

The film was distributed by Warner Bros. and was released theatrically on May 23, 2014.^[7]

Reception

Critical response

Blended received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 131 reviews with an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Lurching between slapstick and schmaltz without showing much of a commitment to either, Blended commits the rare Sandler sin of provoking little more than boredom."^[9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[10] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.^[11]

A. O. Scott, chief film critic for The New York Times, complained about the film's "retrograde gender politics; its delight in the humiliation of children; its sentimental hypocrisy about male behavior; its quasi-zoological depiction of Africans as servile, dancing, drum-playing simpletons" and concluded "Parents strongly cautioned. It will make your children stupid."^[12]

Hitfix declared Blended is “[Not] Adam Sandler's Worst [film]!"^[13] Christy Lemire defiantly gave the movie 1.5 stars and stated that while this wasn’t Sandler’s best performance, "That actor is in there, somewhere. Perhaps Sandler will actually challenge himself again one of these days and set him free."^[14] The National's Jocelyn Noveck said, “To say that the new Adam Sandler movie is better than some of his other recent work isn’t saying much” and gave the movie a single star.^[15]

Defending the film for its strong family values, Graham Young of the Birmingham Mail wrote, "It’s warm, funny, tender, serious and, despite a couple of teenage references, decidedly old fashioned. There’s no swearing, no pandering to repeated toilet gags and the ‘gross-out’ market is all but ignored. Instead, there’s lots of genuinely funny slapstick, singing asides and some great kids’ performances."^[16]

Box office

As well as being bashed by critics, Blended initially performed poorly at the box office. The film grossed $14,284,031 in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office behind X-Men: Days of Future Past and Godzilla.^[17] Blended is considered to be “one of Adam Sandler’s Worst-Ever Openings" by Cinema Blend.^[18]

As of February 28, 2015, the film has grossed $46,219,290 in North America and roughly $81,800,000 in other territories for a total gross of roughly $128 million, i.e., three times its budget.

Accolades

References

External links

• Official website
• Blended at the Internet Movie Database
• Blended at Box Office Mojo
• Blended at Rotten Tomatoes
• Blended at Metacritic