Blended (film)

Blended is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci and distributed by Warner Bros. It was written by Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera. Its story follows Jim and Lauren, two single parents who went on a blind date together and never wanted to see each other again afterwards. To their surprise they both end up at the same African safari resort with their children and are forced to stay together. 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. South African cricketer Dale Steyn plays a cameo as himself.

Blended
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrank Coraci
Produced by
Written by
  • Clare Sera
  • Ivan Menchell
Starring
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams
CinematographyJulio Macat
Edited byTom Costain
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • May 23, 2014 (2014-05-23)
Running time
117 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40-45 million[2][3]
Box office$128 million[2]

The film was produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, and Mike Karz and was released on May 23, 2014.[4][5] It grossed $14.3 million during its opening weekend and $128 million worldwide, against a budget of $40 million.[2] The film received generally negative reviews and has a 14% approval rating based on 137 votes on Rotten Tomatoes.[6][7] This is the third collaboration between Sandler and Barrymore after The Wedding Singer (also directed by Coraci) and 50 First Dates.

Plot

Divorced Lauren Reynolds goes on a blind date with widower Jim Friedman at Hooters; it goes badly. Lauren talks to her friend Jen about the experience. Jim discusses his date with his co-worker. They both agree in the separate discussions that things could have gone better.

Lauren and Jim run into each other while on errands to the pharmacy, and the cashier mistakenly switches their credit cards. Jim goes to Lauren's house to switch the credit cards back. Jen is at Lauren's house and has broken up with her boyfriend Dick, Jim's boss, although she and Dick had already paid for a trip to Africa. Lauren commits to using Jen's portion of the vacation package without knowing that Jim intends to use Dick's as well and that the hotel accommodation is for a romantic suite.

The families are put together for a "blended familymoon", where they get together with other couples, including the oversexed Eddy and Ginger. Eddy's new bride is quite his junior, to the chagrin of their teenage son Jake, on whom Jim's oldest daughter Hilary develops a crush 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 mom is there with her, as she is not ready to let go of her quite yet. Over time the kids begin to bond with each other and each other's parent.

Jim bonds with the boys, helping them with adventurous sports, while Lauren bonds with the girls, helping Hilary to change her tomboyish look into a more feminine one, leading to Jake becoming her boyfriend.

As they become closer to their children, Jim and Lauren begin to warm up to each other. They inadvertently get together for a couples' massage and have fun with each other. When Lou asks Lauren to put her to bed, Lauren sings her "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. 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 to America, 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 family 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.

At the kids' behest, Jim goes to Lauren's house to give her flowers, only to find her ex-husband Mark there. Tyler gets excited to see Jim and wants to play ball; Mark bullies Jim into leaving, then ditches Tyler to answer a summons from work. Mark tries to make a move on Lauren, but she refuses his advances because of his continuous failure to be a good father, in addition to his having an affair during their marriage.

Lauren and Brendan go to support Tyler at his next baseball game, along with Jen and Dick, whom Jen has worked things out with, and his five kids. Mark doesn't come to the game. Jim and his daughters arrive to show encouragement, inspiring Tyler to hit the ball as Jim had taught him in Africa. 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 blended family.

Cast
  • Adam Sandler as Jim Friedman
  • Drew Barrymore as Lauren Reynolds
  • Bella Thorne as Hilary Friedman, Jim's older daughter
  • Braxton Beckham as Brendan Reynolds, Lauren's older son
  • Emma Fuhrmann as Espn Friedman, Jim's middle daughter
  • Kyle Red Silverstein as Tyler Reynolds, Lauren's younger son
  • Alyvia Alyn Lind as Louise “Lou” Friedman, Jim's younger daughter
  • Terry Crews as Nickens
  • Kevin Nealon as Eddy Warnick
  • Jessica Lowe as Ginger Warnick, Eddy's wife
  • Zak Henri as Jake Warnick, Eddy's son
  • Wendi McLendon-Covey as Jen Palmer, Lauren's friend and co-worker
  • Joel McHale as Mark, Lauren's ex-husband
  • Abdoulaye N'Gom as Mfana, trip's tour guide

In addition, Shaquille O'Neal appears as Doug; Dan Patrick, longtime anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter, appears as Dick; South African Cricket Team superstar Dale Steyn plays himself; Lauren Lapkus appears as Tracy the babysitter; Mary Pat Gleason appears as a pharmacy cashier; Allen Covert and Alexis Arquette make cameo appearances reprising their roles as Ten Second Tom and Georgina from 50 First Dates and The Wedding Singer, respectively. Sandler’s mother, wife, and daughters, Judith, Jacqueline, Sunny, and Sadie Sandler, appear in the film.

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.[8] On July 31, 2013, Warner Bros. changed the title from Blended to The Familymoon,[9][10] before reverting to its original title later that year.

Filming

Principal photography for Blended took place at the Sun City resort, South Africa. Some scenes were filmed near Lake Lanier, Buford,[11] and Gainesville in Georgia, USA. Warner Bros. Pictures co-produced the film with Happy Madison Productions.

Release

The film was distributed by Warner Bros., and released theatrically on May 23, 2014.[10]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 26, 2014. It sold $14,808,893 in DVD and $5,619,798 in Bluray for a total of $20,428,691.[12]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 138 reviews with an average rating of 4.05/10. 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."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100 based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[13][3]

A. O. Scott, of 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."[14] Andrew Barker of Variety criticized the film for not trusting its audience "following every unexpectedly smart exchange with a numbskull pratfall or one-liner, and every instance of genuine sincerity with an avalanche of schmaltz."[15] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a wholesome family drama, and compared it to the 2005 film Yours, Mine and Ours. Linden praised the lead performances saying "Sandler and Barrymore display an onscreen connection that lends a grounding warmth to the clunkiest comedy setups" and welcomed the interruption by Terry Crews character, although "Like all routines in the film, though, it repeats itself rather than venture into fresher and funnier territory." In summary "This hit-and-miss comedy feels caught between old-school nostalgia and movie-persona growing pains on the part of Adam Sandler."[16] Christy Lemire 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."[17] 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.[18] Hitfix declared Blended is "[Not] Adam Sandler's Worst [film]!"[19]

Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review and wrote: "It could have been a bit smarter and a lot shorter, but Blended, the third big-screen pairing for Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore (after The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates), is a fun, often funny, largely enjoyable romp."[20] 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."[21]

Box office

The film performed poorly at the box office, analysts had predicted an opening weekend gross of $30 million but the film grossed just $14.2 million.[22][23] It finished third at the box office behind X-Men: Days of Future Past and Godzilla.[2] According to Warner Bros., the audience was 56% female and 74% over the age of 25, which indicates that families were not a big part of the opening weekend audience.[24] Cinema Blend called it "one of Adam Sandler's Worst-Ever Openings" comparing it to 50 First Dates which opened to $40 million ten years previously.[25][26][27] Dan Fellman Warner Bros.' president of domestic distribution attributed the weak opening to good weather over Memorial Day weekend, but was optimistic based on the A- grade from CinemaScore.[3] Box Office Mojo said it was likely to earn over $50 million.[24][28]

The film had grossed $46,219,290 in North America and $81,800,000 in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $128 million.[2][12]

Accolades
Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor Adam Sandler Nominated [29]
Worst Actress Drew Barrymore Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Shaquille O'Neal Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Comedy Blended Nominated [30]
Choice Movie Actor: Comedy Adam Sandler Nominated
Choice Movie Actress: Comedy Drew Barrymore Nominated
Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast Young Ensemble Cast Won [31]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Best Supporting Actress Emma Fuhrmann Nominated

References
  1. "BLENDED". Warner Bros. British Board of Film Classification. March 27, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  2. "Blended (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  3. Pamela McClintock (May 23, 2014). "Box Office: 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Nabs Record $302M Globally; 'Blended' Bombs". The Hollywood Reporter. audiences were more forgiving, awarding it an A- CinemaScore. One saving grace is the film's relatively modest $45 million budget.
  4. Rebecca Ford (April 24, 2013). "Warner Bros. Announces Title, Release Date for Adam Sandler Romantic Comedy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  5. "Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore Comedy Blended Set for May 23, 2014". ComingSoon.net. April 24, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  6. "Blended". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  7. "Blended Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
  8. Lucas Shaw (July 31, 2013). "'Bridesmaids' Actress 'Wendi McLendon-Covey' Joins Adam Sandler Comedy for Warner Bros". TheWrap.com. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  9. Dave McNary (July 31, 2013). "Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore Comedy Re-Named 'Familymoon'". Variety. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  10. Dominic Patten (July 31, 2013). "Warner Bros' Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore Rom-Com Gets New Name". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  11. "'Blended', starring Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore, will film in Georgia, too". onlocationvacations.com. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  12. "Blended (2014) - Financial Information". The Numbers (website).
  13. "CinemaScore". Cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. BLENDED (2014) A-
  14. "When Single Parents Collide on a Safari". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  15. Barker, Andrew (May 22, 2014). "Film Review: 'Blended'". Variety (magazine).
  16. Sheri Linden (May 22, 2014). "'Blended': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  17. "Blended". Roger Ebert. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  18. "The National". Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  19. "Blended". Hit Fix. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  20. Gary Goldstein (May 22, 2014). "Review: 'Blended,' with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, is fun". Los Angeles Times. Terry Crews, playing the singers’ shamelessly buff and ebullient frontman, is a hoot.
  21. Young, Graham (May 23, 2014). "Movie review: Blended (12A)". Birmingham Mail.
  22. RYAN FAUGHNDER (May 22, 2014). "Review: 'Blended,' with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, is fun". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  23. Ray Subers (May 22, 2014). "Forecast: 'X-Men' Targets $100 Million Memorial Day Debut". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 4, 2020. it could wind up close to $30 million for the four-day weekend.
  24. Ray Subers (May 25, 2014). "Weekend Report: 'X-Men' Rules Memorial Day, Falls Short of Franchise Record". Box Office Mojo. Meanwhile, Adam Sandler's Blended bombed.
  25. "Blended". Cinema Blend. Grant Land. May 26, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  26. Rosen, Christopher (May 26, 2014). "Adam Sandler's Latest Flop Is 'Blended'". HuffPost. ‘Blended’ Is One Of Adam Sandler’s Worst Openings Ever
  27. Ray Subers (May 24, 2014). "Friday Report: 'X-Men' Kicks Off Holiday Weekend with $36 Million". Box Office Mojo. That's a terrible start for an Adam Sandler movie: it's less than half of Jack and Jill's $9.8 million, and is even lower than 2012 flop That's My Boy ($4.6 million).
  28. Ray Subers (June 3, 2014). "May Box Office Hits Lowest Level Since 2010". Box Office Mojo. Blended earned $27.4 million through its first nine days—less than most Sandler movies earn in their first weekend—and is on track for around $50 million total.
  29. "RAZZIES Celebrate 35 Years of Worst Achievements in Film with Inclusive Nominee List ...and New "Redeemer" Award". Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  30. Nordyke, Kimberly (August 10, 2014). "Teen Choice Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  31. "36th Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
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