Just Go With It and Gnomeo & Juliet

As usual, Adam Sandler takes sexual crudeness right over the line. Of course, it's not HIM being crude - it's his friends from SNL. I'm planning to write him a letter to explain that the crudeness that he allows in his movies really detracts from the sweet and funny romance.

There were some HYSTERICAL parts of this movie. Some highlights: what Jennifer Anniston's kids say when they need to use the bathroom, saving the dying sheep and the hula contest (especially the tie-breaker). Adam Sandler does a riff on "Piano Man" that was hilarious too.

The romance of the movie is also great. Sandler is really good at being a sweet, good guy. I don't know if I would give this two thumbs up (is that copyrighted or anything?) and I'm definitely not letting my kids see this but if you're willing to overlook a few crude innuendos and one or two outright "Oh MY!" references to sex, go see it. On the other hand, it will be just as good if you wait for it to come out on video and probably even better if you wait for it to be edited for TV.

Speaking of editing, I hope you all know about cleanplaydvd.com. They take all the movies that look good (except for the swearing and the sex and the violence) and edit them so that you are not embarrassed to watch them with your kids. I recently got "Inglorious Basterds" from them and while I could tell where the original movie probably had sickening or crude scenes, I wasn't bothered by them and could concentrate on the story. I highly recommend them.


Gnomeo and Juliet is rated G so I took all my kids to see it for a little family entertainment. It's also in 3-D (completely un-necessarily as usual). I do hope that frequenting G rated movies will encourage studios to make more of them.


I really wasn't looking forward to seeing this movie (but see above for a good reason to do so). I thought the previews looked ridiculous and I hate garden gnomes. HOWEVER, this was really cute. I laughed, I cried, I groaned and cheered. It was really entertaining (which is what I look for in a movie) but it also had some universal themes that you could discuss with your kids or just think about on your own.

I don't want to ruin it for you but it doesn't exactly follow Shakespeare's classic "Romeo and Juliet." It does, however, have several very clever references to many of Shakespeare's plays. (Look for Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Moving Company, a "Tempest" in a teapot, 2B or not 2B and several others). I think it is a much better ending than the classic play (and so do they).