Snatched

Year: 2017

Genre: Comedy

Directed: Jonathan Levine

Stars: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack, Tom Bateman, Christopher Meloni, Oscar Jaenada, Randall Park, Arturo Castro, Al Madrigal, Bashir Salahuddin

Production: 20th Century Fox

If you saw the trailer to Snatched and thought to yourself “no thanks,” then congratulations you weren’t alone. The trailer sells it as a Romancing the Stone (1984) meets Hangover (2009) meets a Mother’s Day Hallmark card, and surprising no one, that’s more or less that’s what you get. However if you did think to yourself “no thanks,” then you probably weren’t reading the tea leaves as it were. Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn star - we know that. But what you might not know is it co-stars Ike Barinholtz, is directed by Jonathan Levine, written by Katie Dippold and co-produced by Paul Feig. With names like that the question isn’t whether the movie will be good but how good it will inevitably be.

So yeah, this crew is surprising...

And while the question of whether the movie is the best all these people could muster is ultimately answered with a resounding “meh,” there’s no denying Snatched is marginally decent fun. The kind of fun normally reserved for drinking age women who see their mothers as their best friend and can't wait to hit the club for 80's night and two for one margaritas.

Say "white girl wasted!"

Amy Schumer plays Emily Middleton, a oversexed and under-employed party girl whose hopes of enjoying a nonrefundable trip to Ecuador has been squelched by her (now) ex-boyfriend (Park). Unable to find any friends to join her for the fun, Emily harangues her straight-laced mother (Hawn) into joining her for what promises to be a pretty tame stay at a hotel and resort.

Come to South America! It's to die for!

As one might imagine, things don't go according to plan while in Ecuador. And while the setup for the movie had enough laughter to sustain itself amicably, I for one was bracing for a laundry list of "South America: land of drug cartels and kidnapping" cliches. Thankfully the mildly offensive kidnapping schtick highlighted by the trailer is, just that, mildly offensive. It's also relatively quick in comparison to the oft funny moments of Schumer helplessly traipsing through the Amazon while Hawn glares at her with the look of "I told you so."

Snatched is funny in spurts, mostly anchoring itself on the easygoing chemistry between Schumer and Hawn to act as connective tissue while heavily relying on Schumer and Barinholtz's shut-in older brother character to provide the big chuckles. It's a strenuous predicament, and one that doesn't always work though, Schumer is so comfortably in her wheelhouse its hard to tell unless you're really looking.

What really becomes an asset to Snatched when push comes to shove is its unapologetic silliness. Everything from its simplistic rendering of the Amazon to its in-effectual portrayal of the State Department breeds a comical environment of low stakes and low investment. The movie then invites you, the audience to not just laugh with the characters but at them; most of whom range from outwardly crass and pathetic to, in Meloni's case, incredibly bizarre. Mixed with the film's spritely pace and raunchy, take-nothing-seriously joke delivery it becomes abundantly clear that the only thing the film wants from you is to make you laugh.

Don't you know everyone wants to laugh?

With that in mind, Snatched really can't be blamed for much. If anything it leaves far too many avenues for parody left unexplored. That and there were one or two supposedly showstopping comedic set-pieces, that didn't just fall flat but you can tell had better, funnier, raunchier permutations that were cut for whatever reason.

Just sayin' things could have been a lot funnier...

While leaving the theater tonight, I heard someone say that Snatched was “the best other, daughter road trip movie of all time!” No doubt she was still reeling from the high of the movie (and arguably the free wine they were giving out at the screening). Yet, while I tend to avoid superlative unless the movie truly is worth your time, the fact remains she may actually be right.

Final Grade: C+