Liars never prosper, but sometimes they can be pretty hilarious — on screen, at least. In Adam Sandler’s new comedy Just Go With It, the characters become tangled in elaborate lies. As expected, the fibs start out innocently enough, but quickly grow to monstrous proportions.
Sandler stars as Danny, a plastic surgeon who wears a wedding ring when picking up women to ensure no-strings-attached encounters. But his scheme is snagged when he meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) and decides he’s genuinely interested. He doesn’t want to pretend he’s married anymore, and that’s when the snowball starts rolling.
Danny enlists Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), his personal assistant, to act as his soon-to-be ex-wife. Her kids get roped in too, and even Danny’s cousin, played by comedian-actor Nick Swardson (Reno911!, Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time).
Swardson said he began working with Sandler after his debut stand-up special for Comedy Central around eight years ago.
“What if I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve worked with him for eight years. I hate it,” Swardson joked.
His first gig with Sandler was writing for and playing Jeff in Grandma’s Boy, a comedy produced by Happy Madison (Sandler’s company). It didn’t make a dent at the box office but became a cult-like favorite after its DVD release.
“I think [Eddie in Just Go With It is] kind of a hybrid of Jeff and myself. And Meryl Streep,” he said.
Swardson said Just Go With It is among his favorite endeavors, and that Aniston’s performance is reminder of her comedic prowess.
“I think this is a movie that showcases her really well,” he said. “And kind of makes people remember how funny she is, and how talented. I think she’s so blown out in the tabloids and they spend so much time making rumors about her [that] the public loses sight of how brilliant she is. She has great comedic timing.”
There’s a scene where Aniston’s character yanks Eddie’s tongue, but Swardson said he wasn’t hurt during filming.
“The only thing that went wrong is that [Aniston] got a terrible disease on her finger that’s incurable,” he said.
Swardson’s character is willingly wrapped up in the lies, as he pretends to be Katherine’s boyfriend, who claims he’s an Internet sheepherder. He joked that in real life, he doesn’t lie anymore because he “learned his lesson” after pretending to be a fireman when a house was burning down.
“And they were waiting for me to put out the fire, and after like, an hour, the house burned down. And I was like, ‘I’m just kidding. I’ve never been a fireman.’ Then people were really pissed at me,” he said.
Just Go With It is now in theaters.
