Review of Snatched (2017) by Kristofer H — 14 May 2017

Proper Perspective: This is a corky family drama that becomes a vacation comedy, then a survival comedy, and when the credits rolled it worked. There have not been very many quality comedies this year, but so far Snatched might be the best to date. Let's talk about Snatched...

Official Synopsis: When her boyfriend dumps her before their exotic vacation, a young woman persuades her ultra-cautious mother to travel with her to paradise, with unexpected results.

Plot: Yeah, that about says it.

Take: One of the hardest things with a comedy is the marketing. Most of the time the best gags or jokes are hinted at or flat out used in the trailers and then the movie is flat. Those moments are not as funny after seeing them a dozen times on TV or whatnot. That is not the case here.

I'd say 3/10 of the funniest jokes are spoiled in the trailers and the rest of the really funny gags were saved for the movie going experience. Bravo.

Director Jonathon Levine has a realness to the way he directs and uses dialog in movies. He is known for movies like 50/50, Warm Bodies, and The Night Before. While.

Snatched is a notch below all of those movies, there were moments where as an audience member you appreciate the character saying what you were thinking or would do. That gave the movie a freshness that is not like the run of the mill overly produced comedies we see every year.

The side characters make this movie. While Goldie Hawn (Linda Middleton) and Amy Schumer (Emily Middleton) were funny and engaging as the leads, the performances of Wanda Sykes (Ruth), Joan Cusack (Barb), Ike Barinholtz (Jeffrey Middleton), Christopher Meloni (Roger Simmons), and Bashir Salahuddin (Morgan Russell) make this movie. Most memorable comedies have side characters like these that push the movie over the top, but when the movie was over I wanted to see the Jeffrey and Morgan movie and the Ruth and Barb movie. Not sure what that says about me.

All comedies have the generic second act tension followed by forced drama in the third act to make it a complete movie, versus a series of funny gags. I can say that Snatched earned most of their dramatic moments and they did not hurt the movie as a whole.

That is a credit to the script or the direction of Levine.

Recommendation: Overall I was pleasantly surprised at how funny this movie was. The default drama inserted into the final act was earned and did not feel out of place. So, if you are itching for a comedy in-between all the blockbuster superhero movies, Snatched is a solid time at the movies...

In the Snatched sequel Barb is going to stick all those things in a dude's d-hole. It will happen.