Cert 12A
117 mins
BBFC advice: moderate sex references, moderate bad language, rude gestures
Words I didn't expect to write include: "Adam Sandler's latest movie made us laugh more than any in the last 10 or maybe 20 years."
And yet it is true. Despite the loathing we have had for the likes of Jack And Jill, That's My Boy and Grown Ups 1 & 2 and our anticipation of another huge turkey, we guffawed until we were hoarse during Blended.
What makes the hilarity even more surprising is that Blended's director is Frank Coraci who was responsible for the awful Zookeeper with Kevin James and the below average Here Comes The Boom.
However, in our opinion, Blended is a comedy which, whatever critics say, is up there with Parenthood.
Interestingly, I note that on the Rotten Tomatoes website, the critics' barometer for Blended scores just 14% fresh from 117 reviews and yet 72% of more than 25,000 users gave it the thumbs up.
We clearly weren't the only ones who were rolling around. As well as the amateur reviewers, the audience at Sheffield Cineworld yesterday were laughing even more than we were and my followers on Facebook and Twitter agreed that it tickled their funny bones too.
So how has Sandler managed it?
Well, for starters, he is much more low-key here and his voice is much less whiny.
In fact, then big gags tend to be in the hands of the kids in the cast, an African singer and his backing band and the wildlife in a safari park.
Sandler plays a widowed father of three tom-boy girls who first meets divorcee Drew Barrymore's character on a disastrous blind date.
A coincidence leads them to take their children on a trip of a lifetime to a South African resort where, unknown to them, an adventure/romance week is trying to help step-families blend.
There is an element of corniness in the inevitably Sandler/Barrymore love-in but that doesn't get in the way of the big-hit jokes which are timed perfectly.
I know that I am likely to have my credibility questioned when I give Blended 9.5/10 but I ask only this - what more can a comedy do than make the audience laugh?
I can't be precise how many times we had big belly laughs but it was more than 15 and I think that is an everyfilm record.
Laughs: Between 15 and 20!
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 9.5/10