Film review: Blended

In 1998, the two stars fell in love to a soundtrack of Nena, Culture Club and The Thompson Twins in The Wedding Singer and, six years later, they turned on the charm in 50 First Dates.

Now, Sandler and Barrymore try in vain to kindle the same irresistible spark in Frank Coraci’s romantic comedy of mismatched single parents.

Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera’s script has a few nice moments of laughter and heart-warming sentiment including surprisingly moving discussions between a father and his children about grief and remembrance.

Unfortunately, tenderness is offset by exaggerated physical comedy and cloying sentiment, which shamelessly manipulates our emotions to ensure every parent has tears glistening in their eyes as the end credits roll.

The two screenwriters struggle to interweave a surfeit of gooey subplots around the central romance and consequently only have enough screen time to embellish supporting characters with a single discernible trait: the daughter who hides her femininity behind a pudding bowl haircut; the son nurturing an unhealthy obsession with his babysitter; the genial resort host who continually mispronounces a Greek surname.

The majority of these gags barely walk, let alone run.