The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

After a series of disappointing turns, Adam Sandler teams up with Drew Barrymore for the third time in Blended. Unfortunately, the rom-com very quickly transpires to be another typically fruitless and drivelling film that only goes onto suggest that – as many have been saying for years – that the old reliable Sandler charm is running rather thin.

Directed by a frequent Sandler workmate, Frank Coraci, Blended is centred on single parents, Jim Friedman (Sandler) and Lauren Reynolds (Barrymore).  Jim, a widower and sporting goods manager still grieving over the loss of his wife, has been struggling to raise his three daughters, Hillary (Thorne), Espn (Fuhrmann) and six-year-old Lou (Lind). Lauren, on the other hand, is a divorced control freak that has similarly been struggling with her two young sons, Brendan (Beckham) and Tyler (Silverstein).

The duo is fixed up on a blind date which goes terribly wrong and the two are very quick to dislike each other. However, fate has other plans in store when they end up forced into a South African safari vacation for the sake of their respective kids.

Having no choice but to play nice, Jim and Lauren decide to cast their differences aside for the sake of their children and the twosome, who have been at each other’s necks since the very beginning, soon begin to feel that there might be something deeper at play.

Sandler very slightly retreats from his trademark goofy, man-child persona and manages to almost, kind-of manages to pass off the role of a congenial, struggling father despite a few instinctively cartoonish outbursts.

The pair, who previously co-starred in The Wedding Singer and Fifty First Dates, is known for their easy chemistry and cutesy ways, but although it worked for them in the past, Blended doesn’t seem to know how to merge their supposed hatred with their obvious attraction into a credible idea.

Written by Ivan Menchelli and Clara Sera, the story tries to take a deeper look into the struggling world of single-parenting and the troubles they go through raising their obviously troubled children, who, in their own little way, are trying hard to move on. The idea is right on the money, but in true Sandler fashion, the consistent stream of cheap gags and lowbrow humour means that you’ll probably be seeing Blended a lot on MBC 2 later in the year.