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'Snatched': A New Mother-Daughter Comedy

Snatched is a new comedy currently in theaters from director Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies and The Night Before) and writer Kate Dippold (The Heat and Ghostbusters). Amy Schumer is one of entertainment’s biggest rising current stars. She is a triple threat—hugely talented in stand-up comedy, writing, and acting. Goldie Hawn is something of a national entertainment treasure. She has been a part of movies and beloved by fans for decades, despite having not appeared in a film in 15 years. Together they make a fun mother-daughter duo in this comedy, one that manages to keep the less than stellar plot afloat.

When her rock n’ roll wannabe boyfriend breaks up with her over lunch just before they’re set to take off on a vacation to Ecuador, Emily Middleton (Schumer of Trainwreck and TV’s Inside Amy Schumer) falls apart. She is heartbroken naturally, but her misery is further compounded by the fact that she was just fired from her job in retail sales and by the fact that her vacation tickets are non-refundable. She is so deep in despair that she actually crawls back to her childhood home outside of New York City where her cat-loving mom and agoraphobic brother still live.

Emily’s mom is Linda (Hawn of The Banger Sisters and The First Wives Club), a woman who was once a globe-trotting adventure seeker before she had children, but who has turned into a cautious homebody. Emily’s relationship with Linda is far from enviable and they do not typically spend a lot of time with one another, but given that Emily is desperate, she asks Linda to accompany her on the vacation. At first Linda turns down the offer, but she eventually acquiesces.

Linda’s idea of fun once they arrive at the resort is to read some good books and be tucked in safely before dark each night. Emily is more of a free spirit who doesn’t always think things through like her mother would like her to, so she enjoys a bit of a more raucous good time, which is why she jumps at the chance to hang out with a good-looking stranger named James (Tom Bateman of Creditors and Da Vinci’s Demons) who befriends her at a bar.

After sharing a fun evening out together dancing and drinking, James and Emily make plans for the next morning. James promises to help Emily further explore the area and he invites her mother to come along, too. The plan, Emily and Linda eventually discover, is an elaborate set-up and the women are captured and locked away as unfortunate kidnapping victims.

Emily and Linda have few friends to reach out to for help, but some help comes from two unusual women they met at the resort, Ruth (Wanda Sykes of Evan Almighty and Monster-In-Law) and Barb (Joan Cusack of Say Anything and Working Girl), who have small, but funny roles as well-meaning fellow travelers and from a fellow American named Roger (Christopher Meloni of Man of Steel and 42), whom the women believe to be an expert in navigating the area. Also in the hunt to help the two is Emily’s brother/Linda’s son Jeffrey (Ike Barinholtz of Suicide Squad and Neighbors), who is typically too afraid to leave his home, but finds it inside of himself to threaten government employees into action.

Schumer and Hawn do their best with the script and it is their screen presence that helps viewers to enjoy this film for what it is—an hour-and-a-half long silly comedy starring two funny leading ladies whose characters try to scramble out of one bad situation after another. Snatched is far from groundbreaking comedy, but it provides some decent laughs. It would certainly benefit greatly from allowing Hawn to be better utilized in creating laughs. Although it falls short of its much anticipated hype as a must-see comedy of the season, it still manages to deliver some laughs and to be overall a mostly enjoyable film to view.

Rated R

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