Sometimes in life, you have to just go with it

                                                               Just Go with It            

                                                        A Chris Pozzi Critique

            Sometimes in life, you have to just go with it.  That is Adam Sandler’s philosophy in his major motion picture Just Go with It.  This movie is about a divorced plastic surgeon that was cheated on by his first wife.  When he got cheated on, he vowed that he would never put his heart into a real relationship again, so he sleeps around with women.  The kicker with this is not that he sleeps around, but instead that he wears his old wedding ring and makes stories up about how he is getting a divorce because his soon to be ex-wife does not treat him well.  This escalates when he finds a women he thinks he loves and must introduce her to his fake ex-wife (Jennifer Aniston’s character) and his fake two children.  Once they meet, the major part of the movie is that Adam Sandler’s character, his new girlfriend, his “ex-wife”, and their “two kids” travel to Hawaii to get to know each other.  The twists and turns that make up this movie are a comic relief, but the major aspect of it that I personally notice is the product placement that the whole movie has.  Martin Smith explains why product placement is a good aspect of movies in his article ADVERTISING; Name-brand props in the movies; Consumer group wants labels to signify product placement: “…the spread of product placement has helped make the movies less and less coherent as narrative and less challenging as visions of reality” (3).  None of these placements in Just Go with It are over-used; they are all unique and bring a new aspect to the movie. 

                One of the big ways that this movie uses product placement is the use of Pizza Hut.  Yes, it is pretty obvious that this pizza shop is obviously endorsing themselves in this movie.  However, I believe it is even more important than any other product placement.  This is because the conversation that was had between Adam Sandler’s character and his two fictional kids is so important.  He is trying to convince them to pretend to be his kids in order to trick his new girlfriend.  This is one of the most important parts of the movie, so the place it was occurring was emphasized.  In addition, Adam Sandler encourages his “daughter” to eat the pizza because she has not been eating lately.  This encourages the fact that she needs to eat and is a pretty interesting way for the movie to encourage girls and to discourage not eating.  The ethos of this movie has to do with the sponsorship with Pizza Hut.  Out of everything, this is one of the only locational product placements.  Everybody knows what Pizza Hut is, and everyone knows their pizza is good, so it is the most credible. 

                Another example of product placement is the Apple “IMan” in the movie.  This character is introduced later on in the movie, and is pretty annoying.  This man uses the term “IMan” as a way to describe himself because he supposedly invented the IPod.  This is a way for Apple to get their product out there, but I do not think in the best light.  This character is known as pretty obnoxious and frankly gives the IPod a bad name.  The audience learns to hate this character for how annoying he is.  In addition, he turns out to be gay, which could turn certain audiences away and keep them from associating themselves with Apple products.  The pathos of this movie is shown with the “IMan” mostly, because he is such a frustrating character.  He really brings out the emotion of the audience as he bothers all of the characters with his interaction with them so much. 

                  Lastly, Adam Sandler himself does a good amount of product placement. He wears a good majority of promotional t-shirts, usually for universities.  Specifically, he wears NYU t-shirts a few times, which is where he attended college.  It is a way for him to promote the universities subtly but still putting it out there.  Lastly, the logos of this movie is brought out with the fact that Adam Sandler wears the college t-shirts.  This is because they are such a normal item, and college has become such a normal transition in life.  It is a logical piece of clothing for a college graduate to wear and to represent.  Martin Smith explains this in his article ADVERTISING; Name-brand props in the movies; Consumer group wants labels to signify product placement: “…brand-name products and logos realistically reflect the landscape of everyday American life” (2).  Adam Sandler shows the norm of everyday life while wearing these t-shirts.  This shows you that while yes his character is rich and sways many women, he is still a normal person with a normal life (He went to college just like everyone else that goes.) and a t-shirt is a logical piece of clothing for anyone that attends university.  While all of these are not necessarily the most normal ethos, pathos, and logos representations, they are still accurate and bring an interesting twist to things. 

I would rate this movie five pickles because it accurately uses product placement within ethos, pathos, and logos, but still has a humorous and interesting plot line.