Snatched (2017)

After being dumped by her boyfriend, Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) needs someone to go on her trip to Ecuador with her. She decides she wants to bring her over cautious mother (Goldie Hawn) and unexpected results start to happen.

Director: Jonathon Levine

Cast: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, Joan Cusack, Tom Bateman

MPAA Rating: R for crude sexual content, brief nudity, and language throughout

Fun Fact: Goldie Hawn’s first film since 2002.

I will admit that I haven’t really gotten into Amy Schumer’s line of work. It’s not that I don’t like her but, I just hadn’t had the time to really sit down and watch anything from her. I will also admit that I’m not the biggest comedy fan. I just find them hard to talk about most of the time so I don’t keep up with them that much. Snatched wasn’t something that I had planned to see but, my fiancé had rented it from a Redbox. So, I figured why not and sat down to watch it.

Kate Dippold, the writer has stated that she based the screenplay on her own relationship with her own mother. We have seen this type of film plenty of times. You have a parent and one of their kid’s that kind of have a disconnect in some way. With this disconnect you need something to bring them together. Either it be an adventure or something else you need to bring them closer together. In this film it works in a way. It’s a real issue in all walks of life and it can have people relate to that issue. Instead of being a more dramatic film, throw in some laughs for a light-hearted tone. Dippold writes a decent script that shows these disconnects and tells us a story along the way. While the story is decent, we also get some solid comedy in parts of the film. I believe that Amy Schumer did some re-writes and it shows her style of comedy. So it was a first for me and it got me interested.

Like I said before, I have never really seen anything from Amy Schumer but, I enjoyed watching her in this film. She played Emily as a self-centered brat that worked well. Her and Goldie Hawn’s chemistry was played off well. Schumer and Hawn play the mother and daughter role convincingly that it works for the material the best. Goldie Hawn has been out of the film industry for about 15 years now and it looks like she had a great time with the role. Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack play their paranoid characters well and it got some pretty good laughs as well. Even though it was smaller roles, it was needed in a film like this. My favorite parts of the film were with Ike Barinholtz. He had the best lines and his comedic timing was on point. His character was more on the paranoid side and he really got into the character brining that paranoia out.

Like most films there are some flaws and it does get predictable at points. The biggest flaws are hos convenient everything is. For example, one of the characters has a dog whistle. When some characters are in trouble one of them blows the whistle and instantly a dog appears to help. The bad guys always seem to find the main characters at the right time and it doesn’t really help when that part of the film can get predictable. These are minor flaws but, it’s not always enjoyable when you can predict what’s going to happen in a film.

Overall, Snatched is a decent film. Like I said before comedy really isn’t my thing but, this one had me laughing at the right parts. It has a good story that people can relate to and you might have been in a situation that you may have felt disconnected from someone in your family. We also get performances that have a good chemistry with all the cast and the actors bring some solid laughs. While there are some flaws, you can look past them and enjoy the rest of the film.

Verdict: Hit