Being clueless in life usually leads to a lot problems: not being able to recognize when things are not going well; being oblivious to your own mistakes; and a general ignorance of everything that surrounds you. In the end, not being aware also means being easily blindsided by things anyone else would’ve seen coming a mile away. While this type of existence is disastrous in real life, it’s comedy fodder for fiction creators. Thus, the character at the centre of Snatched is as impractical as they come.
Emily (Amy Schumer) is really looking forward to her trip to Ecuador — so much so that she forgets to inform her employer and had no idea her musician boyfriend/travel companion (Randall Park) was about to dump her. With no one left to turn to, she looks toward her boring, cat-loving mother, Linda (Goldie Hawn), for help. After a lot of begging, the pair are Ecuador-bound… though their ideas of the perfect vacation differ greatly. On the rebound, Emily becomes immediately smitten with the handsome stranger (Tom Bateman) who seems exceptionally tolerant of her flaws. But while on an Amazonian trek, Linda and Emily are suddenly kidnapped and held for ransom by Columbian gangsters. When the U.S. State Department takes a no-interference stance, their only hope is an odd couple they met at the resort (Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack) and Emily’s weird brother (Ike Barinholtz) still stateside.
The title is an obvious double entendre since in addition to being kidnapped, there are also a lot of vagina jokes. Those familiar with Schumer’s stand-up comedy will know vulgarity is not an unusual part of her shtick, going hand-in-hand with her strange mix of confidence and self-deprecation. Emily’s desire to have fun seems to automatically shut-off her danger detector, though that same recklessness helps them later as they repeatedly attempt to escape. Hawn’s character is Emily’s polar opposite. Linda is quiet, cautious and uninterested in spontaneous adventures with strangers; though her sharp eye and dedication are also useful attributes. Sykes and Cusack have small but notable roles as a risk-averse pair with a “specific set of skills” that don’t prove as useful as one would’ve hoped.
Dream Vacation… #SnatchedMovie pic.twitter.com/nPJ9YIdbH5
— Snatched (@Snatched_Movie) May 13, 2017
While Schumer and Hawn are great together and there are some genuinely funny moments, it just isn’t a steady provision of quality humour. They go for the cheap laugh a little too often and go a little too far in asserting Emily’s stupidity. On the other hand, the mother-daughter bickering is easy to relate to and familiar to other mothers/daughters with similar relationships. Also, Barinholtz’s inclusion as the clingy son too reliant on his “ma-ma” is funny in the same way the rest of the film is — occasionally. Sykes’ and Cusack’s characters are probably the most consistently entertaining, as they make a great pair relying on Sykes’ loudness and Cusack’s expressions. And Christopher Meloni’s brief appearance as a sage is a highlight of unpredictability.
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn and Joan Cusack
