By Sandra Olmsted

Blended, the first of the truly family films for the summer, delightfully deals with the problems of adults raising children on their own, and Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, together again in this family-friendly comedy with more than a few dramatic undertones, have great chemistry and comic timing.

Blended opens with a disastrous blind date, and like two mini vans passing in the night, Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) continue their lives of quite desperation, thinking the other is a complete loser while the audience soon sees they are a perfect fit. Lauren’s ex-husband, who cheated on her, spends a little time as possible with their sons, Tyler (Kyle Red Silverstein), who is hyperactive and angry, and Brendan (Braxton Beckham), who is suddenly interested in girls. Jim, the manager of a sporting goods store, pushes his three girls, Hilary (Bella Thorne), Lou (Alyvia Alyn Lind), and Espn (Emma Fuhrmann), towards sports and unknowingly dresses them like boys, which is a problem for  Hilary, who is fifteen.

When Lauren’s business partner and best friend, Jen  (Wendi McLendon-Covey) refuses to go on a “familymoon” with her boyfriend, who happens to be Jim’s boss, and the boyfriend’s five kids, Lauren and Jim luck into the African vacation, but don’t know the other is going until they all arrive. The kids hate each other almost as much as Lauren and Jim do, but they have to share a large hotel suite and tolerate not only each other but a planned vacation aimed at getting blended families to blend better.

Hilary, who Jim calls Larry, suffers because she wants to please her dad, but also wants to be a girl who is blossoming into a young woman. Espn still talks to her absent mother, and Lou wants Lauren to do mommy things with her. Meanwhile, Brendon hates the thought of his mother having a new man and doesn’t hear the objection that Lauren and Jim repeat about not liking each other. However, Tyler really needs the guidance that Jim provides.

While Lauren and Jim getting together is as inevitable, Sandler, Barrymore, and company make it a fun ride that the whole family can enjoy because there is something for audiences of many ages although in typical fashion Sandler’s humor is not for the younger or more sensitive.

In director Frank Coraci’s film and screenwriters Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera’s script, complications result from the characters’ all have deeper needs and desires and all struggling realistically with life.

The African resort setting adds delightfully to the excitement and unexpected fun that the characters and audience will have; Blended was shot in both Georgia and South Africa, which has a growing film industry.

While the complications of a woman raising sons and a man raising daughters provides the heart of the comedy and dramatic moments, it is the acting by the large cast that makes the humor work so well. The supporting cast also does an excellent job also in providing quirky and interesting characters who populate Lauren and Jim’s lives.

Look for some other famous faces, such as Shaquille O’Neal, and a host of African actors and performers, including an chorus that pops up in the most unlikely and inopportune moments. Blended, a Warner Bros. release produced by Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions, opens in theaters May 23.  Blended is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and language and runs 117 minutes. Take the whole family! (More of Olmsted’s reviews are available at www.thecinematicskinny.com)

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