WASHINGTON — In her last big-screen outing, Amy Schumer delivered comedy gold in Judd Apatow’s “Trainwreck” (2015), teaming with Bill Hader, Brie Larson, John Cena and LeBron James to find major heart in the funniest flick of the year.
Now, she follows it up with “Snatched,” an increasingly silly mother-daughter adventure comedy that’s nowhere near as raunchy — nor nearly as funny — as “Trainwreck,” yet a project that proves Schumer’s comedic clout is enough to pull Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn out of retirement.
Yes, it’s time for a Mother’s Day release for all you mothers and daughters who ever dreamed of being kidnapped together so you could run through the Amazon and whack baddies with shovels.
Dumped by her boyfriend, the immature Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) is left with an extra ticket to an exotic getaway in Ecuador. She convinces her cautious mother Linda (Goldie Hawn) to tag along under the guise of mother-daughter bonding, but upon arriving at the resort, she realizes mom is cramping her style. As Linda plays third wheel on an excursion with Emily and hunky fling James (Tom Bateman), things turn dangerous when masked men kidnap the reluctant mom and helpless daughter.
It’s great to see Hawn back on the big screen for the first time in 15 years. Her resume speaks for itself, winning a breakthrough Oscar for “Cactus Flower” (1969), rattling off nine Golden Globe nominations from “Shampoo” (1975) to “Private Benjamin” (1980), and charming the masses with Kurt Russell in “Overboard” (1987) or Bette Midler and Diane Keaton in “First Wives Club” (1996).
In “Snatched,” you might have thought she’d be cast with real-life daughter Kate Hudson, a dream pairing that would have provided a fascinating authenticity to the relationship. No matter, Hawn finds fictional mother-daughter chemistry with Schumer, as Hawn plays the straight-woman sighing “I told you so” parental wisdom, while Schumer plays the rambunctious clown with in-your-face gags.
Fans of “Inside Amy Schumer” will find a few moments of dirty fun, as a wardrobe malfunction reveals a breast and a bathroom door leaves her caught with her pants down. Ironically, though, “Snatched” succeeds most in the duo’s tamer banter. They’re great together at home before the trip, as Schumer rags on Hawn’s cat sculptures while wearing her hand-me-down T-shirts. They’re even better at the resort, as Hawn embarrasses Schumer by applying gobs of sun-tan lotion to her back in public view.
Their respective talents are best on display as a drunken Schumer sneaks into their resort room and a wide-awake Hawn watches in judgment. Schumer plays a convincing drunk, tiptoeing into the room, accidentally bumping into things, shushing inanimate objects, then talking to a towel folded in the shape of a swan, recalling Adam Sandler’s quip in “Billy Madison” (1995): “Stop looking at me swan!”
At this point, the script appears to be on a roll. Screenwriter Katie Dippold, who wrote for “MADtv” (2006-2009) and “Parks and Recreation” (2009-2012) before penning Melissa McCarthy’s “The Heat” (2015) and “Ghostbusters” (2016), delivers a few laugh-out-loud exchanges, especially Hawn’s misinterpretation of a receptionist’s “welcome,” which is lost-in-translation in an Ecuadorean accent.
I dare you not to spit out your popcorn as Hawn spits out her drink over this “welcome” moment.
Unfortunately, things take a massive turn for the worse the second our heroines get kidnapped. The writing gets sloppier and sloppier the further the duo gets lost in the jungle, evading their captors with over-the-top slapstick, assimilating with natives amid clumsy gender statements, and forcing mother-daughter bonding with the old trick of a hug lasting too long before saying, “That’s enough.”
The overlong hug was funny when Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels did it in “Dumb and Dumber” (1994), but it barely registers here between Schumer and Hawn.
Of course, the Act Two kidnapping romp has its moments that work for laughs, but most of the best bits have been spoiled either in the trailers or during late-night talk show appearances. While the “rape whistle” (i.e. dog whistle) returns to help them in the end, a better choice would have been to bring back the final 10 pages of Hawn’s unfinished book, which Schumer ripped out and stuffed in her bra. They could have used the pages to start a fire or even read them to distract their hapless captors.
Fortunately, director Jonathan Levine (“50/50,” “The Night Before”) keeps the pace moving so quickly at 90 minutes that we don’t have to wait long between the hit-or-miss jokes. Best in this regard are Bashir Salahuddin as a State Department worker slapping down Schumer’s concerned brother (Ike Barinholtz); Christopher Meloni as a worthless wannabe Indiana Jones; and Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack, who steal the show as the chatty tourist Ruth and her tongueless special ops agent Barb.
By the time it’s all over, you’ll feel like you just got back from a vacation where you planned too much on your itinerary. You’ll tell everyone you had fun, showing off the photos and scars to prove it, but deep down, you’re glad to be home and cross that trip off your list, likely to never travel there again.
So as you purchase your Mother’s Day movie tickets, remember Schumer’s declaration about the need to make the best of a trip she can’t get out of: “We’re going to put the ‘fun’ in ‘non-refundable!'”
