This is what happens when you don’t write your own material. Amy Schumer, who rocked the funny box office hit Trainwreck a couple years back, returns with Snatched, a moderately entertaining but inconsistent comedy that is notably not written by the popular comedian. Funny in bursts but rarely inspiring, Snatched relies heavily on Schumer’s improvisations to overcome the film’s shortcomings.
Directed by Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies) and written by Katie Dippold (The Heat), Snatched is about a dysfunctional daughter and her cautious mother (played by Goldie Hawn, in her first role in 15 years) who travel to Ecuador for vacation, only to be kidnapped.
Because that’s what happens to white people in foreign countries with brown-skinned people.
Snatched forces Schumer and Hawn into increasingly ludicrous situations—and forces the talented duo to repeatedly overcome the screenplay’s limitations, of which there are many. Both Schumer and Hawn are fine in their respective roles, but they really have to claw for laughs.
And yet, Snatched does evoke laughter. Dippol’s screenplay isn’t great, but it presents enough situational moments that, while rudimentary, work for a dumb comedy. And when Schumer is able to improvise, her shtick, as desperate as it is at times, is able to gloss over many of the script’s flat-lined jokes—for example, an unnecessary and out-of-place scene involving a tapeworm is made moderately funny by Schumer’s physical comedy.
At 90 minutes, Snatched is fast paced, never boring, and funny enough for a watch. But its weak screenplay and forced jokes force Schumer and Hawn to go to extra lengths just to break even, resulting in a so-so film that certainly doesn’t demand repeat viewings.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.