Just Go With It was yet another team-up comedy featuring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as a boss and employee working together to fake a relationship so Sandler can get into some barely twenty-year-old’s pants. Classic, am I right? In all fairness, the film has some rather wholesome moments, as well as some surprise big-name cameos, so let’s take a look at the cast and where they are now.
The 2011 comedy starring Sandler and Aniston in lead roles saw the former playing the character of a plastic surgeon, Daniel, who, after lying to a young woman he fell for (yes it was her “amazing personality” for sure, not the fact she looks like a supermodel), asks his assistant Katherine, Aniston, to help him cover up the lie by pretending to be his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Hilarity ensues when Katherine’s kids also get in on the act and decide they are going to milk the extremely wealthy Daniel for all he is worth, which includes a luxury trip to Hawaii.
The lying leads to a number of comedic interactions, and throughout the trip, Daniel comes to realize that actually, it isn’t the hot twenty-something he truly wants, but the woman he has spent much of his life around who also happens another hot character, Aniston’s Katherine. You have to admire Sandler for how often he partners himself with extremely attractive women in all his films.
Let’s take a look, then, at the cast of the film and see what they have been getting up to lately, starting with the two leads.
Adam Sandler
Sandler has continued to work on his bawdy comedies, starring alongside Aniston on more than one occasion since, with their films Murder Mystery and Murder Mystery 2 which were released on Netflix. Whilst Sandler appeared to have his heyday in the late ’90s and early ’00s with films such as The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore, Mr. Deeds, and 50 First Dates setting the tone for his comedic acting style, Sandler has gone on to enjoy critical success in recent years.
Many were blown away by his turn in the role in Uncut Gems, a film which left many with anxiety but also of the opinion that it was his best performance so far, earning the actor a Critic’s Choice Movie Award nomination. He has also done well with his vocal work in the children’s franchise Hotel Transylvania, where he plays Count Dracula. You can currently catch him in You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah, which has done pretty well over on Rotten Tomatoes, showing that the Sandler renaissance is well underway.
Jennifer Aniston
Much like Sandler, Aniston seemed to have found herself typecast in certain roles ever since her performance as the iconic Rachel Greene in Friends. Films, where she plays the exasperated female companion to a male lead, seemed to be her bread and butter for some time, with the likes of Bruce Almighty, The Break-Up, and Just Go With It standing as obvious examples. Also like Sandler, Aniston has recently been stepping out of her typecast girl next door roles, with a hilarious performance in We’re The Millers and Horrible Bosses, and more dramatic roles such as her current series The Morning Show.
Bailee Madison
Madison played Katherine’s aspiring actress daughter Maggie. Her turn as the precocious and strong-willed, yet sweet young girl was a role Madison had played before, having started acting at a very young age, appearing in The Bridge to Terabithia aged only 5 years old. She has had a varied career though, starring in the war film Brothers, fantasy drama Once Upon A Time, and the Hallmark series The Good Witch. More recently, she has become known for her role in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
Griffin Gluck
Just Go With It was Gluck’s big break at the age of 11 when he was chosen to play Katherine’s shy son Michael. Gluck has gone on to become a Netflix star, having taken on prominent roles in series like Locke & Key as well as in the rom-com film franchise Taller. You can currently see him as Luke Chambers in season two of Cruel Summer.
Brooklyn Decker
Decker played the impossibly attractive Palmer, for whom the feature’s whole elaborate charade was set up in the first place. She works as a model and an actress, and prior to her role in the film had modeled for the likes of GQ, Esquire, Glamour, and Sports Illustrated. 2011 was a big year for Decker as she started breaking into the world of acting with her role in Just Go With It and Battleship. From 2015 to 2022 she played the daughter to Jane Fonda’s Grace in Grace and Frankie.
Nick Swardson
Swardson has often played the role of the over-the-top friend to the lead character, with his characters usually being ridiculous in nature. That was exactly the case in Just Go With It where he played Daniel’s friend Eddie, and yes, there is a scene where he performs the Heimlich maneuver on a sheep. He has since worked on many projects with Sandler, such as Hotel Transylvania and Pixels. Swardson also works as a comedic writer and producer, having worked on a number of his own projects such as Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star which was run through Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison.
Nicole Kidman
As a critically acclaimed award-winning actress, Kidman’s involvement with this film caught many off guard. She played an old friend of Katherine’s who shows up at the most inconvenient of times (conveniently) and proceeds to have a rather competitive belly dance-off against her. Kidman is a staple in Hollywood and has been in many projects since, including the series Big Little Lies, and critically acclaimed films such as Bombshell and Being the Ricardos. She is incredibly busy with 9 upcoming projects including her return to DC in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and mystery film The Perfect Couple.
There you have it, the main cast members of Just Go With It and what they are doing now. It is crazy to believe that this film is over a decade old and the child actors are now no longer child actors, but it seems that this film in particular really gave them a springboard from which to strike out from.
You can watch Just Go With It on Netflix.