Whether you’re a fan of Adam Sandler’s brand of filmmaking or not, his chemistry with popular actress Drew Barrymore is undeniable. From their eccentric and comedic turn in The Wedding Singer back in 1998, to the more charming and heartfelt 50 First Dates six years later, the pair have always managed to bring the best out of one another. Now they’ve reunited once more in Frank Coraci’s Blended, which feels like something of a natural and organic progression for the pair, as themes of nostalgia, single parenting and growing up are explored – as though we’re almost chronicling their relationship through cinema, across the past 16 years. Like a below-par, uninventive ‘Before’ trilogy.

Following on from a disastrous blind date at Hooters, the widowed Jim (Sandler) and recently separated Lauren (Barrymore) are adamant in never crossing paths again. However when their mutual friends bail on a trip to South Africa,...