2/5
(15+) US. Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman
Left with a ring on his finger after a disastrous near-marriage, Adam Sandler’s LA plastic surgeon has been using the misunderstood-hubby ruse to pick up a string of women. That’s fine, until he falls for a high school teacher, who spots said ring and makes a sharp exit. So begins a fairly traditional situation comedy, where he plans to win her heart by having his loyal nursing assistant, Aniston, pose as the wife he’s about to divorce, but once the lies begin, complication piles upon complication.

It’s a tried-and-tested scenario, actually a remake of 1969’s Cactus Flower. The central conceit serves the new version well enough, despite the regrettable addition of sundry idiotic distractions. Aniston makes the script seem better than it is and gives the movie a semblance of heart, while Sandler delivers his usual one-note whiny ersatz sincerity. Not his worst, but the rewards are fitful.