‘Snatched’ Movie Review Roundup: Amy Schumer-Goldie Hawn Comedy Doesn’t Get The Laughs

Snatched, starring Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer as a mother-daughter duo who travel to South America on an adventure that goes awry. Schumer’s Emily is an adventurous type who gets dumped by her boyfriend just before they were supposed to go on an exotic vacation. Hawn’s Linda is a cautious mother who just wants to protect her child. The two work through their differences, and get kidknapped (or Snatched perhaps) along the way.

Critics and audiences alike are so far unimpressed by the comedy, which received just a 37% on rottentomatoes.com. The film also features Joan Cusack, Wanda Sykes and Christopher Meloni.

SNATCHED REVIEW ROUNDUP

“Despite being a showcase for two of the greatest living comic actors, Schumer and Goldie Hawn, Snatched, which opens on Friday, isn’t even airplane fare—not even on a transatlantic flight without laptops. The pleasure of seeing them together onscreen, and the intermittent spark of comedic energy that passes between them, doesn’t outweigh the overwhelming encumbrances of the script and, above all, of the direction… One of the cruelest breaks to affect Hollywood’s funny women, from the start to the present day, is the dearth of women directors… Writing recently about Hidden Figures, a movie that has significant virtues, I also noted its limitations, and suggested that its blind spots and silences may well be due to the fact that it was directed by a white man. Snatched is in the same category—it’s a movie in which Schumer, one of the most inventive and original comedic artists of the time, is not only allowed to coast but appears encouraged to do so by a director who can’t or won’t let her go further.”
–Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“Goldie Hawn makes a comeback. This is the good news. Sadly, for anyone with the same affection for her that I have, a mess called Snatched is the wrong movie to do it in. That’s the bad news. Worse still, times being what they are, for her first movie in 15 years she is forced to co-star with potty-mouthed Amy Schumer… Together, as a grotesque mother-daughter team kidnapped in Ecuador, they’re the most depressing Mother’s Day present since Mommie Dearest, only not half as funny.”
–Rex Reed, Observer

“Not every scene in Snatched is quite that successful, but it’s very clear that a real effort was made so that nothing was ever tossed off. Every scene has its comic hook — some better, some worse, some hilarious. The filmmakers have a big advantage in Schumer, in that she is willing to do anything. It takes a lot to raise eyebrows in 2017, but she can do it. The funniest moment in “Snatched” comes close to being indescribable in a family newspaper. What’s great about Schumer here is that she is willing to be gross, but the grossness is just human. She’s not actually depicting anything outside the scope of normal life. She’s just depicting aspects of normal life you don’t expect to see, especially from a woman. So that even as she’s funny and shocking, the experience also feels rather useful. Or instructive. Even in small matters, honesty and truth are always good to see.”
–Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“You can say this for Snatched: It’s about as funny as a movie about an international kidnapping incident can be. Before it becomes a movie about an international kidnapping incident, “Snatched” is doing quite well for itself, which seems to beg the question, why did it have to go down that route?… Hawn, 72, has more to offer than this, and Schumer is the right partner to bring it out of her. But Snatched isn’t the right vehicle for them. You wish they’d been kidnapped from this and put into a better movie.”
–Adam Graham, Detroit News