SnatchedDirector: Jonathan LevineStars: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Joan CusackVerdict: ★★½ 

MOVIE REVIEW
By KARINA SCHULZ WHARWOOD

Goldie Hawn ended a 15-year acting hiatus to join comedian/actress Amy Schumer in Snatched.

Emily (Schumer) is a self-involved, directionless 30-year-old who has no ambition but to raise her "like" count on Instagram, while her mother, Linda (Hawn), is a paranoid, introverted cat-lover whose relationship with her daughter has been on the decline.

When Emily is both fired from her retail job and dumped by her musician boyfriend, she decides to take her mother on her non-refundable trip to Ecuador, mainly because none of her other friends want to come.

Once there, after trusting the wrong man, the pair find themselves kidnapped by a local criminal who puts a ransom on them.

The rest of the movie follows the two American women’s goofy escape from their captors as they resolve their underlying issues along the way. There is no denying Schumer and Hawn have a great connection and their on-screen chemistry allows the movie to progress with a “believable” cast.

Set in Ecuador and Colombia, the movie is careless in its representation of Latin America and its choice of casting the "bad guys" roles as Latino criminal stereotypes (who do not have the right Spanish accent given the film’s location). Noticing these issues during the viewing would be enough to make any sensible person cringe.

Schumer’s performance shows nothing out of the ordinary. While she is undoubtedly a talented comedian and writer, her acting skills appear to be limited to bratty, brutally honest and careless characters.

Much like in her previous role in Trainwreck, there is neither any real character development or progress.

If you are hoping to watch a light-hearted comedy with some kooky laughs about a trip to paradise gone wrong, then this is the movie for you. However, with plenty of drinking, sex-related jokes and awkward one-liners, this movie is better left for your next international plane flight than the cinemas.

Admittedly, this movie gives viewers some great laughs, but its humour is mostly juvenile.

Unfortunately for viewers who pay to watch the movie on the big screen, a large portion of the best scenes can already be seen in the trailer.