This week, venerable New York Times film critic A.O. Scott watched Adam Sandler's new movie Blended. The result is a review so scathing, it makes Pete Wells' takedown of Guy Fieri look like a love letter.

Here are some of the best takeaways; the full review can be found here:

  • Because life is short and I have other things to be upset about, I will not dwell on the offensive aspects of"Blended," the new Adam Sandler comedy: its retrograde gender politics; its delight in the humiliation of children...its quasi-zoological depiction of Africans as servile, dancing, drum-playing simpletons.
  • In my capacity as a film critic, I find myself more bothered by the sheer audience-insulting incompetence of the filmmaking and the writing. Duty compels me to identify Frank Coraci as the director and Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera as the authors of the script.
  • Most of "Blended" has the look and pacing of a three-camera sitcom filmed by a bunch of eighth graders and conceived by their less bright classmates.
  • There are comedians who mine their own insecurities for material. Mr. Sandler, in his recent films, compensates for his by building monuments to his own ego.
  • The tragedy is that Ms. Barrymore, who has brought out the best in Mr. Sandler in their previous collaborations ("The Wedding Singer" and "50 First Dates") is here sacrificed on the altar of his showboating narcissism.
  • "Blended" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It will make your children stupid.

TL;DR

[image via Universal Studios]