Snatched

Goldie Hawn's first film since 2002's The Banger Sisters teams her with Amy Schumer, the salty to her sweet. They play a mother and daughter whose Ecuadorian getaway takes a turn for the nightmarish when they are kidnapped. The pair thrash out their problems in the heart of the Amazon, while unhelpful bureaucrats and a bogus saviour leave the ladies to liberate themselves. Directed by Jonathan Levine, Snatched presents its hugging and learning in the guise of a lively farce. The leads have an affectionate, credibly familial dynamic; Schumer's mix of brutal honesty and brilliant timing ekes every last titter out of Katie Dippold's solidly witty, sometimes hilarious script, and Hawn is an endearing if occasionally passive-aggressive foil as she keeps cool in a crisis and deals with a depressed cat. There's welcome support from comedy legends Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack, too. Unfortunately, the narrative overexerts itself with wacky jungle-based shenanigans, its lower-key moments proving far more successful. The lesson: women this funny don't need to be dragged to hell and back to make us laugh.