Snatched Review

When down-on-her-luck and newly dumped Emily Middleton (Schumer) realises her life is going nowhere, she turns to the only true friend in her life; her much less-spontaneous and retired mother, Linda (Hawn). After much persuasion, Linda accompanies her daughter to a resort in Ecuador, South America, but before long things go even souther when they’re both kidnapped by a violent gang who demand a ransom from their annoying and agoraphobic brother/ son Jeffrey (Ike Barinholtz). Luckily they escape, but through much less luck they wind up lost in the jungle with the merciless gang hot on their tail.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen comedy queen Goldie Hawn grace the big screen, but this feels like something of a comeback as she proves she's still got that sass. And in a film that echoes the likes of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner’s eighties’ jungle-capers Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, the retro comedienne is a perfect fit. As for Schumer, she’s nothing short of hilarious, impressive given this is just her second feature film (her first being 2015’s Trainwreck). Then there’s Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack, who both star as a pair of hilariously-eccentric, not-so-covert, former CIA agents.

There are also some fairly gross moments here, though the film seldom relies on toilet humour to get by. Instead it relies on tapeworms and violence, which are strangely most welcome and make for some laugh-out-loud if gag-provoking moments. But instead of talking about tapeworms - because no one wants to do that - let’s talk about where the movie was actually filmed. Sure, it’s set in Ecuador and Colombia, but scenes were actually filmed in Kualoa Ranch on Oahu in Hawaii. As you’ll remember from a much earlier post as well as Kualoa Ranch: Revisited (posted just yesterday) we visited this gorgeous valley during our time in Hawaii where we marvelled at locations now made iconic through the likes of the Jurassic Park movies, Kong: Skull Island and countless more.

During actual viewing, it was instantly obvious which scenes used the area in Kualoa known as "Macadamia Village," but actually there were several scenes that were likely shot in the wider Kualoa too. Our tour guide never discussed Snatched any further (there was a crashed helicopter from the latest Kong film waiting for us up the jungle trail after we jumped off at a small village-set, so understandable), but those lush green slopes of the three Kualoa mountains and the gorgeous rainforests are hardly forgettable, to say the least. 

That's me and Sian in the jeep in the background

"Macadamia Village" at Kualoa Ranch (courtesy of my phone)

Movie magic: Kualoa Ranch doubles for South America

So, if you’re looking for a comedy flick with a bit of heart (with, ahem, Schumer showing plenty of that), then look no further than Snatched. And as a film that centres on the relationship between a woman and her daughter, it’s also the perfect gift for your mother. Just don't watch it with her.