After being dumped by her boyfriend, Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) can't find anyone to go with her on her non-refundable trip to Ecuador, so she invites her cautious mother Linda (Goldie Hawn). At the hotel bar, Emily meets James (Tom Bateman), a handsome and seemingly trustworthy man who invites the two of them on a day trip through the Ecuadorean countryside. However, James turns out to be working for crime lord Hector Morgado (Óscar Jaenada), who orders them kidnapped and held for $100,000 ransom. The rest of the movie follows their escape and attempts at reaching safety, as well as Emily's brother Jeffrey's (Ike Barinholtz) struggles with getting State Department officer Morgan Russell (Bashir Salahuddin) to take their problem seriously.
Snatched contains examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: The movie starts with opening text accompanied by serious music:"In the Spring of 2017 two American women were abducted fifty kilometers outside Puerto Cayo, Ecuador. What followed was a tale of violence, mayhem, and a reckless disregard for human life. The kidnappers did bad stuff, too."
- Basement-Dweller: Jeffrey is a middle-aged man who still lives with Linda.
- Big Guy Rodeo: When Morgado is about to attack Emily, Linda leaps onto his back.
- Cacophony Cover Up: In one scene, Emily needs to smash a lock with a hammer. Some men in the other room are watching Association Football; she waits until they're all cheering over a goal to smash the lock.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the movie, Linda gives Emily a "rape whistle" that's actually a dog whistle. When she blows it, a dog charges the car and barks. When Morgado is about to kill Linda, Emily blows it again. A dog attacks Morgado, allowing Emily to take his gun.
- Distant Finale: A year in the future, Emily and Linda are vacationing in Kuala Lumpur. A man flirts with Emily, but she rejects him so she can dance with Linda.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: James once wanted to get a tattoo that symbolized the quote "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore," but he was so drunk that instead he got a tattoo of Borat giving the thumbs-up with the caption "My wife." He keeps it covered with a patch. When he shows it to Emily, Emily shows him a raised tattoo of an unrecognizable symbol she got on her lower back when she was eighteen.
- Flipping the Bird: When Jeffrey thanks Morgan for helping him, Morgan salutes him and then flips him off.
- Former Teen Rebel: While looking in the closet for a shirt, Emily finds a scrapbook of Linda's younger years, full of real-life pictures of Goldie Hawn. She's shocked that her mom used to be cool.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: Emily eats ice cream from a bowl while she tries to find a friend who will go to Ecuador with her.
- Impairment Shot: When Emily wakes up in Morgado's cell, her vision is blurred.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: As Emily and Linda run towards Roger's boat, Morgado and his men fire after them, missing them by several feet even though they can't be more than a dozen yards away.
- The Last Dance: Roger Simmons was a general manager at Trader Joe's until his doctor told him that he would die of cancer in a month. He moved to the Amazon Rainforest to live out his life, despite knowing very little about jungle survival. That was three weeks ago, so he now has about a week left. Emily and Linda are not happy to learn this, as they assumed he was an experienced guide.
- Man on Fire: When Emily accidentally kills Morgado's son, he falls backwards and knocks a goon into a barbecue, setting him on fire. Unlike most examples, the goon immediately stops, drops, and rolls.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Emily's credit card PIN is 1234. She meant to change it, but never got around to it.
- Punk in the Trunk: Emily and Linda are transported from Ecuador to Colombia tied up in the trunk of a car. While the car is parked, Emily manages to get free, untie Linda, and get the trunk open, and the two of them make a break for it.
- Revenge by Proxy: While Emily and Linda are making their initial escape, Emily hits a goon with a shovel, accidentally killing him. The man turns out to be the only nephew of Morgado, who now wants to kill Linda to get revenge on Emily. Emily tries to threaten him with a harpoon gun, which goes off, hitting Morgado's only son.
- The Shut-In: Jeffrey never leaves the house due to his terror of germs.
- The Slacker: The first scene has Emily getting fired from her job at a clothing store because she spends all her time posing with the outfits and taking selfies instead of selling them.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: A text version. When Emily updates her Facebook relationship status, Linda comments, "That son of a bitch." The ensuing argument is shown using this technique.
- Take My Hand!: Emily climbs into the back of a pickup truck, which starts to move before Linda can get in. Linda runs after the truck. Emily reaches out, grabs her hand, and pulls her in.
- Technologically Blind Elders: Linda doesn't understand the difference between a Facebook wall and a private message, resulting in a public online argument with Emily. It ends when Linda's capslock key gets stuck and she calls Emily for tech support.
- Title In: Large, transparent letters appear on the screen at different points, saying "Ecuador," "Washington, D.C.," "Bogota," and "Kuala Lumpur."
- Tongue Trauma: Retired special ops agent Barb (Joan Cusack) cut her tongue out to prevent herself from being interrogated. When Emily asks, "Couldn't they just torture her into writing down the information?" her partner Ruth (Wanda Sykes) stares awkwardly for a few seconds and then changes the subject.
- Vine Swing: While Emily and Linda are traveling through the jungle with the survivalist Roger (Christopher Meloni), they come across a chasm hundreds of feet deep. Roger says they'll have to swing across one by one, and offers to go first. The vine breaks, sending him plummeting to his death.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: Emily's breast falls out of her dress during her first date with James. He pushes it back in. Later, during the Distant Finale in Kuala Lumpur, the same thing happens to Linda. Emily runs over to fix it.
