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The Daily Mail (UK)
May 2005
A New Low for J-Lo
By Christopher Tookey
SPOILERS!
Many thanks to Carol-Anne for the transcript! She's edited this one as it rehearses the plot at length.
Verdict: Turkey. A Comedy That's More of a Horror
This should have been a monster hit. It's the latest big-budget Tinseltown romantic comedy to star the hugely successful Jennifer Lopez. It's directed by Robert Luketic, who did a fine job on 'Legally Blonde'. And it marks the return after 15 years of one of Hollywood's most acclaimed actresses, 67-year-old Jane Fonda.
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Viola changes from sane to mad whenever it suits the script. And the movie ends up taking the unconvincing view that all she needs to do is pull herself together and accept that she is about to get the perfect daughter-in-law.... There's something infinitely ludicrous about Jennifer Lopez's attempts to present herself as just a normal, working girl of just under 25, when her whole appearance is that of a preposterously pampered millionairess of at least 35.
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What about the supposedly perfect man? Michael Vartan plays the character as a 'new male' dreamboat, so blissed out by Jennifer Lopez's beauty that he never notices that the two women in his life are at war. So the film's Mr. Sensitive turns out to be *least* sensitive character. Yet we're still meant to think he's the perfect catch. The film pussyfuts around every issue. There is obviously a class divide between Charlie and her doctor fiance, yet this is never an issue. At one point, Charlie wails that she's never going to fit in, but when her boyfriend says it isn't a problem, then suddenly and magically it isn't. Nor is ethnicity discussed. He's obviously a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. She's clearly Hispanic, which in 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' would have been enough to dominate the entire relationship.... None of this would matter if there was the slightest chemistry between Lopez and Vartan, but they never convince as a couple. Both seem infinitely more in love with their reflections than with each other.
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If this is the best screenplay Jane Fonda's been offered in 15 years, it's a depressing commentary on the roles Hollywood offers to older women.
© The Daily Mail 2005
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