Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director:
Robert Luketic
Cast:
Jennifer Lopez……….Charlie
Jane Fonda……….Viola Fields
Michael Vartan……….Kevin
Wanda Sykes……….Ruby
The Movie
Many people think there’s a special place in hell for Jane Fonda. As an anti-war icon during the Vietnam War in a prominent role alongside other noted leftists, including former Presidential candidate and lackluster politician John Kerry, she earned her share of both admirers and detractors. What stood out about Fonda’s involvement remain the images of her laughing it up with the Viet Cong while mounted on an anti-aircraft weapon. Years after what has been considered by many as treasonous behavior, Fonda has returned to what formerly had been a successful career as an immensely talented actress in Monster-in-law.
Fonda stars as Viola. Her son Kevin (Michael Vartan) has brought home the woman he intends to marry, a plucky gal named Charlie (Jennifer Lopez). Sparks fly between the two women immediately as Fonda and Lopez do not get along. Fonda does not think Lopez is good enough for her son and Lopez doesn’t appreciate her future mother-in-law’s attempts at breaking up the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. In what becomes an ever-escalating series of attempts at out-witting one another, Lopez and Fonda engage in a War of the Roses style of gags and dirty tricks aimed at one another culminating in a cliché, trite ending.
It doesn’t help that the sort of dirty tricks each engage in aren’t very funny. The line between comedy and cruelty gets crossed a couple times. Some of the gags start with well intentions, but when death is potentially going to happen in a comedy, it sucks a lot of the fun out of it.
Toss in a complete lack of chemistry between Vartan and Lopez to boot. For a pair of star-crossed lovers, they don’t have any real chemistry between each other. Lopez seems to be slumming with him, as even her famous former fiancée is a bit more talented than Vartan. For an actress as talented as she has shown, she seems to have hit the bottom of the barrel for co-stars opposite her in a romantic comedy. She seems to be sleepwalking through the role; she displays her usual fire and charm, but this isn’t anything we haven’t seen better in better movies.
With a movie in the genre, it’s expected to follow the formula. And it does to a tee, as paint by numbers plot and you have a movie that strives for mediocrity and stays there. There are several points where the film looks like it could take off into another direction, into being a great movie, and then it disappoints by sinking back into the cellar.
It seems even odder that Fonda would come back for this film. For someone with seven Academy Award nominations to go with two Oscar wins, taking this seems to be something that someone in her position would do only if they were desperate for the attention.
Score : 4.5 / 10
The Video
Presented in both full screen and 2.35 widescreen, Monster-in-Law looks great, at least. The colors are solid and the visuals of Los Angeles are great.
The Audio
With a Dolby Surround 5.1, the film sounds great. With clear separation and a strong overall sound, a film that relies on dialogue as this one does comes through loud and clear.
The Extras:
“Welcome Back, Jane Fonda!” is a featurette about how Jane Fonda got back into acting after such an extended layoff. Running around eight minutes, it mainly features the cast and crew talking about what it was like to worth with her, etc. It’s pretty interesting to hear about how new generations of stars in the new Hollywood system deal with someone from an older generation not used to being pampered and fawned over.
“Keeping it Real with Jennifer” follows the other star of the movie, Jennifer Lopez. Running around six minutes, the cast and crew fawn over her in the same manner that they fawned over Fonda.
“Vartan, the Man!” is all about our lackluster fiancée and Alias star Michael Vartan. While in a secondary position to his two female co-stars, this is a five minute fluff piece about how wonderful he is.
“Robert Luketic – The Man Behind the Monster” follows the director behind the scenes. Much like the featurettes about his stars, this is another fluff piece on how wonderful the director was, etc. Running around 18 minutes, the piece does go a bit into detail on things like the film’s score and has some on set location, but mostly it settles for being fluff.
“Trendsetters” is a two-part featurette on lifestyles and fashion used throughout the film. It follows the sort of fashion and settings used to develop the movie and the characters. Combined, they run for about 11 minutes or so.
Deleted scenes with director introduction are the usual sort of deleted scenes that are included in most DVD releases these days. And there’s a reason why none of these were included in the film as they really don’t add too much to the film.
Commentary with director Robert Luketic, Wanda Sykes, producer Chris Bender, production designer Missy Stewart and director of photography Russell Carpenter
Teaser and theatrical trailers
“Ruby’s Make-up Bag”
Gag Reel
Score : 5.5 / 10
