DVD Review: Monster In Law

I hated this movie. Really, really, really hated it. If you're wondering how I felt about it? HATED IT. Now I suppose I must summarize it for you, dear reader. That said, if you choose to purchase or rent this horrible, horrible, horrible film don't say you weren't warned. It only had a 17% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I'm just saying. Okay, onward.

Jennifer Lopez is Charlie, a woman content with her life of walking dogs and taking temp jobs. Just one problem: she'd like a man in her life. Through a series of encounters she meets hunky doctor Kevin (Michael Vartan); the two fall in love and plan to marry. One small problem: Kevin's whack-job mother Viola, a big-time network star who finds she's losing her talk-show to a younger woman, which lands her in what a sitcom might call a "loony bin." Kevin is all she's got, and we she learns that her Kevin is going to be married, well, she'll do whatever she can to stop the marriage. Which would make her a "monster-in-law" to Charlie. Get it?

Of course, Charlie has one of those nice pads that she couldn't possibly afford on her dog walking/temp income, even with her standard-issue gay roomate, Remy (Adam Scott). Why mention he's gay? Well, the film does, and so will I. At least the film didn't make him a complete buffoon and/or laughably eccentric.

Once Charlie meets the insane Viola (and her assistant Ruby, played hillariously by Wanda Sykes, who pretty much steals the show from everyone) the plot climbs into overdrive as the two women creepily compete to be the main woman in Kevin's life.

The film is directed Robert Luketic, who is best known as the director of Legally Blonde, and written by Anya Kochoff (her first film, according to the IMDB). In directing his two leading ladies, Luketic seems to be directing two entirely different movies, because Jane Fonda is just so over the top in her performance. It's almost like she wandered over from a different movie set, complete with different dialog, and Luketic just inserted her into the film.

Article Author: Scott C. Smith

Scott C. Smith is a freelance writer from Happy Valley, Oregon. He has a cat and likes pop culture a little too much.

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