So Jennifer Lopez is at this Hot Guy’s party, serving hors d’oeuvres to rich (and mostly) assholes. She finds herself falling for him having bumped into him (one time literally) a couple of kooky serendipitous times before. She’s eavesdropping on his conversation, his company including a Sexy Blonde she takes to be his girlfriend. Sexy Blonde notices her and proceeds to insult her, thereby establishing herself immediately as the 2-dimensional mega-bitch villainness. Yet 2 minutes later when Sexy Blonde tries to get Lopez off her turf by telling her that the Hot Guy is gay, Lopez falls for it hook, line, and sinker, thereby establishing herself too early as a really stupid heroine. Not good. And that’s around when the film makers choose to introduce Jane Fonda, who I thought used to be all against such portrayals of women…

But that also happens to be when it gets rather good… Fonda (and the screenwriter, I guess I have to give credit, it’s her first produced screenplay according to the IMDb) at least still has her wits about her, and in her first 2 minutes onscreen can be found leaping psychotically onto a Britney-a-like who thinks Grease is a “really old movie” (as well as Legally Blonde – I guess an in-joke from the director, who helmed that too) and never read a newspaper. Not long after that, you get to see her bashing Jennifer Lopez’s head into a table several times (in a fantasy sequence, mind you, but similar events happen later for ‘real’).

After the “stupid heroine” moment I wondered why on earth Fonda ever agreed to do the movie; these couple of moments alone make it all much clearer, and are really worth seeing the movie for. Lopez wanders through the movie like the typically hip modern ditz almost as if she doesn’t realise how stupid she’s being made to look; it’s either a very good performance or I kind of feel sorry for her, lol.

Halfway through, it turns into the female Anger Management as Fonda tries to destroy Lopez’s very spirit by conjuring up those kinds of situations where you’re made to look like an idiot or asshole or both and you have no way of explaining “what really happened”. Again, it’s a cheap shot, but it worked for me.

Also notable is Wanda Sykes as Fonda’s assistant in the movie, kind of a female Chris Rock. She has most of the movie’s funniest lines (“I think you dislocated my vagina,” for one) and always got a laugh from me. The guy who plays Lopez’s bum of a gay best friend who seems to do nothing but hang around her place (“I’m exhausted,” “What’d you do today?” “Went to the post office…”) provides an amusing if pointless distraction too.

Ultimately, I think anyone’s enjoyment of this one will ultimately depend on just how much of a living hell they’d like to see made of Jennifer Lopez’s (and/or Fonda’s – ultimately, of course, Lopez gets her slightly psychotic revenge) life. I for one was definitely in the mood (more for the former than the latter). I even found the final touch of who caught the bouquet cute.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2005 at 9:44 pm in 3 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.