| Monster-In-Law | 
 enlarge | Actors: Jane Fonda, Elaine Stritch, Jennifer Lopez, Monet Mazur, Will Arnett
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy New: $9.98
You Save: $3.00 (23%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 100280
Format: Ac-3, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time: 100
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 794043121531
EAN: 0794043121531
ASIN: B001675YYS
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: April 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
After years of incredibly bad dates, Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) thinks she's met the perfect man...until she meets his possessive and merciless mother! Jane Fonda returns to Hollywood to play the worst mother-in-law ever who will do everything she can to break up the happy couple!
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| Customer Reviews:
Monstrous April 7, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mothers-in-law. They can be a woman's best friend, or her most lethal enemy.
When the subject comes up, I always remember the tale of a young man whose mom spent his wedding loudly shouting that they would be divorced in six months, set up a fund for their divorce, and other endearing actions. I imagine that woman was a bit like Jane Fonda's unspeakably catty character in the limp "Monster-in-Law."
To some degree, "Monster-in-Law" isn't a romantic comedy movie. It's an overlong sitcom episode.
Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) is a temp/dog-walker whose dreams are about to come true -- she's engaged to Kevin (Michael Vartan), a sweet and hunky doctor. There's only one small problem: Viola (Jane Fonda), Kevin's strong-willed mumsie, doesn't think that Charlie is right for her perfect son.
So Viola does the only thing she can think of -- she starts pranking Charlie, hoping to drive the unworthy future-in-law away. Poisoned food, ripped dresses, wedding disasters and slap fighting all ensue, but soon Charlie gets sick of it and begins to fight back. Who will win, the desperate fiancee or the force-of-nature mom?
Yeah, it's not much of a plot. I kept waiting for the laugh track to kick in, and a preview for next week's episode.
In fact, the plotlessness is what really hurts "Monster-in-Law." Once Charlie and Viola are introduced, the entire film descends into a series of pranks, which in turn are dropped in favor of warm'n'fuzzy "aw, what hardships you've had." Slapstick ones too -- if Robert Luketic had taken the P.G. Wodehouse route of elaborate pranking, it might have worked. But watching Fonda and Lopez going bonkers at each other isn't very funny.
It doesn't help that the screenplay is as limp as the plotting. Poor Vartan is forced to spout endless romance-novel cheez, which is more likely to induce vomiting than thrills -- "What are you doing the rest of your life?". And alas, innocent moviegoers are forced to endure yet more tributes to Lopez's much-hyped posterior, which probably has a stylist and trailer all its own.
Jennifer Lopez is the kiss of death to romantic comedies -- there's nothing very funny about her face, her body, or her way of delivering lines. And to be honest, Vartan doesn't fit in this movie any better -- he looks rather confused, as if he isn't sure how he ended up in this particular film. Not to mention a bit overwhelmed by the catfighting.
The saving graces? Fonda has wild, hilarious manic energy that overcomes the thinness of her role, and makes her quite fun to watch. And Wanda Sykes, as her P.A., gets the best lines of the whole movie. When the two of them are on the screen together, they're pure hilarity. In fact, forget Lopez -- make the movie about Wanda and Jane, and you've got a hit.
Cheesy dialogue and no plot sink "Monster-in-Law," a comedy that leaves you wondering why Fonda chose to return after fifteen years to.... this.
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