Monster-In-Law

I can just hear the studio executive after hearing the pitch: “Jane Fonda matched up with Jennifer Lopez in her return to Hollywood moviemaking after 15 years as Ted Turner’s wife, talk about box office magic!” And so Monster-In-Law was greenlighted as fast as the exec’s fingers could move the pen.

Let’s make it better by casting hot from Alias Michael Vartan as the stunning doctor who they fight over. Funnywoman Wanda Sykes can add some yucks as Fonda’s long-suffering assistant and cute Annie Parisse (the most recent Law & Order assistant DA) puts a patch of blue dye in her hair to play J. Lo’s stereotypical quirky bestfriend. Monet Mazur is the hot dizzy blonde who won’t give up on winning over Vartan and Will Arnett (Gob from the much more entertaining Arrested Development) has a cameo as Vartan’s bestfriend.

I was expecting more from director Robert Luketic, whose previous two movies were Legally Blonde and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, but this was exactly as formulaic as it sounds. The catfights, sending Vartan away so Fonda and Lopez can fight, the faux-farce final straw and teary happy ending, everything you expect precisely when you expect it.
not recommended