One for the Money

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Jason O'Mara, Daniel Sunjata, John Leguizamo, Sherri Shepherd, Debbie Reynolds, Debra Monk, Fisher Stevens
Directed by: Julie Anne Robinson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Comedy
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) is down-on-her-luck when she takes a job as a bounty hunter. She soon finds herself in way over her head.

Review:

Tim: I'm actually a bit disappointed that this movie wasn't better. I haven't read any of Janet Evanovich's 18 (and counting) Stephanie Plum books, but I like the idea of a franchise of female bounty hunter movies. It would have been cool to see a few more of those books adapted to the big screen. Unfortunately, I doubt that will ever happen. This is unlikely to happen because 1. This movie sucks, 2. It was a box office disappointment. That's not a good combination.

Katherine Heigl has had some success in light romantic movies throughout her career, but she's also done some real comedy films as well. However, I thought she was woefully miscast as Stephanie Plum (and I haven't read any of the books!). I just did not buy in her in this role at all. Her Jersey accent was atrocious, and she was not believable in the least. From the story, I got a sense for what kind of character Stephanie is, and I thought Heigl played her far too similar to her typical romantic roles. She needed to be tougher, stronger, and not so easily dismissable. I wasn't impressed with Heigl in this role at all.

While the script is a bit of mess, I can see the underlying strengths of the book. I'm willing to bet the first novel is a twisting, turning, unexpected adventure of surprises and transformation. The movie plods along like an average, run-of-the-mill action comedy. There was never any real sense of danger because everything was too light. This movie should have been less comedic and more serious. Of course, there still needed to be light humor to bring the movie up, but the problem is that the film comes across as unimportant and unserious. The story was actually pretty interesting, but it's almost completely lost in the silly romance elements.

I actually did like Jason O'Mara in the film. I thought he gave a good performance, given the limitations of the script. He was mostly enjoyable. I thought Daniel Sunjata did a fairly good job as well. I wasn't expecting too much from him, but I thought he worked well in the role. John Leguizamo felt a bit out of place. I just feel like he's lost his path as an actor. It was fun seeing Debbie Reynolds, but her part was pretty stupid, and it made me feel a little sad seeing her in that type of role.

Despite the misguided direction of Julie Anne Robinson (I'm not surprised this is only her second time directing a feature film), there's still just enough of the spark that must have been present in the book to suggest this film could have worked. With a bit more of a serious tone (at least to give the hint of our characters being in real danger) and less highlighting of Heigl's antics, this could have actually be a good movie. It would have been fun to see this franchise get off the ground and give women a better big-screen heroine than Bella Swan. Unfortunately, One for the Money failed on almost every level, and rather than being a franchise-starter, it appears this will be a franchise-killer. That's a real shame.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



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