MONSTER-IN-LAW A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
MONSTER-IN-LAW, a fingers-across-the-blackboard sitcom, stars an embarrassingly over-the-top Jane Fonda as washed-up talk show host Viola Fields. On Viola's last show, a 16-year-old bimbo singer, when asked her opinion of Roe vs. Wade, answers that she doesn't "support boxing as a sport because I think it's too violent."
The grating script concerns Viola's attempt to stop her son, an incredibly handsome surgeon named Kevin (Michael Vartan), from a marrying Charlie (Jennifer Lopez), a woman whose job is "merely" as a temp. (She's also a caterer, a dog walker and an artist, plus probably six occupations that will appear in deleted scenes on the DVD.) Normally Kevin dates women who say things such as, "My shoes are killing me, which means they must look fabulous."
The entire movie is predictable, with every twist seen coming from a mile away. Charlie, for example, has an allergy to nuts. Can you write the allergic reaction scene now without ever having seen the film? Of course you can.
Just because Fonda is willing to take risks and let it all hang out as the bitchy mom from hell doesn't make her performance funny. Just crude.
The only funny and believable character in the story is that of Viola's long-time assistant Ruby, played with grace, style and plenty of spunk by Wanda Sykes. When Ruby warns Viola's party guests about their host, "For your own safety, make sure you know where the emergency exits are at all times," you'll feel like she is talking directly to you. When the ending credits rolled, I couldn't get to the emergency exit fast enough.
MONSTER-IN-LAW runs way too long at 1:42. It is rated PG-13 for "sex references and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, May 13, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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