The Back-Up Plan

I've been watching quite a few romantic comedies lately and it has put me in a romantic mood. This is not necessarily a good thing.

It is interesting how things have changed in society these days where a woman can get herself pregnant without the use of a relationship with a man. I'm not saying this is a bad thing and I know for some woman this is their last resort. I do no think that the writers properly explain that Zoe is at her last resort. I felt we needed to see more of her failed relationships and how she got to this point. There is also the fact that Zoe is blind to the fact that Stan is so devoted to her that he does not mind that she is pregnant and that she uses a little slip of the tongue to break it off with him. That stretched the credibility a bit. I'm also not so sure the film works as a comedy. There are a few funny moments but as a whole I did not think it was all that great.

As a follow on to the part about the film not being funny is the major problem I had with the film and that is the casting. The potential seemed to be there for a comedy but director has not chosen funny leads. Jennifer Lopez has only made one decent film in her life. While she has made a few comedies she has done an OK job. However this film really needed a couple who were a lot funnier than Jennifer and Alex O'Loughlan to bring the meagre jokes to life. I felt the two of them lacked the comic timing to make this a comedy. This is made even more obvious by Melissa McCarthy who is a gifted comedic actress and is a lot funnier in her very small role. Even in the out-takes over the end credits she is much funnier.

An ordinary romantic comedy that may best be watched at home on DVD rather than in the cinema.