I went to see the Katherine Heigl movie “One for the Money” based on book by Janet Evanovich. There is a time and place for fluff and this was definitely marshmallow cream. As long as I wasn’t looking for great meaning or great acting, this was a fine way to spend 106 minutes. Really.
If one had never read the books, it would be fine that Katherine did not pass for Italian, that Jason O’Mara did not pass for Italian, and that Grandma Mazur didn’t fit the role. In the books, the ethnicity of the main characters is front and center. Katherine and Jason were certainly cute together but hardly Italian.
I thought the story followed the book well enough but I’ve only read 3 books in the series. Someone who’s more hard core about this series would probably think its adaptation was similar to how I perceive the adaptation of HP and the Goblet Fire from book to screen.
During the film credits, when the “Assistants to…” rolled by, my BFF said she wouldn’t mind having that job: to be assistant to Jason O’Mara and Daniel Sujata. Yeah, I could get them coffee. Any time.
First, I have to admit I’m not much of a moviegoer, but in this instance I thought it would be worthwhile to see one of my favorite books adapted for the screen. After all, LOTR didn’t turn out too bad, did it?
I suppose if you’re not a super fan of the books, the movie is fine, on the mildly entertaining, cotton-candy side as JudyAnn said. An okay way to while away 106 minutes of your life. As someone who has read all the books, I had several quibbles, beginning with physical characteristics of the characters not reflecting the books’ descriptions. (For example, Plum is supposed to have blue eyes, Morelli, brown. These were switched in the movie.) A constant annoyance when looking at characters with the WRONG EYE COLOR. How hard would it have been to have stuck some color-changing contact lenses in those actors’ eyes? 😉
I also think the movie fell flat in the way it depicted the relationships among characters and particularly between Stephanie and her two men, Ranger and Morelli. I was especially disappointed in the movie’s portrayal of Ranger, who in the books is mysterious, enigmatic, closed-mouthed, deadly, and deadly sexy. Ranger in the movie had way more dialog than Ranger in the books ever would, and I only heard his trademark, all-purpose “Babe” once. There was no menace in his portrayal, either. Frankly…total disappointment.
And Morelli…well it was just sad that the simmering (and overt) sexuality of the books was toned down, apparently, for the movie.
I think the worst sin of the movie is that the books are laugh-out-loud funny and the movie…more like yawn-out-loud boring. This might have been because toning it down for a PG-13 rating (at least I assume that was its rating–sure didn’t come off as R) removed much of the raunchy dialog and raunchier scenes that permeate the book. Not that raunchy equals funny, but in the books certain scenes and dialog exchanges are so over-the-top in crudeness your jaw drops,and then you laugh.
Lula–hysterically funny as written by Evanovich–was a caricature rather than a character, another huge letdown. My biggest plot quibble was the way the screenwriter changed Lula’s “accident” (which I won’t describe so as not to create a spoiler). It’s completely chilling in the book. In the movie, more like “oh yet another one of those kinds of scenes.” Evanovich’s lively, imaginative writing was particularly ill-served in this instance.
I sure missed the Stephanie, Ranger, and Morelli of Evanovich’s creation. Not to mention Grandma Mazur and the other denizens of Stephanie Plum’s world. Next time I’ll save the ticket price and buy a couple books.