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'The Back Up Plan'
Lopez disappoints as a comedian while supporting cast shines
The Advocate
“The Back Up Plan” should use the back up plan and get a new lead actress.
The first thought that comes to mind about the new Jennifer Lopez flick, “The Back Up Plan,” was ‘Didn’t she learn she isn’t a comedienne with ‘Monster-In-Law’?’ There was no excitement to see her on the big screen again whatsoever.
However, viewers will absolutely fall in love with the hunky piece of man-meat that is Alex O’Laughlin in this movie, especially if they missed him in the unsuccessful TV show “Three Rivers” or in the 2008 film “August Rush.” As the distraught yet charming Stan, he’s naturally funny and it seems a lot of the time it’s by accident, which comes off as refreshing.
Lopez, on the other hand, as the stubborn and non-committal (yet too committal, hmm?) Zoe, is not funny at all. The most clever thing she said the entire movie was “Oh, oh, oh!” when she had a premature orgasm while Stan kissed her neck (a bonus of early pregnancy).
Don’t misunderstand — the movie is gut-clenchingly hilarious. Viewers can just replace Lopez with Jane Lynch (“Glee”) in their minds and they will be able to recognize the humor in the situation. It helps that every other person in the movie stands out as a comedian, too.
The show-stealer was one of two or three appearances by the “playground dad” (Anthony Anderson). This guy is supposed to be talking up fatherhood for Stan’s (O’Laughlin) benefit. Instead, he describes his favorite part of fatherhood being that when fatherhood is “awful, awful, awful, then something great happens . . . and then awful, awful, awful, awful.” Then his kid walks up and hands him poop from the sandbox. Priceless.
Kate Angelo, who people might recognize as a producer for “Will and Grace,” wrote the screenplay and the same witty and crude humor reverberates throughout “Back Up Plan.” Things that women might not have been able to laugh at in real life become the punchlines of shocking jokes. For instance, women would probably never picture themselves laughing at an internal ultrasound.
Before someone watches this movie, they should beware of three things: One, this isn’t a cheesy chick flick; it’s pretty raunchy so it’s a good one for guys to see, too. Two, J-Lo’s ass. Enough said and not in a good way, but yet another reason why it’s a good one for guys to see. Three, guys, her clock will start ticking after seeing this movie and she just might not wait for you to be ready to be a daddy.
Regardless of those three things, see the movie. Lopez might be the only downer to spending the $10 and it’s well worth it.
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