One for the Money (2012)
Brief review: Based on Janet Evanovich's novel of the same name, "One for the Money" is TV series director Julie Anne Robinson's first feature film, that unfortunately, apart from its stylish opening credits, fails on pretty much every single level. To start with the obvious, the movie's premise is way too similar to another 'bounty hunting' movie from two years ago, called, well, "The Bounty Hunter". For that reason alone, "One for the Money" instantly loses points for originality. To make things worse, due to its heavily unbalanced script, the film doesn't work neither as a comedy, nor as an action movie, let alone as a hybrid of the two genres. The humor is dry, the jokes barely work, and the action scenes are too unconvincing and clumsily-shot. Probably because of director Robinson's previous background, visually, "One for the Money" has that cheap made-for-TV feel written all over it. The production design is unimpressive, and the cinematography lacks any contrast at all, giving the film a rather bland look. On the bright side, the cast, does a reasonable job considering the weak script. Katherine Heigl's natural charm commands the screen every time she shows up, but she doesn't really have much to work with. "Terra Nova"'s own Jason O'Mara has an undeniably strong screen presence, but despite his chemistry with Heigl, his character Joe never fully engages, because of the flat writing.
Overall summary: The chemistry between Katherine Heigl and Jason O'Mara is there, and it has one or two amusing moments, but sadly, "One for the Money" feels way too familiar, and its 'TV' director struggles to balance action and comedy, leaving the end result sloppy.
12 comments:
I agree George. I said in my review that it felt like a tv pilot episode.
Ricky, glad you agree with me on this one. Yes, exactly. I expected another bad episode of it to come out next week. LOL.
There's actually only one movie with Heigl that I enjoy, and that's "Valentine" ;-)
Totally agree and I gave it the exact same rating.
Anyway, I am looking forward to some of those upcoming "old" movie reviews you mention at the bottom of the page :)
Maynard, I have nothing against Heigl, but I think she should be more picky about the films she appears in.
Hans, I thought 4 is the perfect score for this movie. :)
"Old" movie reviews? I don't know what you're talking about. :)
I was talking about the upcoming pre 2011 film reviews you've mentioned at the bottom of your page :)
Hans, I won't be reviewing those in the near future. 2012 films are now my priority.
alright, fair enough :)
On my blog I am trying to write a little something about every film released in 2011 that I've seen as well as those in 2012.
I recently started and I'm up to about 100, but I have at least 150 left + the ones I watch as I go, if I am to make my mission complete.
Don't know if I get through it, but I'll give it a try, just for the fun of it.
Hans, I think your doing a great job, so keep up the good work. ;)
I'm impressed by the amount of films you watch and review. You beat even me on that criteria. :)
Glad you decided to go back to Blogger.
I knew this one was going to be bad. I love the novel and when books I love get made into film, 90 percent of the time, it's bad. LOTR being a huge exception.
As a writer, I always fantasize about having my work translated to another medium, but it's scary to think about what they'll do to it. From your assessment, the scriptwriters really did a poor job with Janet's story. I feel bad for her, she's a great person. I've met her a few times at conferences.
Mel, I knew it would suck too, but I saw it anyway. LOL. I thought last year's The Help was an amazing adaptation as well, so LOTR is not the only great screen adapration I reckon.
I feel bad for her too, and even though I haven't read her book, I bet it's at least 10 times better than the movie.
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