The Back-up Plan

This could be my last movie review for a while. I will be going to med school next week and will probably transition this to a blog about my medical school experience in the Caribbean! So, with that...

Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) is a single woman who is tired of trying to find "the one" that she is looking for to start a family with. She decides to put all of her dreams and plans behind her and jump to her back-up plan. Zoe goes to a doctor is artificially inseminated. As she is leaving the office after the procedure, she runs into Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) who changes her back-up plan altogether. Will Stan and Zoe get together and stay together, or will the new circumstances change everything?

Ok, I'm going to put this out there at the start... If you are a guy and are considering going to see this movie (without a reason that probably has a higher voice and long hair), stop reading this, walk to the kitchen and pick up a wooden spoon. Now, begin hitting yourself in the head until you change your mind... trust me, you will thank me later.

Now, with that said. The Back-up Plan had very few positive things for me. It was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I feel like the comedy was lacking--a lot! Yes, I laughed, but it was few and far between. There was a lot of dialogue and time that was used to set up the funny lines. I really felt like they were fishing for things to make this movie funny. And several times they resorted to crude and unnecessary lines to make you laugh. There is no need to cuss to draw a laugh... seriously, its unnecessary!

I was very disappointed with the chemistry between the two lead roles. JLo and Alex did not work well together. I felt awkward watching them interact in the movie. They just didn't click. I feel like this fell on O'Loughlin's shoulders. JLo has done some decent movies and worked well with other actors, but the awkwardness was very apparent from Alex and less from Lopez.

I found myself trying to keep from falling asleep in this movies. The plot was about as predictable as it is to predict whether the sun will rise in the morning... Girl hates guys, girl falls for guy, guy falls for girl, girl pushes guy away, guy comes back, girl is happy, and they live happily ever after.

There was also the traditional Hollywood view of marriage. They mocked the idea of one spouse for life. They applauded single mothers and put all focus on children conceived out of wedlock.

There isn't a whole lot of good to say about this movie. Most of the funny parts were in the previews, while leaving a small amount that I had not heard already. I have never been in the room where childbirth occurred, but I can tell you that the 2 scenes (one of which was somewhat traumatizing) were not even close to a normal childbirth. So, if you watch this movie and it freaks you out... get a grip and don't look to Hollywood for real life situations.

I could keep going, but I will spare you the terror that was The Back-up Plan. I will prolly hear about this, but I give The Back-up Plan a 1.5 out of 5 stars. I was being generous for the somewhat funny lines and I will submit that the only reason it got an extra 0.5 was because of Anthony Anderson who played a dad at the playground and was full of laughs.

All this to say... Don't go see The Back-up Plan; its not even a good back-up plan if the movie you were going to see is sold out.