The Back-Up Plan, part 10 - SPOILERS

[Lucy]

I wanna know where those posters have gone...

AMC in my town have NONE of the currents show, just huge cut outs of the coming attractions....like Robin Hood

[Fleur de Lisa]

I couldn't even find a BUP poster at the theatre when I went---I wanted to get a pic of my friend and I next to the movie poster.

If I end up seeing it for a second time, I will definitely ask what happens to the older posters. I am curious if they just get tossed.

In our paper today, they had a listing of current movies and tied them into current events. This is the second time that BUP has been put into this category--which thrills me that it is 'big' enough to be used for snark purposes:

"The Back Up Plan: When all else fails, BP reveals it's idea for the world's largest seafood barbeque."

[wpgrace]

Seriously?

Did y'all pay ANY attention to the darned seafood???????
When Stan was standing RIGHT there????? Smiling... in his cute little suit jacket...
Cos the only muscles I cared about...

[allegrita]

Seriously?

Did y'all pay ANY attention to the darned seafood???????
When Stan was standing RIGHT there????? Smiling... in his cute little suit jacket...
Cos the only muscles I cared about...

There she goes, cockling on about those mussels muscles again...

Seriously, though, did ANYone pay attention to the food?! Really??? (Well, other than the stew--that was hard to miss... and the Zoe cheese... )

[Fleur de Lisa]

Seriously?

Did y'all pay ANY attention to the darned seafood???????
When Stan was standing RIGHT there????? Smiling... in his cute little suit jacket...
Cos the only muscles I cared about...

There she goes, cockling on about those mussels muscles again...

Seriously, though, did ANYone pay attention to the food?! Really??? (Well, other than the stew--that was hard to miss... and the Zoe cheese... )

I think you all were missing the snarky, sarcastic point. It was in reference to the BP oil spill and BP's Back-Up Plan. They also had a funny tie-in with that Furry Vengeance movie and a hairy dude getting tasered at the Phillies game by a cop.

[allegrita]

Oh la-la, how topical and up to date you are, Ma Fleur!! I can't speak for Grace, but I was happily lost in a daydream about the cheese barn...

[wpgrace]

Oh la-la, how topical and up to date you are, Ma Fleur!! I can't speak for Grace, but I was happily lost in a daydream about the cheese barn...

*totally hanging out in the barn with Alle*
*having no intentions of exiting anytime soon*

[redwinter101]

Oh can I join you in the barn???

Well I got to see the movie this afternoon - first show. I just got home. Very happy and floating on a little of Alex gorgeousness.

My afternoon started off pretty disastrously though - I got held up on a work telephone call and arrived late at the cinema and then the idiots had the wrong film name above the entry to the screen they said it was showing (it's a multiplex). Finally worked out where I was supposed to be and didn't miss anything, thank God.

There were about 20 people there. No idea if that's good or bad.

So to the film. I really enjoyed it - but I did have a few quibbles - and I will definitely be going back to watch it again (probably more than once).

I know I have no objectivity where Alex is concerned, but I thought he was amazing - beautiful, sweet, convincing, and as gorgeous as he was, the overwhelming thing for me was his VOICE!!! God I love surround sound. He had so many wonderful, deep-voiced moments... The first meeting, the first date, the first night together (his smile as he watches her sleep ) ALL fabulous.

I also loved the cheese barn scene - I found it really touching. No histrionics, just someone trying to give bad news to someone trying to take it. Loved it. And the nosebleed line was one of the best in the whole film. I thought he convinced throughout - and I loved that they made him a strong enough character not to be wimpy and soppy. I liked that he was struggling with feeling inadequate for not achieving enough in his life and that it took Zoe to make him think about doing rather than just dreaming.

I liked J Lo too (to my surprise). I thought she was engaging and pretty and convincing as someone used to making her own decisions and not having to take anyone else into account. I also liked Mona and Nana and playground dad was funny. I also liked the stroller store girl (in our version she said some babies are such fat-asses, not fatties - it was funnier).

So overall, all the things I loved most were the romantic elements. I thought these were really strong - and touching. I believed in this romance but I so desperately wanted it to be given more screen time.

The biggest problem for me was for a rom-com, it just wasn't funny enough. The mixture of pretty broad comedy and romance worked in the script - but I laughed a lot more reading it on the page than I did seeing it on screen. Me and the rest of the audience laughed most at the out-takes. It wasn't bad, far from it - it was amusing and I did giggle in a few places but it had SO many set pieces that really only raised a smile when I should have been laughing out loud. The single mothers' group just didn't work for me and I'd have been happier to ditch all of that and put back IN Stan's parents (I missed them - they were a good bit of background for Stan in the script).

I have no idea why, when Stan turned up at Zoe's to say he was "in", they cut the shot of him with the hot dogs and baby books - I think that would have worked beautifully. (Also, minor aside, but the pic of JLo's "old" ass was different from the one in the trailer - weird.)

I also felt the pacing was off (I think Grace said this too). There weren't enough relationship signposts and the period from finding out she was pregnant to being heavily pregnant was far too fast.

But then when you have Stan on the tractor, making pancakes in the middle of the night, and that scene at the end when he's feeding the babies... well, all of my minor issues pale into insignificance.

It was good - but it felt tantalisingly close to being great.

Red

[wpgrace]

That's about how many people were in my first showing, Red. I guess it's not great, but it's also not White Out awful. So perhaps it is on a par there, with how it has done here.

And there is ALWAYS room for you in the barn.

[francis]

Thank you for your account, Red. I agree with you on all your points.

[cassysj]

I have no idea why, when Stan turned up at Zoe's to say he was "in", they cut the shot of him with the hot dogs and baby books - I think that would have worked beautifully. (Also, minor aside, but the pic of JLo's "old" ass was different from the one in the trailer - weird.)

I really missed that scene with the baby book and hot dogs. I thought the movie was cute but it could have been something more.

[r1015bill]

The biggest problem for me was for a rom-com, it just wasn't funny enough. ... The single mothers' group just didn't work for me and I'd have been happier to ditch all of that and put back IN Stan's parents (I missed them - they were a good bit of background for Stan in the script).

Red

I didn't know Stan had parents in the script. That would have made SO much more sense for me. I couldn't figure out how Stan was taking care of the farm, selling cheese all day in NYC and going to school on top of it. Did not make sense.

Thanks for that bit of info!

[mwj01]

I didn't know Stan had parents in the script. That would have made SO much more sense for me. I couldn't figure out how Stan was taking care of the farm, selling cheese all day in NYC and going to school on top of it. Did not make sense.

Keeping the parents in would have been nice to round out his character but I could buy his lifestyle. I bought that he worked on his parents' farm and probably sold the cheese in the city on the weekend or something. I also accept that he could sell a lot of pretty much anything at all! I know I'd buy anything he was selling! So I didn't question the cost of night school all that much either.

[allegrita]

Red, your review pretty much says it all for me. There was so much potential in this script, but they stressed the wrong stuff way too much, and left things out that would have fleshed out the story. Maybe it shouldn't really have been a rom-com. Maybe it should have been a pure romance. I think it really would have worked better if it had kept with its strengths--the relationship, the side characters (woefully underutilized, in my opinion), especially the people who work in Zoe's store... and Stan's parents were supposed to be in the movie?!? Dang... I wish!

[darkstarrising]

I know I have no objectivity where Alex is concerned, but I thought he was amazing - beautiful, sweet, convincing, and as gorgeous as he was, the overwhelming thing for me was his VOICE!!! God I love surround sound. He had so many wonderful, deep-voiced moments... The first meeting, the first date, the first night together (his smile as he watches her sleep ) ALL fabulous.

I've seen it twice now, and I have to agree with everything you said in your review, but most of all what's quoted above. Surround sound didn't destroy the timbre and tone, only enhanced it. God, how I miss hearing that voice....