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One For The Money

Blues

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Synopsis: Snore

DW & I are both huge Evanovich fans. We buy every Stephanie Plum book as soon as it comes out. So we went to see the movie this weekend.

Snore. I mean, it's mildly OK, in a got nothing better to do kinda way. But it should have been so much better.

Mostly, every major part is miscast. I mean, I like Katherine Heigl (loved her on Gray's Anatomy). But she's no Stephanie Plum. At all. Not nearly bumbling enough. It's more like Izzie is slumming it in Trenton, but just for fun. She'll be back at Seattle Grace after she's done with her fun.

Ditto for other characters. Debbie Reynolds plays....Debbie Reynolds. Not Grandma Mazur. Mrs. Plum is OK, I guess; but nothing special. The guy who plays Ranger, who used to play on Rescue Me, isn't too bad. But I had in mind somebody like The Rock. And Vinnie -- don't get me started on Vinnie. He's not Vinnie at all. Not nearly sleazy enough. Too skinny and mildly good looking. I really had pictured Danny DeVito in that role.

Pretty much a waste of money and a Saturday afternoon.

-Bob
 

ciscogizmo1

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We did a girls' night out for the movie and it was so disappointing. I just couldn't figure out how they thought this cast fit together. I thought Stephanie's Mom and Grandmother looked the same age. I thought Stephanie was too pretty for the part or she didn't have the rough edges. I don't know. But it isn't what I envisioned when I read the books. Maybe the person who wrote the script did not read all the books. Who knows... But we were all disappointed. One person in our group did like the movie but she never read the books so, she wasn't comparing it to anything.
 

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When I heard Katherine Heigl was cast as Stephanie Plum I had a gut feeling this wasn't going to turn out well.
 

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Weird. I got dragged to this movie because my GF is a huge Evanovich nut and has read every single book as soon as it has come out.

I left the movie thinking, "Meh".

She on the other hand, thought it was great and loved it. :shrug:
 

pjrose

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I agree, thumbs down.

I was going to post earlier, but was so bummed by the movie I didn't even have the energy.

I agree with most of the above. I, too, am a huge Evanovich fan, and was so looking forward to this movie.

The two main problems were the cast and the pacing.

Re the cast . . . Heigl didn't play Stephanie as incompetent; she tried instead to be too confident/tough, and I was bothered by her smiles at weird times.

I completely agree that Mom and Grandma looked about the same age. Debbie Reynolds was all wrong for the part, too pretty and vibrant and young looking. Grandma should be wizened and elderly and look ridiculous in hot pink.

Neither Ranger nor Morelli was hot; Ranger didn't have any of that mysterious quality, and Morelli looked like a weirdo through much of the movie. Blech.

Lula - well, she was ok, though I had hoped for Queen Latifah. (We even talked about this on TUG awhile ago in a beach reading thread; unfortunately the producers didn't check TUG wisdom!)

She was ok, but could have been a lot sassier. I loved Lula's street girl sidekick.

I think they did fine with Bernie the hardware salesman, and Morelli's mother, and Benito. Connie was well cast. I thought Vinnie was ok, though I agree that DeVito would have made a great Vinnie! Hopped-up John Cho was good. Some of the skips were good too, especially Mr. saggy baggy whats-his-name "I came into this world naked.....". Grandma should have been a 4'10" version of him.

Re the pacing, to me it was disjointed and erratic. Those who hadn't read the books may well have been lost; I almost was and I've read One more than once. They kept hopping from "find him" to "find her" and "look for someone else" with insufficient background, and at the end they went straight from Lula as whore to Lula as office worker - Huh?

DD liked it, as did the (constantly whispering - grrr) crew sitting behind us. However I thought it was badly done, and am particularly disappointed in the casting because the same cast is likely under contract if they do other Plum movies.
 

dioxide45

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My wife has listened to (audio books) all the Stephanie Plum series books except for the last few. That means I got to listen to them too. They got kind of predictable in the last few. Now it just seems like Janet just pumps them out for the money. We stopped at around 11 and I think they are at what 18?

In an interview that was on one of her audio books (or perhaps her "Why I Write" audio book we listened to), Janet pretty much didn't seem to have any interest in the movie. When asked if she had any opinions on casting, she basically said she wasn't involved and got her pay check from selling the rights, so she was letting the studio do the rest.

Successful movies use the original writer for a lot of creative design, think Twilight. Given it's January release, it shows the studio didn't have a lot of faith in the movie either.

That said, we liked the early books and actually went to two Janet Evanovich book signings. We haven't gone to see the movie yet and may use some free passes we got for Christmas to take it in. Guess my expectations won't be very high.

The problem is that the people that many saw in the roles are just too old for the parts now. People thought Sandra Bullock as Stephanie, The Rock as Ranger, DeVito. They were probably good had the movie been made ten years ago. Plus they probably couldn't afford a star studded cast.
 
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amycurl

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Now I'm starting to regret having bought that Groupon....I am a fan, too, and was interested (although not enthusiastic) about the movie--thus the "hey, I can see it for less" purchase.

Now I'm wondering if it'll end up being two hours of my life I can't get back...
 

Luanne

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Cloris Leachman should have been Grandma Mazur.
 

SOS8260456

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I loved the books, but missed the last few. Didn't even know that a movie was coming out.

I always picture Betty White as Grandma Mazur. And I can't even imagine sitting through the movie without a smokin hot Ranger.......
 

Luanne

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I loved the books, but missed the last few. Didn't even know that a movie was coming out.

I always picture Betty White as Grandma Mazur. And I can't even imagine sitting through the movie without a smokin hot Ranger.......

Wrong Golden Girl. :D The person who would have been perfect was Estelle Getty, who played Sophia. Unfortunately she passed away in 2008.

And yeah, I think the casting of Ranger was weak. The actor is "too pretty".

I haven't even seen the movie and I disagree with the casting. :hysterical:
 

DebBrown

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I haven't seen the movie but was really turned off just from the trailers. I can agree that the casting seemed all wrong. Ranger and Morelli just need to be so much MORE. Did Heigl have any chemistry with either of them?

I also think the stories might be a bit dated. The first book, One for the Money, was a bit awkward too. It seemed like Evanovich was trying to write a tough crime book instead of a romance novel. The violent scenes were particularly vicious. So how do you make this into a comedy? I get uncomfortable even thinking about it.

Deb
 

SOS8260456

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Wrong Golden Girl. :D The person who would have been perfect was Estelle Getty, who played Sophia. Unfortunately she passed away in 2008.

And yeah, I think the casting of Ranger was weak. The actor is "too pretty".

I haven't even seen the movie and I disagree with the casting. :hysterical:

Yep, she would have be perfect! :cheer:

Is there any actress out there like her?
 

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Totally agree with all of you. Saw it this weekend and thought the only 2 castings that I liked were Lula and Connie. The rest were just TOTALLY wrong on so many levels.

I think you all are mentioning some A-list stars as the people who should have played the parts of these characters. I think this was a seriously LOW BUDGET movie and they picked some horrible actors and C- stars to be in it.

And yeah, not involving the writer is a huge mistake. I wonder if JE has kinda given up on the whole series now. The last 2-3 books have been really lacking too, almost like she no longer writes them but sort of gives her take of the ideas and someone fills the pages with words. I dunno. Disappointed all around. DH and I call these types of movies "RENTAL FLICK" because we can get them for free on Netflix in a few months and save ourselves the movie price! ;)

Speaking of disappointed, I just saw Something Borrowed, based on another awesome chick lit book writer's first book (Emily Griffin). Talk about another HORRIBLE movie after a wonderful book. UGH. At least I Netflix'd that one! :crash:

Katherine
 

pjrose

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Now I'm starting to regret having bought that Groupon....I am a fan, too, and was interested (although not enthusiastic) about the movie--thus the "hey, I can see it for less" purchase.

Now I'm wondering if it'll end up being two hours of my life I can't get back...

I used a Groupon. I'm still glad I saw the movie - it was an outing and, while not a very good movie (especially compared to how much I had been looking forward to it for months), there were still some laughs. I didn't save all that much with the Groupon though - only $3.75 total savings for two tickets.
 

dioxide45

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Another problem is that the book was released 18 years ago (1994). The movie rights have been sold for over a decade. Then it looks like they scraped together a cast at the last minute. It isn't like they didn't have time to plan this one out.
 

pjrose

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Another problem is that the book was released 18 years ago (1994). The movie rights have been sold for over a decade. Then it looks like they scraped together a cast at the last minute. It isn't like they didn't have time to plan this one out.

I didn't realize the rights were sold so long ago!

But then didn't they have ten years to plan the movie and get it right?
 

dioxide45

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Another movie based on a book that was kind of a stinker, was Confessions of a Shopaholic based on the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. The problem was that they tried to cram several books in to the one movie and it was just meh.

My wife and I liked those books, but weren't thrilled with the movie. Though we think they did pick a good lead actress for Rebbecca Bloomwood in Isla Fischer. Of course they could have cast Amy Adams and I wouldn't have known the difference, they look like the same person.

I think another problem was that the books seemed to be based in the UK, but the movie was based in NY.
 
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Luanne

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Another movie based on a book that was kind of a stinker, was Confessions of a Shopaholic based on the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. The problem was that they tried to cram several books in to the one movie and it was just meh.

My wife and I liked those books, but weren't thrilled with the movie. Though we think they did pick a good lead actress for Rebbecca Bloomwood in Isla Fischer. Of course they could have cast Amy Adams and I wouldn't have known the difference, they look like the same person.

I think another problem was that the books seemed to be based in the UK, but the movie was based in NY.

I could not get into these books. I read the first one but I thought the main character was so annoying I couldn't read any more.
 

SDKath

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Another movie based on a book that was kind of a stinker, was Confessions of a Shopaholic based on the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. The problem was that they tried to cram several books in to the one movie and it was just meh.

My wife and I liked those books, but weren't thrilled with the movie. Though we think they did pick a good lead actress for Rebbecca Bloomwood in Isla Fischer. Of course they could have cast Amy Adams and I wouldn't have known the difference, they look like the same person.

I think another problem was that the books seemed to be based in the UK, but the movie was based in NY.

I was just about to post about this book too!! Shopaholics was a great series and boy did they miscast that movie (and changed the story waaaay too much). Yuck. What a bummer...
 

dioxide45

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One authors books that I think have carried well to the big screen are those by Nicholas Sparks; Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John and The Last Song. All the movies have been great.
 

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Come on guys. Its a rare occassion that a movie is as good as (or better) than the book. Most of the time, it would take way more than the 2hrs a movie consists of to give the same character build up a book does.

I think the biggest violation I ever saw of a book vs movie was Kiss The Girls, which was a fantastic book.

In the book, it talked about two serial killers, one on each coast. In the movie, it made no mention of a second killer, leaving that part completely out. I remember being excited for the movie and sitting in the theater the entire time, waiting for the second serial killer...which never came about.

I save myself this horror by sticking to non-fiction books now. :)
 

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Another disaster movie that had so much potential: Percy Jackson and the Olympiads. They left out one huge character right from the beginning and totally changed the story. Oh, and the actors (all kids) were just aweful. My DD was so disappointed because she LOVED that book (as did I).

I think the Harry Potter series did lots of justice for the books! But I think JKR was VERY involved in all aspects of those movies. Even as low budget as the first couple books, they did a very nice job and stayed true to the books!

Katherine
 

pjrose

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. . .
I think the Harry Potter series did lots of justice for the books! But I think JKR was VERY involved in all aspects of those movies. Even as low budget as the first couple books, they did a very nice job and stayed true to the books!

Katherine

I agree. When I watched the first Harry Potter movie I felt like the characters and settings really matched my mental image of them, showing how richly Rowling had described them in words and how involved she was in the production.

One For The Money COULD HAVE been sooooo good.....
 

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Another disaster movie that had so much potential: Percy Jackson and the Olympiads. They left out one huge character right from the beginning and totally changed the story. Oh, and the actors (all kids) were just aweful. My DD was so disappointed because she LOVED that book (as did I).

I think the Harry Potter series did lots of justice for the books! But I think JKR was VERY involved in all aspects of those movies. Even as low budget as the first couple books, they did a very nice job and stayed true to the books!

Katherine

I think JKR "gets it", it's her product and she wants to make sure it's presented properly. One reason that Harry Potter is over at Universal and not at Disney. She wanted control to make sure the experience was aligned with the books, Disney wouldn't give it to her that.
 

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I have not seen the movie. I am a HUGE Stephanie Plum fan and, when I saw the ads (trailers) for the film I decided to skip it. It was soooo obvious that their vision of Grandma (give me a break - Debbie Reynolds?) and Ranger and Morelli - they're both supposed to be HOT!!!!! - was a big miss.
 
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