Hey folks, Valkor here. For the month of July, the main pages of TOV have been graced by the beauty of Katherine Heigl (PV page taken down) – gotta love her, she’s one stunning actor, definitely worthy of her place in the TOV halls of beauty. I made mention in her PerfectView piece that her most recent work is “One for the Money”, which is based on the popular book series by Janet Evanovich. I finally got the chance to check it out; I had my doubts about the film because the series is just too damn good and usually book to film translations, don't always succeed. And while there are a few missteps, overall it’s quite enjoyable. Read on.
One for the Money puts Heigl in the role of Stephanie Plum – recently out of work and with the bills piling up, she’s in desperate need of a job. So desperate that she turns to her cousin Vinnie (Patrick Fischler), who is a bails bondsman. And while Vinny is reluctant to hire her, he brings her in anyway. Plus he’s one man down. Her first assignment is to bring in cop turned murder Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara). And before I forget, the two have a little romantic history… if you know what I mean. Joe skipped a $500,000 bond and if Stephanie is able to bring him in, she gets a cut of ten percent (50 grand would pay off a lot of bills). No sooner is she out on the streets, does she find Morelli, but having zero experience as a bounty hunter, she loses him. So she enlists the help of Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) to give her the pointers she needs. But Stephanie may have bitten off more than she can chew; in her hunt for Morelli she’ll piece together a string of clues, follow some leads, is introduced to a host of unscrupulous characters that stand in her way of her bounty, and land the assist of a hungry prostitute. In the end it’s not only about bringing in Morelli, but wrapping up a much larger crime.
One for the Money is graced with an awesome supporting cast such as John Leguizamo (Jimmy Alpha), Debbie Reynolds (Grandma Mazur), and Sherri Shepherd (Lula) just to name a few. The Blu-Ray that I received also comes with a digital copy just in case you wanna watch this one while on the go, as well a host of features such as: Making the Money: Behind the Scenes, Bond Girls: Kick Ass in the Bails Bonds Industry, deleted scene, gag reel, and trailers.
After having read the book, I was looking forward to trashing this film – usually books turned into films… not always successful. But I’m sold on this one and I’ll tell you why in the TOV Breakdown.
The Good:
One for the Money, while it isn’t the perfect translation of the novel, nails all the major plot points creating one entertaining piece of film. The story is rock solid, straight forward, with no real twists (none that you can’t figure out, even if you haven’t read the books). What carries the film are the jokes – a few misses, but a bunch of hits. Most are very subtle and a few are in your face; my favorite scene is when Stephanie has to bring in Mr. Earling… a nudist. Nuff said. The acting is top notch and for a direct to video piece, Heigl brings her A-Game. She totally embraces the character and I’m grateful that she does the “joisey” accent for all of five seconds before she switches gears and sticks to her own pipes. And what should have been the film’s biggest hit is also a letdown – Debbie Reynolds plays Grandma Mazur and if you’ve read the book, granny is off the hook! Reynolds captures some of the wackiness but not all of it, which is a shame because granny is just too much. The remainder of the cast all perform well, with no real standouts, just awesome acting. In the end, it was a pretty awesome film and I hope the second book gets a chance to shine.
The Bad:
Ahhhh Granny… why was she toned down on the wackiness??
The Ugly:
Old man’s Earling’s naked ass – yikes!
One for the Money is Available now on a single disc DVD or Blu-Ray/Digital copy combo pack. With respect to Evanovich’s book, I think “One for the Money” does an excellent job of bringing Plum's world and characters to celluloid life. The film is a solid story, loaded with chuckles, and very entertaining. So, out of TOV 5 stars, I give the film a 3.5. Will we see “Two for the Dough”? I really hope so!
