The Back–Up Plan (2010/CBS Films/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C- Feature: C
It is no
secret that he career of Jennifer Lopez is not what it used to be but to her
credit, she can act (Blood & Wine,
Out Of Sight, The Cell) and can do comedy (Monster-In-Law
was not that bad) so when CBS
launched its new theatrical feature film division (they used to be involved in
such affairs before in the early 1970s), they hired Lopez for what they hoped
would be a hit with Alan Poul’s The
Back-Up Plan (2010), but the play it safe formula script made it more like
a TV movie and it does not work.
Sure,
Lopez looks good and can play well in the Romance genre, but we have seen this
film a hundred times as (what sounds like a new idea followed by a bunch of old
ones) plays Zoë, who cannot find a “good man” so she’ll have a baby herself and
raise it as a single mother. Suddenly
though, she meets Stan (Alex O’Loughlin, the new McGarrett on the
will-it-really-work Hawaii 5-0 revival from… CBS!) shows up and
she starts to fall for him… maybe and vice versa... maybe. Oh, and she is pregnant!
Of
course, it is trite and one of the backhanded messages is that she is an
incomplete woman without a man and possibly immortal to want to have the child
on her own, so the film is at least problematic in its treatment of women, but
it is absolutely problematic in the treatment of its audience. We deserve a better script (by TV writer Kate
Angelo of Will & Grace and Becker) and film, but there was no
“back-up plan” for a better movie, so we get stuck with this one instead. Eric Christian Olsen and Linda Lavin also
star.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is soft and somewhat dull throughout, as
if it was shot on High Definition video instead of film. Director of Photography Xavier Pérez Grobet (Music & Lyrics) can lanes a comedy,
but this is very standard, safe work. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix is actually a little more
professional and warmer than expected for a dialogue-based comedy with good
recording work throughout, though don’t expect a greatly active soundfield, but
it is the default highlight and surprise of the disc.
Extras
include BD Live and movieIQ interactive functions, plus Lopez interview, a making
of featurette and deleted scenes of little consequence.
- Nicholas Sheffo
