Hey Y’all. The Back-up Plan is the newest film from Jennifer Lopez, heretofore known as JLo. In it JLo plays a single woman who desperately wants a baby. So she goes under her mattress, and gets the $20,000 for in vitro, which magically works the first time. Only the second she gets pregnant she meets the guy (Alex O’Loughlin) who might just be Mr. Right.

This ain’t exactly groundbreaking. It feels like a movie made in the 90’s when single women having children was a thing; it’s like Look Who’s Talking without the adorable Bruce Willis baby. Jenny from the block is tolerable as the whiny/codependent (read: strong) single woman, and Alex O’Loughlin is somewhat better as the farmer who spends all of his free time in the city when he’s not going to night school.

But they both pale in comparison to the secondary players. Linda Lavin is good as the Grandmother, Michaela Watkins is funny as the best friend. Even Tom Bosley, who must have been summoned by some sort of SAG seance, is a more interesting character than either of the leads.

Doesn’t sound very positive right? I almost turned it off after half an hour, but I didn’t and I started to like the movie. All because of one very special star, or should I say three.

JLo’s paraplegic dog Nuts is the real star of the show. Played by three Boston terriers, Nubbins, Nip and Tuck, he has the most soul of any of the characters. He doesn’t do much; at one point he eats a pregnancy test, then coughs up the result. But he doesn’t have to do much, he is a dog in a wheelchair.

To sum up, JLo is ok, O’Loughlin is better. Everyone else, better still. Or to put it another way, come for the awkward comedy, stay for the disabled puppy. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Comedy/Romance

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 8/26/10

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