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Movies / On DVD / Monster-in-Law
Monster-in-Law

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Monster-in-Law (2005)

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Reviews Counted:161

Fresh:25

Rotten:136

Average Rating:4.2/10

Consensus: While Jane Fonda steals the movie in her return to the screen, a tired script and flimsy performances make this borderline comedy fall flat.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) is looking for a nice guy who will appreciate her, as well as her myriad of interests and jobs. From walking dogs to painting to designing clothes to answering phones at a... Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) is looking for a nice guy who will appreciate her, as well as her myriad of interests and jobs. From walking dogs to painting to designing clothes to answering phones at a doctor's office, Charlie does it all. Keith (Michael Vartan) seems to fit the bill as a perfect match for her: he's charming, handsome, a successful doctor, and he is completely smitten with her. And now, he has proposed and wants to marry her. There's just one problem: his mother, Viola (Jane Fonda), is a nightmare. A legendary television journalist who has an on-air breakdown after being replaced by a much younger woman, Viola virtually lives for Keith, especially now that her career is apparently over. She doesn't think Charlie is good enough for her son, and she plans to do everything she can to break them up. Enlisting the help of her assistant, brutally honest Ruby (Wanda Sykes), Viola plots ways to drive Charlie crazy--and get her away from her son. She feigns illness, belittles her future daughter-in-law's jobs, and invites her son's old flame to visit at inopportune moments, among other things. But Viola underestimates Charlie, who isn't about to give up a happy future with Keith without a fight. Directed by Richard Luketic (LEGALLY BLONDE, WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON!), MONSTER-IN-LAW marks Fonda's return to the big screen following a 14-year absence. Elaine Stritch appears as Viola's own former monster-in-law. [More]

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan, Wanda Sykes

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan, Wanda Sykes, Adam Scott, Will Arnett, Annie Parisse, Monet Mazur

Director: Robert Luketic

Director: Robert Luketic
Screenwriter: Richard LaGravenese, Anya Kochoff
Producer: Paula Weinstein, J.C. Spink, Chris Bender
Composer: David Newman
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Reviews for Monster-in-Law

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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Was this really the best movie Jane Fonda could find to restart her movie career?

Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment Comment
05/16/05
Scott Nash
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

Fails on so many levels that it is difficult to even know where to start.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
05/16/05
Peter Sobczynski
Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com

Fonda fans will lap this up, but even they will agree it is no "Barefoot In the Park."

Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment Comment
05/15/05
Jackie K. Cooper
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com

Fonda as a dominatrix in the will-she, won't-she shallows of entertainment, with Lopez her match in campy mindlessness.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
05/15/05
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

There's only one reason I'm giving this three stars, and that's Jane Fonda, whose talent is, well, monstrous.

Full Review Source: KWQC-TV (Iowa) | comment Comment
05/15/05
Linda Cook
Linda Cook
KWQC-TV (Iowa)

If Director Luketic and Writer Kochoff have to fall back on these unfunny, antediluvian routines, they should learn another trade.

Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
05/14/05
Tony Medley
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

Something Patriotic Inside Me Prevents Me From Seeing This Movie.

Full Review Source: Outtakes With Fiore | comment Comment
05/14/05
Fiore Mastracci
Fiore Mastracci
Outtakes With Fiore
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
05/14/05
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A one-joke comedy that achieves the oxymoronic feat of being fluffy and flat at the same time.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal | comment Comment
05/14/05
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

The humor of this movie has been pitched at the wrong level...it’s just 100 minutes of women being cruel to each other.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
05/13/05
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

I think if 'Monster-in-Law' had been a horror flick instead of a comedy it might have worked for me. As is, it's just a horror of a movie.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/13/05
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

The run-of-the-mill comedy might not be the Monster hit Jennifer Lopez is seeking, but it opens up the possibility of seeing more of the talented Jane Fonda.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
05/13/05
Kit Bowen
Kit Bowen
Hollywood.com

Reviled for selling themselves, for wielding power, Fonda, Lopez, and to an extent, Sykes have turned their seeming threats into commodities.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
05/13/05
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

In a movie about diva-to-diva warfare, each diva is miscast.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/13/05
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post

It takes awhile for `Monster-In-Law' to bare its teeth, but once the movie does...everything on the screen begins to click.

Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) | comment Comment
05/13/05
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

Fonda and Sykes are made for each other, and their incessant bickering and arguing are about the only things that give Monster-in-Law any life.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
05/13/05
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com

Fonda, who returned to movies after a 15-year absence only to find herself facedown in a plate of tripe, handles her on-screen humiliation with considerable grace.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/13/05
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Trust me, Monster-in-Law not only makes more sense as an Unforgiven-ish parable of old-school Hollywood feminism's wrath, it's worlds more fun.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
05/13/05
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star

In any case, the news here is not the movie but the movie star. Jane Fonda is back, and let's hope the movies can figure out how to plant her somewhere she can flourish.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
05/13/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Monster-in-Law is a comedy without laughs and a catfight without claws.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
05/13/05
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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