People call this a chick-flick, but my wife saw it with me and she was just as disappointed as I was. I hate this kind of cynically made flick that adds to the dumbing down of popular culture: 40 somethings acting like late 20 somethings with the emotional, psychological and social awareness of 15 year-olds. In other words, everyone here is selfish, self-centered, narcissistic, and just plain stupid. I understand the concept of suspension of belief, but that's supposed to refer to situations, not characterisation. I am not sure who is responsible for this mess, but the principal blame should lie on Jennifer Lopez' shoulders. This is clearly a vehicle for her, a kind of Sex in the City dumbed down even lower than the standards of SitC (and that bar was already pretty low), without the references to anal and oral sex and set in hipper Tribeca. The premise that leads to pregnancy is unbelievable, as is the fact that no one seems to work seriously or think about it too much yet live very comfortably in New York, while Stan (the love interest who is -SPOILER- swept off his feet by his chance encounter with J-Lo) runs what looks like a toy farm miraculously producing goat cheese by the ton, with nary an animal in sight except for what look like gorgeous thoroughbreds. Never mind. The whole thing is cheesy (sorry; couldn't resist), and even its principal subject, pregnancy and birth, is treated in a ridiculous and mean-spirited way. I mean, J-Lo wants so desperately to get preggers and then gets in crisis mode when she can no longer fit into Lindsay-Lohan tight dresses to show off her major southern asset? A loony lesbian who poos while giving birth in a plastic pool while her support group chants and drums ridiculous new age crap? The whole thing is not only bad, it's stupid.
Review of The Back-up Plan
The Back-up Plan
(2010)
Danger: emotionally retarded narcissists at work
25 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers