Monster-in-Law

Plot synopsis:
Charlie Cantilini (Jennifer Lopez) is a temp/dog walker/yoga instructor and aspiring fashion designer from Venice Beach, California, who meets doctor Kevin Fields (Michael Vartan). She thinks he's gay at first, based on a lie Kevin's former girlfriend Fiona (Monet Mazur) told her. But then Kevin asks her out, and Charlie believes that she's finally found the right man.
Things start to go wrong when Kevin introduces Charlie to his mother, Viola Fields (Jane Fonda). Viola is a former newscaster, who has recently been replaced by someone younger, and is in the midst of a meltdown. Loathing Charlie from the outset, Viola becomes even more distraught when Kevin proposes to Charlie. Fearing that she'll lose her son the same way she lost her career, she sets out to ruin Kevin and Charlie's relationship. With Ruby (Wanda Sykes), her assistant, she tries everything possible to drive Charlie away.
Charlie eventually catches on to Viola's plan and fights back. On Charlie's wedding day, Viola turns up wearing a white dress instead of the peach-colored dress specially made for her. This leads to a violent stand-off between the two, leading with Viola refusing to accept Charlie and states she'll never be good enough for Kevin. Suddenly, Viola's own dreadful mother-in-law, Kevin's grandmother, Gertrude Fields (Elaine Stritch), appears and they have an indignant argument, while Gertrude takes a liking to Charlie, saying she is stunning, her grandson is a lucky man, that she is an "exotic Latina", and if only her son, Kevin's father, was as lucky to find a woman like Charlie. Gertrude's resentment of Viola bears a strong resemblance to Viola's feelings of animosity toward Charlie. Gertrude even believes that Kevin's father had died years ago of "terminal disappointment", for which Gerturde holds Viola responsible. Viola counters stating Gertrude "smothered him to death", because she thought nobody was ever good enough for him (basically similar to how Viola is). Gertrude, satisfied she got her last word in, leaves; showing she still favors Charlie. Charlie decides to back–down as she witnesses Gertrude and Viola's relationship. "Nothing's going to change", she laments to Viola after Gertrude leaves the room, "In thirty years that will be us."
Charlie exits to tell Kevin that the wedding is off. But before that can happen, Ruby enters and talks with Viola. Viola is miffed that Charlie compared her to Gertrude, although Ruby points out that Viola is actually far worse than Gertrude, as she doesn't ever recall Gertrude trying to poison Viola once, referring to earlier at the rehearsal dinner when Viola put crushed nuts (to which Charlie is highly allergic) in the meal's gravy. Ruby points out that Viola's efforts against Charlie to make Kevin happy are unwarranted. "Whatever made you think he wasn't?" is her final point. Viola has an epiphany and realizes that she wants Charlie to stay, and they reconcile, ending the feud. Charlie then explains to Viola that she wants her to stay, too, on one condition: if Viola accepts the boundaries Charlie needs, if she is present at any family event, and if she treats her children with love.
Charlie and Kevin then get married and when Charlie throws her wedding bouquet, Viola catches the flowers. As Charlie and Kevin drive away to their honeymoon, the film ends as Viola and Ruby walk out of the celebration.

Tags: revenge, entertaining, romantic

Review:
Everyone I know went to see "Monster In Law" for Jane Fonda and in spite of J Lo. If you go with that spirit, you just may have a reasonable good time.
The stuff that goes on during the film is priceless, countless fights, bickering, trying to one up the other, makes for a wonderful, true to life picture of what its like when you get married and you have to meet the mother in law..
I wish now that I hadn't wasted my time.Granted, Jane Fonda is an asset to "Monster-in-Law." She brims with radiance and plays the Viola role with tremendous flair (although the psychosis of her character sometimes seems forced and exaggerated).
He is like a prop that they casually drag into the movie whenever they need some filler between Charlie/Viola catfights.Wanda Sykes, as Viola's assistant, is fairly comical and works much better with Jane Fonda than J-Lo does.
While I was expecting an overdone, overplayed comedy that tries too hard to be funny and romantic at the same time, I was totally shocked to find a "Meet the Parents" kind of movie.
So I thought to myself, "Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda and Wanda Sykes?
Monster in Law is the story of the nicest girl ON THE PLANET (Jennifer Lopez) who meets the perfect man (Michael Vartan).
So obviously Lopez isn't good enough for VaughnI mean Vartan.Over the course of the movies 90 minute running time you will be subjected to the following: Conspiracies to derail the wedding.
This movie surprised me, because Jennifer Lopez is known for having a bad track record with the romantic comedies she leads -- even though they do well at the box office, they never have any really good laughs to them.
Ms. Lopez delivers a wonderful performance as Charlie, and Jane Fonda is also excellent in her return to films after a 15-year absence.
Wanda Sykes (who is virtually unknown in the cinema world and is actually a very funny comedienne) rounds out this powerhouse trio of women who entertain us scene after scene with their antics.Just a few weeks ago, I saw Fever Pitch, also a romantic comedy, and even though it was charming and the critics adored it, the audience in the theater I was in only truly belted out laughing once or twice, but for the sneak preview of Monster-in-Law (which was jam-packed when I attended), the theater was in STITCHES from start to finish.There's also a cameo by the amazing Elaine Stritch near the end.Congratulations to Jennifer, she's finally got a romantic comedy under her belt that she can boast about..
How sad it is then to report that her return to the screen after a 15 year hiatus is squandered on a wretchedly written, clumsily directed romantic comedy that is an embarrassment for not only Fonda but a talented supporting cast."Monster-in-Law" represents what seems to be an increasingly generic brand of comedy.
Character motivation and good storytelling have been replaced by gross caricature and "connect-the-dots", formulaic writing that is as predictable as it is depressing."Monster-in-Law" takes many of its cues from an earlier Fonda comedy, the lamentable 1981 burlesque, "9 to 5".
Unfortunately movie audiences seem easily pleased by this new comedy hybrid.In "Monster-in-Law" Jane Fonda plays veteran television interviewer Viola Fields, a Diva from Hell who is determined to break up the impending marriage of her handsome, vacuous son (an L.A. surgeon) to Charlotte "Charlie" Cantilini (Jennifer Lopez), an office temp, part time caterer and dog walker.
Otherwise "Monster-in-Law" is a mess and possibly the worst movie of Jane Fonda's career..
Thing are going well until she meets his overbearing mother (Jane Fonda), a recently fired news anchorwoman who takes her aggression out on her son's new girlfriend with help from her assistant Ruby (Wanda Sykes).
Her scenes with Jane Fonda are the best things about the movie though she gets a little annoying.
No chemistry between Lopez and Vartan makes the whole  production fail early and by that time Fonda's over-the-top role (still  not quite sure why Fonda agreed to be in this movie) is not enough to  sustain the audience's interest.
Plus, Jane Fonda came out of retirement to make "Monster-In-Law", her first movie in 15 years.
In the perfect world, if Woody Allen had written the script and made the movie with three of them, Fonda, Lopes, and Sykes - we could've had if not a masterpiece but a wonderful and funny comedy.
However, I have always found Wanda Sykes very funny, and Jane Fonda is usually worth a look.Within 10 minutes, I was wishing I'd gone to see Crash instead.
Unfortunately, his mother (Jane Fonda) is a perfect harridan fresh off the back of a nervous breakdown  or so we are asked to believe.This is where the "fun" should start, with the general idea, I guess, being to make an "all-chick" version of "Meet the Parents".
Doris Roberts on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND accomplishes more with a couple throw away lines than all the script does for Jane Fonda's character.I could go on and on about what's bad about this huge waste of celluloid AND talent, but take the $22 you woulda spent on this for you and your date, go to the video store and rent Seinfeld, ELR, Fawlty Towers, and buy cheap candy instead of paying the inflated larcenous prices they charge in the theatre.
We do have Jane Fonda back on screen, but sincerely, I would expect her to do something else after 15 years of creativity break, and not this routine feel good comedy.I am afraid that this film - after making its in-flight entertainment career - will rest soon on the shelves of the studios full of not-so-funny comedies, and a well deserved amount of dust will cover it.
Jane Fonda is back after 15 years of not making any movies and she gives a very good performance as the titular character in Mother-in-Law. A romantic comedy directed by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton) and written by first timer Anya Kochoff, the movie gets very good to OK performances by the actors, and there are some funny parts, but overall it fails and is only being talked about because Miss Barbarella is back on the big screen.
Jennifer Lopez plays Charlie, a dog-walker (among several other jobs) and super nice girl who falls for Michael Vartan's Kevin Fields, a super nice guy who happens to be a very rich surgeon.
Jane Fonda plays Viola Fields perfectly, getting all crazy for nothing or sometimes justified like when Kevin proposes to Charlie in front of her on their first meeting.
Also supporting and kind of funny were Adam Scott and Annie Parisse as Charlie's gay friend Remi and best girlfriend Morgan, respectively, and totally wasted and with only 2 or 3 lines was Will Arnet as Kevin's best friend Kit. Jane Fonda is back and I couldn't care less, specially if she's going to keep doing movies like this that are funny because of its supporting players, but that overall have nothing memorable about them and are impossible to recommend.
Jane Fonda, who plays Viola Fields (the Monster) gives such a natural performance and not being a general fan of Jennifer Lopez who plays Charlie, did excellent but the person to watch out for in the movie is scene stealer, Wanda Sykes who plays Ruby.
JLo is after all a good actress, even though her real personality is far removed from the 'nice' roles she plays (and so they often don't ring true).Of course some in the audience lampoon anything Jane Fonda is in because they will never forgive her for opposing the Vietnam War ..
time to move on?Overall I went into the theater expecting mildly funny, but found myself in the middle of a laugh out loud classic comedy and as you can probably tell, most impressed by Jane Fonda's performance :).
Also good is Wanda Sykes as her sidekick, whereas a great cameo by Elaine Stritch is also as entertaining, the modern, conformist cast such as Lopez, Varitan, and their friends in the cast are so out of place alongside Fonda, and Stritch.
Jane Fonda touch some many over the year with films such as coming home and the china syndrome (one of my favorite movies of all time) After 15 years she's made a comeback, but sadly she has made a disappointing comeback to this dreadful comedy, about a monster mother who disapproves his fiancé's marriage, the laughs are completely non-existent, the acting is really bad, the script is lousy This is more like an badly overplayed sitcom than a movie Avoid this while you can.Jane Fonda waiting over a decade to do movies, just to be in this garbageMercy..
In her return to the cinema industry, Jane Fonda "steals" the movie and has an excellent performance in the role of a possessive mother that does her best trying to avoid the marriage of her beloved son scaring her daughter-in-law.
Wanda Sykes, Michael Vartan, Adam Scott, Annie Parisse and Monet Mazur complete the good cast of this funny movie.
Jennifer Lopez adds sparkle while Jane Fonda is good as Viola.
It's not the best I've ever seen but I definitely think Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda do their part in making it a movie worth seeing in the theater and owning at home.
If life were that easy, a lot more people today would be getting along with their "in laws." Other than these two concerns I've addressed, I enjoyed the relationship between Jennifer and Jane throughout the movie, the acting was great and I laughed a lot.
I went to see Monster In Law mostly because I was curious how Jane Fonda would come across in her first movie in years.
Now, in conclusion, I highly recommend this good romantic comedy that will make you laugh and feel good to any Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, or Michael Vartan fan who hasn't seen it.
Jane Fonda returns to the screen playing an eccentric, Barbara Walters-type TV personality who has just lost her job to a younger woman and served a stint in a clinic after attacking a guest on her show...the last thing she needs is to have her "brilliant surgeon" son bring his new girlfriend to tea and propose marriage on bended knee right in front of mama.
If you're looking for a feel good comedy or if you're a Jane Fonda fan, this movie will not disappoint you!.
If you like original, simple but extreme comedy, then this is the film for you.Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda make a great pair, working off each other so well.
Bringing Jane Fonda out of retirement is not enough of a twist.The film opens with the love-at-first-sight relationship of Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) and Kevin (Michael Vartan).
Back in Rich Town, U.S.A. Michael's mother Viola (Jane Fonda) has just returned from the Looney Bin where she was submitted over an anxiety attack resulting in the injury of a 16 year old pop star on her day time talk show.
To be honest, she's really one of the better aspects of Monster in Law. The same goes for Jane Fonda's lead role as the evil Viola.
"Monster-in-Law" may just be one of the worst studio romantic comedies to be released in recent memory, a movie so bland, brain dead and unengaging that it almost defies explanation.Fonda stars as the female equivalent to Robert DeNiro's character from "Meet the Parents," a fallen television journalist who plots to derail her unwitting son's (Michael Vartan) impending nuptials to a free spirit dog-walker/temp/aspiring designer (Lopez).These characters are more outlines than fully realized roles.
"Monster-in-law" would be cheese even if it had been developed as a single episode of sitcom, and drawn out to a feature length movie, it's unbearable...crude, cruel, dumb, and of course worst of all -- unfunny.The minimal thrust of the plot is to create a diva cat-fight between 70-ish Jane Fonda (still beautiful, but subjected here to many very unkind closeups) and 35-ish Jennifer Lopez....the pleasure intended to be seeing them slap each other, poison each other with drugs and otherwise create mayhem.
How can rich powerful stars like Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez agree to perform in such drivel?
This film is saved by Jane Fonda, who does a great job at trying to sabotage her son Kevin's (Michael Vartan) relationship with Charlie (Jennifer Lopez).
After a fifteen-year retirement, Jane Fonda came back to Hollywood and starred in Monster-in-Law, a comedy about an overbearing mother who tries to interfere with her son's impending marriage because she feels his fiancé isn't good enough for him.
Or, if you look at it another way, a loving mother feels her handsome doctor son could do better than a flaky, part-time dog walker, and she tries to help him come to his senses before they're married.Michael Vartan plays Jane's son, and Jennifer Lopez is the impending daughter-in-law.
While it might be a bit of a shock for audiences who last saw Jane as a romantic lead in Stanley & Iris in 1990, she doesn't take the role as the mother-in-law to say, "I'm an old lady now." She's beautiful, vibrant, and able to compete toe-to-toe with the icon JLo. Jane even films a scene in her negligee; it's clear to her audience that she's nowhere near old age.As to the movie itself, it's very entertaining and funny.
This 2005 rom com starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, and Wanda Sykes is pretty entertaining and very funny at certain moments.
Jennifer Lopez was like she usually is, not meaning that in a bad way though, she was still entertaining, even if Jane Fonda over shadowed her a bit.
We can relate to the movie in some ways except the movie exaggerates a lot of what makes our lives funny.I find Jennifer Lopez's and Jane Fonda's performance to be hilarious.
Well I must say it was a boring Sunday and this was the most "decent" movie on HBO.So well, I must say that "Monster In Law" delivers expectations for those who want to see a light romantic comedy with the occasional American humor and creative funny situations.
Alas, Ms. Fonda would have done much better by refusing whatever was offered to her and stayed in one of her mansions raising money for her causes instead of being reduced to being a caricature.The best, and only, reason for even wanting to take a look at this movie is the presence of Wanda Sykes, who steals the picture from all the stars to make it her own.
As the no-nonsense assistant, Ms. Sykes is a delight to watch and the only one showing some wit in the movie.While the film is by no means horrible, one can think of other ways to be entertained..
But if you're simply looking for a funny movie, I recommend it completely.As others have already said, a lot of credit goes to Wanda Sykes for her delicious supporting role.
Jane Fonda is not ordinarily my favorite actress, and Jennifer Lopez is not even on my radar, but I enjoyed both of their performances a lot as well.
A well-worn movie premise gets a fresh coat of paint in MONSTER-IN-LAW, a laugh-packed comedy confection that made history as it marked the return to the big screen of two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda, in her first film in 16 years.
The only actors who don't get blown off the screen by Fonda are Wanda Sykes, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie as Viola's assistant Ruby and Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, who shines in a brief cameo as one of Viola's former mother-in-laws, but this is Fonda's show all the way, and if this film shows anything, it's that Fonda has not lost any of her ability to command the screen during her 16-year absence and I hope more roles are coming her way.
entertaining chick flick predictable sometimes funny maybe 1 good laugh but you see the gags coming how can anyone believe the mother in law would see the light at the end is beyond me it does not happen in real life...and the tag along black p.a. is so formulaic be original lets have a comedy in which the guydoes not get the girl letshave a flick thats not a morality talelets have the hero marry into money...
But as most of the married men out there already know sometimes (always) we have to watch what appears to be a "chick flick" The chemistry between Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez was excellent.
Like Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Wanda Sykes, all played off each other so well.
So, I went to see this film purely because I have a soft spot for Michael Vartan - I know little to nothing about Jane Fonda, and generally hate Jennifer Lopez.
The only thing good about this movie is Jane Fonda -- and anything other than J Lo. I must say, however, that J Lo is quite the actress, if only because in real life she is so awful.
The one actor who can hold her own and does the most to prevent the film from becoming "The Jane Fonda Show" is Elaine Stritch as Kevin's grandmother, Viola's own and equally monstrous mother-in-law Gertrude, but hers is only a cameo role.
I liked the scenes where JLo and Fonda were beating the crap out of each other, and it turned out that they were only dreaming it.I think too, if it weren't for Wanda Sykes, the movie would really have bombed!
Mother and daughter-in-law to be become friends in the end and the guests throw rice.Notable characters who make the movie worth seeing: Ruby - Wanda Sykes (This woman was hilarious, credit to the writers of her lines of course...
Watching her in this movie was just painful.Jane Fonda...why did you come out of retirement!?