Do You Believe in Miracles?
10 Exercises to Stay Spiritually Fit
20 Scriptures That Bring Hope to Any Situation
5 Ways to Revive Your Dream!
7 Ways to Plant Seeds of Greatness in Your Life
20 Powerful Declarations to Fight Discouragement
5 Ways to Stay Healthy This Summer
5 Tips for Better Sleep
7 Top Health Issues Facing Today’s Women
Celebrities Who Won't Back Down
Words of Wisdom from Dr Joyce Brothers
A Conversation with Minnesota Wild Center Matt Cullen
Yes, Gratitude Works!
10 Ways to To Handle Life Changes With Courage
The Fruits of Desire
Nurturing a Healthy Marriage
10 Ways to Get Over a Hurtful Past
Ten Things Every Dad Should Tell His Son
| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and momentary violence |
| Profanity: | Brief strong language |
| Nudity/Sex: | References to adultery, non-explicit sexual situation |
| Alcohol/Drugs: | Drinking |
| Violence/Scariness: | Characters are on the run from a hitman, guns, character stabbed |
| Diversity Issues: | Cultural diversity is a theme of the movie but all characters are stereotypes |
| Movie Release Date: | December 18, 2009 |
| DVD Release Date: | March 16, 2010 |
I have seldom seen the stars of a movie look as thoroughly uncomfortable as Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant in this drearily low-concept would-be comedy, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” Parker plays Meryl Morgan, a Manhattan real estate broker so high-powered she is featured on the cover of New York Magazine, who has recently left her husband, Paul (Grant) because he cheated on her. Paul, a high-powered lawyer, has been trying to win her back with gifts and entreaties, but she is resisting.
And then they end up stuck together, unplugged from all of their various electronic devices and their supremely efficient assistants (wasting the talented Elisabeth Moss of “Mad Men”), and about as far away from Manhattan as you can get. They are sent to the small town of Ray, Wyoming by law enforcement authorities after they witness a murder to protect them from being the professional killer’s next victims. And so we’re in the land of city slickers vs the hicks as a form of extreme marital therapy. It’s all sit-, no com.
The jokes were old when “Green Acres” was new. New Yorkers can’t sleep out west because there are no sirens and car horns and they can’t breathe because the air is too clean! Isn’t it cute that people play bingo and shoot guns! (“Oh, my God, it’s Sarah Palin!” Meryl says when she sees Mary Steenburgen as a rifle-toting U.S. Marshall.) One lame stereotype after another (Meryl learns to shoot a gun and milk a cow! Paul squirts his own eyes with bear repellent! Hicks are all Republican and carnivores! Let’s bring everyone together for a dance and a rodeo!) only underscores how self-absorbed, annoying, and entirely unattractive the characters are and how much contempt the film has for its audience. Our primary motivation for wanting them to stay together is that it’s the best way to punish them for creating this awful film. Let them torture each other the way they tortured us.
posted December 18, 2009 at 9:53 am
Nell, just so you know, you posted the Young Victoria trailer here instead of the one for this movie!
posted December 18, 2009 at 9:55 am
Sorry; I should’ve typed Tracy as my name up there– I’m the one who normally posts under that name; typed my nickname by accident!
posted December 18, 2009 at 11:35 am
Thanks so much, Tracy! I fixed it. Nine more corrections and you get a copy of my book!
posted December 18, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Darn you, Nell. You know I have a weakness for train wreck movies … now, I have to see this!
posted December 19, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Thanks, Nell. You just saved me from wasting 103 minutes of my time & $12.00 at our local theater (matinee price for 2 tickets). If I am determined to punish myself by watching it (must admit to having a weakness for Hugh Grant movies), I’ll wait a few months until the library where I work gets a copy of the DVD. I live in an area where we “cling to our guns & Bibles,” so I’m sure the Hollywood stereotype of Republicans will irritate me. On second thought, maybe I’ll check the DVD out to someone else!
Merry Christmas!
posted December 19, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Not even worth viewing as a train wreck, Christian! If that’s what you’re looking for, try “Old Dogs!”
posted December 20, 2009 at 9:17 am
Karen, I love librarians! My sister is one. Thanks for the great comment, and if you do decide to see check it out (in both senses of the term), let me know what you think.