When I first heard they were going to be making a movie of One for the Money, I was wary about who’d they choose to play everyone. After all, how can you really hope to equal the mythos of Ranger in real life? I had nothing to worry about.
I went to the first showing on Friday with my mother (I got her hooked on the series). The theater was fairly full especially for mid-day on a work day. There were only 5 men in the theater who were there with their wives. For the most part, it was groups of women, elderly women. Listening to the conversation before the movie and during previews, I swear the theater was filled with Grandma Mazurs. Gods, I hope to be like these women when I grow up.
The movie was funny, but not falling out of my seat funny. Of course, the book wasn’t as funny and outrageous as later ones in the series are. It stuck fairly faithfully to the timeline of the book with the exception of combining the two major plot climax scenes.
Katherine Heigl was fantastic as Stephanie. She captured the irreverent and slightly insecure desperation that Stephanie was under wonderfully.She also looks great as a brunette and I want those boots.
When I saw the commercials I thought Jason O’Mara didn’t look like I had pictured Morelli, but he sounded just like I imagined Morelli would. Over the course of the movie, he really grew on me. He also has one hell of a smoulder. Whew.
Daniel Sunjata has all the attitude and moves of Ranger. Something felt missing though. As I heard a little 80+ year old woman say when we were leaving the theater, “Ranger should have been sexier.” Not that Sunjata isn’t sexy. He is. It’s just hard to compare with how Ranger is written in the series.
Debbie Reynolds was Grandma Mazur. There really was no other choice for that role. Vinnie (Patrick Fischler), Connie (Ana Reeder) and Lula (Sherri Shepherd) were well cast as well and fit with expectations of the characters.
All in all it was a fun movie that I plan to buy when it comes out on video though I won’t see it in theaters again. I hope they make more movies from this series. I’d love to see more car destruction and would love to see who’d they cast as Mooner.
So if you’re a Plum fan, get yourself to the theater.