movie and ACTORS review by HUGE book fan

Warning: this post is MASSIVE lol. i kind of got carried away -__-

First off, I want to say I've read every single book in this series, even the holiday ones, and I am a HUGE HUGE RAVING fan of this series. I just saw the movie, and I have to say, it wasn't that bad. I went in hopeful, but pessimistic, and came out laughing. Granted, sometimes I was the only one laughing because I may have been one of the only people in the audience to have read the books, but it was a cute movie.

Katherine Heigl: Did a pretty good job as Stephanie, a little better than I expected. I've only seen her in 27 dresses and Knocked Up, where she played 2 very similar charecters, but this movie was different. she was very reminiscent of Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, in her sense of humor (self depreciating) and some her mannerisms. Her relationships with both Ranger and Joe were pretty good, and the scenes where they talked about her jumping the curb when she broke Morelli's leg in high school were hilarious. that accent though... don't worry, you stop noticing it after a while.

Jason O'Mara: I WAS SO SURPRISED. i've been watching this guy in Terra Nova, and while he's not heinous, i was SO not able to picture him as fun loving, womanizing, joe morelli. well he pulled it off. it was fantastic. sometimes they would do a closeup of him and i'd come out of it a little only because he looks so little like the morelli described in the books. surprisingly though, he manages to ooze the same confident sex appeal as morelli. when i first saw his picture, i was like... jason omara? not hot. by the end of the movie.... well, theres a scene where he brings stephanie coffee in bed. without a shirt. its fantastic.

daniel sunjata: he's cuteish, and he's technically kinda built. he's no ranger though. it's like... in the movie, ranger just seems really experienced and kind of dangerous. there was nothing about him that screamed "MYSTERIOUS MAN!" though. it was a bit like he was a mentor, but not that he was the superdangerous super mysterious ranger we got in the books. but acting wise, sunjata was great. his interpretation of ranger's charecter was likeable and badassish. and he ate grapefruit. fanbloodytastic.

sherri shepard: i thought she was great as lula. she had the spunk, the small amount of vulnerabilty, and the comedic timing. it was great, and i hope they make sequels so we can see her and steph kicking ass and taking names (but not really kicking ass at all lol)

Mr. and Mrs. Plum: they looked absolutley NOTHING like i imagined them in the books, but they were hilarious. haha something that threw me though was that both of them looked nothing like katherine heigl. they were both good in their parts though.

grandma mazur: she had the spunky attitude of g.mazur down pretty well. she just really doesn't look that old. at one point, mr. plum is like "she needs to be put in a home", and i'm like... she's 65 at the latest. but if they plan on making sequels, this is probably a good thing. (and why they didn't get betty white like a lot of people apparently wanted)

connie risolli: she grew on me. although in the trailer it doesn't look like her boobs are big enough (-__-), trust me, they are. and she's cute and funny.

vinnie plum: FANBLOODYTASTIC. when he was introduced, i was prepared for the skeevyness, but a group of people behind me literally gasped and said "eewwwwww!" (they had the same reaction for bernie kuntz). let me tell you, patrick fischler OOZED skeevyness. he was so greasy i wanted to wipe the screen. one of my FAV parts of the movie.

benito ramirez: great casting. he's big, he's scary looking, and he's a wrestler in real life. the scenes stephanie plum had with him, she seemed legitimitly intimidated. any sane person would be. and they were smart in that they didn't just make him this big bad troll thing, he actually seemed a bit intelligent, in a sadistic way. *shiver*

jimmy alpha: fantastic, i loved him. he seemed like he came straight out of the book. pretty much the EXACT same. great job with the casting and the acting there.

mary lou: i loved it when her and steph had scenes together. they really did seem like best friends, and mary lou was perfect as a somewhat frazzled yet competent mother. i'm glad they didn't try to glam her up, or worse, try to make her seem like a messy sloppy housewife friend.

eddie gazarra: i thought this guy was good. this may seem odd, but i've always had a tiny little crush on gazarra, he just seems like a good guy. nate mooney (his actor) isnt the most attractive man in the world, but he has a friendly, dependable, likeable attitude that shone through in this role. you could really see that he and steph were good friends, that he cared about her, and that he wasn't just some incompetent cop. and they kept some of his best lines, YAY!

john cho: EHMAHGAWD I FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM. he was just adorable. really well acted, and the relationship he had with stephanie really impacted her in a way that i thought katherine heigl did a great job portraying. he was one of the really cute and funny moments of the movie.

bernie kuntz: ew ew ew ew ewwww he was just slimy. great acting though, and really HILARIOUS. he had some great lines from the book too.

jackie (lula's prostitute friend): she was hilarious, and a nice partner to lula. they had some good scenes together.

As for the movie, i LOVED the way they decided to have stephanie plum narrate as it went along. it was a great way to keep some of the best lines from the book, which steph said in her head. i loved the filming style, it was simple and traditional, and kind of seemed like a throwback to the fact that the series started in the 90's. without all the extra film stuff, we were able to focus on the story and the acting, both of which were great.

I also loved the way that even though they bumped the date up to 2011, each charecter still kept the same fashion sense somewhat as they did in the 1994 book. Like, in the book, Steph is described as wearing Levi's and t-shirts with leather belts and boots. While she wasn't wearing the EXACT same thing (thank god), the comfortable yet attractive fashion sense that steph has was still there in the movie. it's kind of a random thing to notice, i know.

i haven't read One for the Money in 2 or 3 years, but from what I remember, this was a pretty excellent interpretation of the movie. i know a lot of people were worried about it, saying they wouldn't pay money to see it, (i was SUPER worried myself), but katherine heigl and janet evanovich did a great job. soooo, based on that, in my own personal opinion, i recommend this movie to any and all fans.

movie rating:
just as a movie: 8.5 out of 10
when judging it as a MAJOR book fan: 7 to 7.8 out of 10

ps. i'm an acting student, which may explain the practically obsessive way i picked apart the actors. :)