One for the Money (2012)

Starring Katherine Heigl, Jason O'Mara, Daniel Sunjata with John Leguizamo, and Debbie Reynolds
Directed by Julie Anne Robinson

by Joshua Simpkins

One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now, GO, CAT, GO! Seriously, you better go. I wouldn’t hang around. Get out while you still can. You still have time! Run…RUN! Run like your out on bail! Because, if you don’t, you might have to hang around and watch this movie. And, that’s not good for anyone! Believe me. I have seen it.

If your still are here, that is, if you are brave enough to hang around, then I’ll tell you a little about the movie. It stars Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, a recently divorced and as-of-late unemployed Jersey girl. She is really down and out. The repo man came and took her car and she doesn’t know how she is going to pay her rent. She gets a job at her cousin’s bail-bond business and her first assignment is her high school crush, Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara). The two have quite the checkered past. She enlists the help of Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) and the rest, as they say, is history.

This movie will probably be history soon (pun intended). It is based on a bestselling book, but if the book is any good I don’t think it translated too well to the big screen. And, honestly, I normally have a problem with Katherine Heigl, but she isn’t the real problem here. I wasn’t that big a fan of Morelli. I didn’t find his character that interesting. I really wished she would have quit chasing him and just busted a bunch of bad guys. The plot and writing left a little to be desired, as well.

For any Debbie Reynolds fans out there, you probably will have to watch this.  She doesn't come out of the woodwork too often and she is pretty funny as Stephanie's Grandmother.  For those of you who don't know who Debbie Reynolds is, then, well, you don't know who Debbie Reynolds is.  I will tell you that she is Princess Leia's Mother (in real life).  So, all you Star Wars fans can suck on that!  Wait, I'm a Star Wars fan.  I mean I don't dress up in the suit and go to Comic Con or anything, but...I'll just stop while I'm ahead.

So, in the end, my advice would be to skip this one all together. It isn’t that fun. And, even though it starts out OK enough. It gets really boring, really fast. Now, I’ll see you later. Go, cat, go. I don’t mean anything about cats leaving when I say this. Plenty of single women, have plenty of cats. Keep your cats. Give them a good home.

 FORCE THE BOYFRIEND:  1 out of 10 (Just go, cat, go)

Beer Pairing Recommendation 

This beer is horrible. It's just as bad as this movie. So, I think they go together perfectly. 

For more on the chick flick, visit IMDB

The Ugly Truth (2009)

Directed by Robert Luketic
Starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler

“The Ugly Truth” is that I actually watched this movie about a month ago. At the time I was too lazy to sit down and write a review of it. While I watched it I drank an Abita Purple Haze and The Real Truth is that I love Abita Purple Haze. Whenever I drink an Abita Purple Haze and breath in its flowery aroma I can’t help but think about Super Mario Brothers 2 and Princess Toadstool. I have no idea why but I makes me happy. “The Ugly Truth” is that after a few sips I realized that there was some dark flakes floating around within my frosty mug. I questioned whether this is normal for Abita Purple Haze and whether or not this was affecting the overall flavor of the beer. After all, doesn’t Goldschlager have little bits of flakes in it? And, that’s never killed anyone (at least, not the gold). So, knowing that my friend Tyler would disapprove (he is never one to waste any beer) I poured it out and grabbed a Dos Equis Amber Lager, poured into another frosty mug, and Voila!...no flakes. I don’t blame Abita, it was probably past the freshness date.

Katherine Heigl plays a local new producer and Gerard Butler plays an outspoken if not flat-out rude cable access television show host of a show called (guess what) “The Ugly Truth”. The beginning is slightly ridiculous. She calls in to argue with him one night and the next day (guess what again) he just happens to be hired by her news station manager. And, (guess what for the third time) she is assigned to be his producer. It’s Manly Man versus Modern Women and it looks like we have the perfect setup for a chick flick. If I remember anything about “The Ugly Truth” it was that I wasn’t all that impressed with Katherine Heigl or Gerard Butler. She seems a bit loony and he has that almost annoying “British guy making a scruffy American accent” that all the actors from the UK (or Australia) try to put on (see Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, and Orlando Bloom). But...He sounds so manly with that scruffy voice.

“The Ugly Truth” is that the movie has a weak beginning and ending. But, the middle isn’t really that bad and some pretty funny parts. This movie won’t be bad for a date night and might lead to a little discussion about the opposite sex (male or female) and also, cats. Because don't all single lonely, women have a lot of cats? At least, that's what Gerard thinks.

FORCE THE BOYFRIEND: 6 out of 10 (1 means he'll hate it, 10 means he'll like it)

Watch if you liked.... Grey’s Anatomy or P.S. I Love You

Chick Flick: 3 cartons of ice cream (out of 5)

DVD: 1 pieces of milky chocolate (out of 5)

Beer: 4 manly high fives (out of 5)- for the XX Amber Lager