Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

January 30, 2012

He can buy a lot of Rolexes now.

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Max Braden: This is a case of two wrongs definitely not making a right. Say what you want about Heigl, but I can't see any actress (Julia Roberts maybe? "They're called guns, Ed.") filling in and making this movie look good. It's like the producers thought, hey, Jennifer Aniston as the bounty didn't knock it out of the park, maybe the solution is to make her the bounty hunter! That's not a comment about the source material; in fact, their serial nature is probably what makes them work, and maybe this would have worked as a TV series. But every bounty hunter movie since Midnight Run has been a poor imitation. Heigl's not going to turn that history around. She needs a project that is going to make her look *less* snide and contemptuous of the world.

Brett Beach: It is my understanding that Heigl purchased the rights to at least the first book, hoping to make this her franchise. If so, then that says a lot about her own ability to pigeonhole the type of character she plays. Considering that the series runs 18 books to date and the character of Plum is somewhat beloved, this represents a major messup and an f.u. to the fans of the books. I think the problem was that the trailers made it look cheap and made it look like a distaff knockoff of The Bounty Hunter. Anyone who sat through that probably wasn't going to get on the merry-go-round a a second time. Although the situations are dissimilar, my first thought was "Kathleen Turner in V.I. Warshawski" and if that rings no bells, there is a reason for that. Projects like this can only keep hurting Heigl in the short term and the long run.




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David Mumpower: If Katherine Heigl were a movie character, she would be the obnoxious, entitled witch who gets her just desserts in the end. We may be witnessing an example of life imitating art as her career continues to fall apart. Alternately, this is a correction of sorts as people begin to realize what a joke it is that she keeps getting work as the spunky do-gooder who deserves love and happiness. Ask the Grey's Anatomy writers what she deserves and I strongly suspect the answer is a hydrochloric acid enema.

With regards to why the film struggled, everyone is right about the trailers. Having said that, there needs to be accountability on this, because the book franchise is a frequent staple on the bestseller list. There are 18 titles that could potentially be adapted and yet they can't even get the first film right. I'm not one to call for blood but heads should roll. This is a legitimate female franchise that never got out of the gate. That's inexcusable.


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