Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) is thirty years old and wants to have a baby. The problem is she has never met Mr. Right. So, with no prospect of that changing anytime soon and her baby-bearing clock ticking away, she opts for artificial insemination from an unknown donor. On the very day of the procedure, though, the elusive Mr. R will enter her life and things get complicated with “The Back-Up Plan.”

I have been there and seen this lightweight piece of showcase fluff many times before and I did not think it could be worse than, say, any other J Lo film. “The Back-Up Plan” is not the worst Jennifer Lopez vehicle (In “An Unfinished Life” and “The Cell” – both good films – she is a member of the cast, not the star, so they do not count). However, it is first and foremost a chick flick so do not expect much sympathy from me on this movie

Basically, this is the story of a woman concerned that she will soon be too old to have a baby but there is no one in her life to help her out. Go to Plan B. Instead of being concerned with such elusive things as love and marriage, she is going to cut to the chase and start a family on her own. This is when the girl-finds-boy-girl-loses-boy (several times) cliché begins and does not let up.

Thank you, filmmakers, for, at least, using veteran thesps – Robert Klein as her doctor, her nana (Linda Lavin) and her fiancé of 22 years (Tom Bosley) – making the background characters more interesting than the stars. Michaela Watkins, as Zoë’s sister, steals the show with her sage advices, delivered with a caustic edge to the humor. The weakest link, though, is Alex O’Laughlin as the romantic interest, Stan. The actor has zero skill as an actor, here, and walks through his role in bewilderment.

First time feature helmer Alan Poul does a pedestrian job in bringing the equally pedestrian script by Kate Angelo, which borrows liberally from other examples of the rom-com flicks, and creates a true unoriginal. I have fed on this under nourishing trough so many times before that, after the film ended; I commented to another critic “I feel like my brain fell out.”

Female audiences will eat this up with a spoon, if the femme reaction at the screening is any indication – and I think “The Back-Up Plan” will draw droves of the target demographic. For me, I started checking the time 10 minutes into the movie and, again, about every five minutes thereafter. It did not help make the time go by any faster. I should have given it a miss.

credits: Clevver | ReelingReviews | Yahoo! Movies Singapore

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Official Movie Poster

Singapore Date: 6th May 2010 Language: English Running Time: 106 mins Rating: PG Genre: Comedy | Romance Tagline: Fall in love.* Get married. Have a baby. *Not necessarily in that order. Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin Directed by: Alan Poul Company: CBS Films Singapore Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing International iZone Rating: 5/10 Official Website : The Back-up Plan

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Movie Trailer

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