Movie Analysis - Monster in Law

Monster in Law

The main characters in this movie involve Jennifer Lopez as Charlotte “Charlie” Cantilini, Jane Fonda as Viola Fields, Michael Vartan as Kevin Fields, and Wanda Sykes as Ruby.

The movie is about Charlie who has been striking out in the dating scene. Charlie is an easy going person who is friendly, enjoys other peoples company, and seems to take pleasure in pleasing other people. She then meets Dr. Kevin Fields, who is a successful surgeon and the two fall in love.

As the relationship evolves, marriage is proposed. This is when Viola Fields, Kevin’s mother, meets Charlie and highly disapproves.

Viola Fields was a news anchor and was recently laid off. She clearly has issues assumingly even prior to her being fired. Upon meeting Charlie, who currently works as a temporary employee at a doctor’s office, Viola believes that Charlie is not the “right one” for Kevin and will ruin Kevin’s life. With Viola losing her job, she focuses on being the “Monster” future mother in law in order to frighten Charlie off from marrying Kevin. Viola uses her assistant Ruby to pull off her crazy antics; all the while Kevin is oblivious.

Charlie does a good job of shielding all of Viola’s attacks. While Viola keeps attacking relentlessly, Charlie has finally had enough and decides to fight back. This is when the gloves fly off and the two go to war, not holding anything back. Now Charlie has stooped to Viola’s level and she fights back with a big punch.

The plot versus the story, relatively stay the same. The story builds on the plot by introducing the characters and eventually building up to the fight of the century, Charlie versus Viola. The plot practically summarizes the whole movie as the movie does not introduce any surprises other than the crazy behavior between Charlie and Viola. About the only surprise in the movie is that Ruby, played by Wanda Sykes actually starts to defend Charlie and somewhat takes her side.

I believe that the plot is logical and believable as I have seen this type of behavior in the past. While the movie takes the plot and exaggerates and heightens the plot in order to be comedic. The plot is very believable, but since the movie and actions portrayed by Charlie and Viola are so outrageous, it makes it seem that this type of behavior can only be found on the movie screens or your home theatre.

This movie does not mean much to me only as pure entertainment or a time killer. This type of movie is not what I prefer as it does not interest me. This movie as a matter of fact was played on the plane on my way to Washington D.C. This movie, although not what I would typically watch, was mediocre and at times pleasurable. It was not a total waste of time. It was entertaining at certain parts. I do not believe that there is a moral to this story. If there was, then I certainly missed it. The layout of the movie, I believe is strictly a movie and not for the viewer to believe the movie and feel part of the story.

I personally did not find this movie meaningful. I did find it humorous at certain times. I think that other people, such as my wife, took more enjoyment than myself. I do not necessarily think that this film is terrible; this type of film is just not what I prefer to watch. I most likely would have never watched this movie if it was not playing on my flight to Washington D.C. I would probably recommend this movie to possibly my lady friends, although based on the reviews that I have read, the critics disagree.

I did not necessarily find anything special with the settings, costumes, make-up, lighting, and the props. This film left me with an impression as being ordinary. I typically see more of an