# The Back-up Plan - Blu-ray Review



## celica_pete21 (Aug 27, 2009)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=4615[/img]
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Title: The Back-up Plan
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin, Michaela Watkins	, Eric Christian Olsen, Anthony Anderson
Directed by: Alan Poul
Written by: Kate Angelo
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 104 Minutes
Release Date: 8/24/2010* 

*Synopsis:* ( 2.5 out of 5)
*Video:* (4 out of 5) 
*Audio:* (3.5 out of 5) 
*Extras:* (3 out of 5) 
*Overall:* (3 out of 5) 



*Synopsis:* :2.5stars:
_The elusive "one". Good luck!_

Zoe (Lopez) has gone her entire life with a set plan. This plan was to find the "one", get married, and have kids. However, as she becomes a middle aged woman without a husband, or a boyfriend for that matter, she decides that it is time for her back-up plan; artificial insemination. The desire to be a mother means more to her than to keep searching for the perfect guy. After the big day at the doctor's office, Zoe couldn't be happier. She feels deep down that she made the right decision. That is until she ends up sharing and then losing a cab with Stan (O'Loughlin). Not thinking anything of it, other than she was not going to let this man ruin her big day, they go their separate ways.
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=4618[/img]

Living in New York, you would think the chances of Zoe and Stan bumping into each other would be slim to none. But, it is a romantic comedy, so I guess the chances are much higher in that case. Zoe does indeed run into Stan again, and again and again until the inevitable day comes that they start spending their days and nights together. While dating, however, Stan is unaware of Zoe's pregnancy, that is until she drops the bomb on him after a short time of dating. Working together, the two work through the ups and downs that comes with such a relationship just in time for Zoe to bring in not one, but two kids... Twins!

Just as many romantic comedy storyline's are very predictable, The Back-up Plan is no exception. The couple has the initial bumping into each other (over and over), face struggles that the two become over the top dramatic and leave each other, then one comes crawling back to the door, they forgive each other, move on and live happily ever after. The Back-up plan follows this same overall storyline. Of course there really isn't much wiggle room outside of this kind of plot in a romantic comedy, but I guess it was just too obvious that they followed this basic outline to the dot.

*Rating:* 
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and references, crude material and language
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=4617[/img]

*Video:* :4stars:
Presented in beautiful (Sony Quality) 1080p HD, the video is so crisp and clear. However, as beautiful as the picture may be, the opening scene of The Back-up Plan is of Lopez's feet as she is talking to herself about how ugly they are. And for me personally, I'm not a feet person, I don't care if you are a foot model, feet to me are not attractive one bit, so having a massive five foot tall foot in my living room was not my idea of a great intro!:huh: Aside from JLo's feet, the video was superb. And you can expect nothing less than that from a Sony Pictures movie.

While the video quality might be amazing, the directing of the film was terrible. I've seen interviews with directors where they are asked about a certain movie, and they said the movie was butchered by the awful cuts. I've never in my life seen a movie where I thought the cuts were off. Maybe it's because I'm not a director, but not even thinking about previous interviews I have seen, when I sat down to watch The Back-up Plan, about 20 minutes into it, I thought, "gee wiz, these cuts are awful and they are ruining the tone of the movie." My wife even snickered at a few moments where the cuts did not make sense, and she NEVER watches for those kinds of aspects in a movie.

*Audio:* :3.5stars: 
The 5.1 DTS-HD-MA presents great audio to this light hearted romantic comedy. Being a romantic comedy, the film is filled with fun, energetic music at points, which sound amazing and really sets the tone for this type of movie. However, I wasn't that impressed the dialogue audio, it seems at some points when the music was playing and someone was talking, it was almost difficult to hear the person speaking. Not because the music was overpowering, but they kind of just mixed together making it hard to depict one from the other. I actually didn't think the audio was anything special, and I know with it being a romantic comedy, you don't expect a lot from the audio, but new releases on blu-ray seem to always have something standout about the audio, but not during The Back-up Plan.

*Extras:* :3stars:
Belly Laughs: Making 'The Back-Up Plan' (1080p, 11:36) 
Deleted Scenes (1080p, 5:12)
BD-Live 
MovieIQ
1080p trailers 
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=4616[/img]

*Overall:* :3stars:
I give The Back-up Plan a rental rating. I think for a night with nothing else to watch, if you and/or your significant other is in the mood for a new romantic comedy, The Back-up Plan will provide a good number of laughs during it's entirety. You must know ahead of time that The Back-up Plan is beyond cheesy when it comes to the romantic side of things, everything from the acting to the events taking place. The one-liners in the film are awful! However there are plenty of funny moments to keep you interested. And when you find yourself starting to become bored, they throw Anthony Anderson in there for a great comedic break!

A few things that I did not like about this film are: Jennifer Lopez typically play the sweet and innocent girl-next-door type, but in The Back-up Plan, I could never quite figure out what she was. Her language was awful in this movie, and again like the feet, this is just personal preference, but the amount of language JLo uses is almost disgusting, it almost as if she wanted to say the S-word every other word, and this made it very unenjoyable as I am used to seeing her as more the clean, innocent type role. Alex O'Loughlin did all right. I've never seen any of his other work, but I thought in The Back-up Plan he did not convince me at all that his character was in love with Lopez's character. His acting and timing just seemed lacking, and even my wife wasn't impressed by his acting either.

Don't let my negative thoughts keep you from giving this movie a try. I'm sure there are plenty out there that will truly enjoy this movie and maybe even purchase it. I do in fact enjoy romantic comedies (A lot Like Love, Just Married, Ugly Truth, and Along Came Polly being some of my favorites), and I do on occasion buy them because I truly did enjoy them. The Back-up Plan was fairly enjoyable, and the comedy in it was pretty funny. So again, I do find this movie worthy of a rental, and a great movie for a date night!


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