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A well-worn movie premise gets a fresh coat of paint in Monster-in-Law, a laugh-packed comedy confection that made history as it marked the return to the big screen of two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda, in her first film in 16 years. Fonda plays Viola Fields, a Barbara Walters-type television journalist who has been married four times and gets fired from her talk show and has a nervous breakdown after attacking a guest on air.
Upon her return home, she learns that her son is getting married and after meeting her future daughter-in-law, makes it her mission in life to make sure this wedding never happens. Fonda commands the screen here in a brilliant comic tour-de-force that overpowers just about everything else going on in the movie.
Jennifer Lopez works hard in the role of Charlie, Viola's future daughter-in-law and Michael Vartan is not much more than eye candy in his role as Fonda's doctor-son, but they both take a backseat to Fonda here and do try very hard not to fade into the woodwork.
The only actors who don't get blown off the screen by Fonda are Wanda Sykes, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie as Viola's assistant Ruby and Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, who shines in a brief cameo as one of Viola's former mother-in-laws, but this is Fonda's show all the way, and if this film shows anything, it's that Fonda has not lost any of her ability to command the screen during her 16-year absence and I hope more roles are coming her way. If for no other reason,Monster-in-Law must be treasured for the powerhouse comedy performance by a Hollywood icon who has been away from the screen much too long.
A well-worn movie premise gets a fresh coat of paint in Monster-in-Law, a laugh-packed comedy confection that made history as it marked the return to the big screen of two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda, in her first film in 16 years. Fonda plays Viola Fields, a Barbara Walters-type television journalist who has been married four times and gets fired from her talk show and has a nervous breakdown after attacking a guest on air.
Upon her return home, she learns that her son is getting married and after meeting her future daughter-in-law, makes it her mission in life to make sure this wedding never happens. Fonda commands the screen here in a brilliant comic tour-de-force that overpowers just about everything else going on in the movie.
Jennifer Lopez works hard in the role of Charlie, Viola's future daughter-in-law and Michael Vartan is not much more than eye candy in his role as Fonda's doctor-son, but they both take a backseat to Fonda here and do try very hard not to fade into the woodwork.
The only actors who don't get blown off the screen by Fonda are Wanda Sykes, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie as Viola's assistant Ruby and Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, who shines in a brief cameo as one of Viola's former mother-in-laws, but this is Fonda's show all the way, and if this film shows anything, it's that Fonda has not lost any of her ability to command the screen during her 16-year absence and I hope more roles are coming her way. If for no other reason,Monster-in-Law must be treasured for the powerhouse comedy performance by a Hollywood icon who has been away from the screen much too long.