The film “Monster-in-Law” is directed by Robert Luketic and written by Anya Kochoff I thought anti-mother-in-law routines were the last resort of unfunny male comedians. Wrong. Feminists do them, too - at their own expense, what’s more.And while self-deprecation is a wonderful thing, there are limits.
If you’ve ever doubted it, take a look at Jane Fonda, sportingly playing the b utt of the joke in Monster-in-Law. J.Lo’s Charlie is living in LA’s picturesquely boho Venice Beach, where she does various jobs while trying to build up a freelance business as a designer. In other words, she’s a post-feminist free spirit, enjoying life and not worrying too much as to where it’s taking her. Then along comes Kevin (Michael Vartan), a personable young doctor with whom she rapidly falls in love. He reciprocates, proposes and the stage is set for the entrance of his mother, Viola, a volatile satire of just about everything Fonda stands for. She’s not an actress, but she is an entertainer - a TV anchor in the Barbara Walters mould with a house full of photographs of herself alongside a large selection of the world’s most powerful people.
She’s also a Democrat, a fervent feminist and, although much married, is between husbands. And when we first set eyes on her, she’s about to learn that she’s losing her job to a much younger face. The last thing she wants is more female competition and when she’s told of her son’s engagement, the explosions begin. Fonda has many attributes.
If she’d done nothing else, her smart, tender performance as the callgirl, Bree Daniel, in Alan Pakula’s thriller, Klute, would have been enough. But the idea of her trying to mine Shirley MacLaine country is akin to the thought of Robert Redford embarking on a late-life career as a stand-up comic. All you can say for it is that she brings more enthusiasm to the task than he would have. Adhering to the old showbiz adage that nothing succeeds like excess, she yells loudly and often. The action takes place in a pastel-pretty LA, where style is all and the Australian director Robert Luketic, who got his big break with the success of Legally Blonde, supplies her with plenty of props with which to make a fool of herself. The 1980s may be long gone, but Viola’s belief in power dressing has never waned.
There’s not much of a plot - just a series of escalating war games, with Charlie stoically resisting Viola’s efforts to take over the wedding plans by way of sabotaging them altogether. Both women get a little help from their friends. As Bridget Jones’s gleeful cheer squad so eloquently demonstrates, every girl should have them. It’s one of the first rules of screen comedy. And it hasn’t been neglected here. Charlie has two best pals. One, female, sensibly advises her on her love life.
The other, a gay male, supplies fashion commentary, but neither is any match for Viola’s wise-cracking confidante, Ruby, played by the comic Wanda Sykes. Her feeling for the downbeat saves every scene she’s in, while producing the unfortunate side effect of making Fonda’s efforts seem all the more laboured in comparison. Why did she do the picture? In her autobiography - published to coincide with the film’s release - she says she wanted the money to finance a women’s health program she has set up in the southern United States and that she thought the whole thing would be fun.
And maybe it was fun - for those on the set but, as with other people’s parties, you had to be there.