Did you hear about the Morgans?

Did you hear about the Morgans? Did you hear about For Richer or Poorer?



If you have seen For Richer or Poorer, from 1997 with Tim Allen and Kirsty Alley, you can skip this one. If do decide to what this updated version, let me set your expectations so that you will not be disappointing  A couple, Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant, on the verge of divorce, witness a murder thus forcing them to go into the witness protection program. In the Tim Allen Kirsty Alley version they are running from the IRS. Tim and Kirsty hide in Amish country; Hugh and Jessica flee to Wyoming instead. In Ray Wyoming, the pair meet Sam Elliot, a Marshal and Mary Steenburgen, his wife; as the two Marshals who will watch over the fighting couple. Parker plays the role rather blandly. As the movie slowly progresses, my wife and I wished for the original version. Hugh Grant, on the other hand, playing the penitent husband, a man who cheated on his wife; plays the part with some conviction. I believe Hugh is sincere in this part, probably due to the real-life experience that he brought to the each scene.

I don't have any issues with remakes or even re-imaginings of a movie. However, if the remake does not build on the characters or the plot of the original, giving the audience more the second time around, I see this remake as a waste of time. I watched this movie with my teen-aged kids, and they laughed at all the correct places. Why not, this story line has worked before. The laughed when Hugh Grant deals with a large brown bear. The laughed during the horse riding sequence when Sara is chasing her horse - cute. My wife and I felt strongly that the after a decade later, Hollywood's remaking this romantic comedy for a newer generation, could have been better spent re-releasing the original, dated as it is.Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and momentary violence.

Movie Data

Genre:  Comedy, Romance

Year: 2009

Starring: Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, Natalia Klimas, Elisabeth Moss, Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen

Director:  Marc Lawrence

Producers: Liz Glotzer, Martin Shafer, Melissa Wells

Writers:Marc Lawrence

Rating:  PG-1