Did You Hear About The Morgans?

Hugh Grant is an odd movie star. In interviews you get the impression that really he’d rather stay home and do nothing, but feels like he’s almost obliged to make movies. However while in the late 90s he picked a variety different types of projects, some of which were more challenging than others, now he appears to be going for the simplest of films he can find, where he bumbles around being Hugh Grant and then picks up his cheque.

Often the results are pleasant if not particularly memorable, but with Did You Hear About The Morgans? he's picked a dud. It doesn’t help either than his co-star Sarah Jessica Parker is particularly charmless in a role that called for more chemistry with Grant and a greater sense of fun. She’s meant to be the wronged woman, but Parker just comes across as a shrill nag you think Grant would be better off without.

The cheesy high-concept plot sees Grant and Parker as Paul and Cheryl Morgan, who’ve become estranged following Paul’s one-night stand in LA (something Grant knows a lot about).  One night they witness a murder and are put in the witness protection program while they get ready to testify. After being relocated to Wyoming, they have to adjust to the fact everyone there is a western caricature, which is particularly tough for them, as they seem to have spent most of their life turning themselves into yuppie stereotypes without an ounce of originality or anything else of interest in their characters.

Will the more simple life of Wyoming bring the couple back together? Will every single tried, tested and unoriginal fish out of water scene be run though by the time the movie ends? Will most of the cast start desperately mugging in order to try and save a movie that must have appeared like it was floundering while they filmed it? It doesn’t take a genius to guess the answer to any of these questions.

The biggest problem is the screenplay, where it feels like the writers were so excited about the concept of dumping Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker in the boondocks that they failed to find anything original or particularly amusing for them to do. Likewise the direction merely takes you from A-to-B with little panache or sense that anyone particularly cares about making the film funny (although presumably Marc Lawrence was actually doing his best). It’s a film that’s on autopilot from beginning to end, and very quickly starts to outstay its welcome. Whether the New York couple are being chased by a bear or end up as the two people inside a cow suit (don’t ask), the whole thing is exceedingly tedious.

You know a film is in trouble when half the publicity stills are just the two stars in ten-gallon hats, as if that alone will ensure people will turn up (although to be honest, it is one of the most entertaining things about the movie, which isn’t saying much).

Oscassionally someone in Hollywood makes a romantic comedy that feels fresh and fun, but Did You Hear About The Morgans> is just the latest example of how lazy the genre has generally become. There’s no reason rom-coms have to be this tired and hackneyed, but all too often they are.

Overall Verdict: A series of clichés and stereotypes masquerading as a romantic comedy, which quickly becomes tedious once you realise you’ve seen this film many, many time before and usually done better.

Reviewer: Sam Bruneau