The Film
It's a simple story we know all too well. Successful entrepreneur has baby on the brain, is artificially inseminated, meets Mr. Right, antics ensue. The premise of The Back-up Plan has all the believability of an episode of Threes Company or I Love Lucy. The formulaic romantic comedy thus fails to offer much more than some cheesy banter you hear at the start of a relationship, comical episodes that really aren't that funny, a break-up, and the requisite dramatic reuniting scene that will pull at the heart strings. It's the usual ingredients in the recipe, but this time J-Lo (Jennifer Lopez) is the one with the growing belly, almost as if the film-makers were just looking for an excuse to show her in that cool pregnancy suit.
The Picture
New York City has never seen so much color, or at least that's the way it feels thanks to this film's vivid and colorful 2.35:1 transfer. Scenes are full of verdant greens, ruby reds, and and other vibrant hues while the characters romp through New York City's parks and shops. But the Big Red Apple isn't alone in its color treatment: a trip to the country is resplendant with similarly saturated shades. At the same time however, skin tones appear paler than they should, almost as if phoning in their roles drained the blood from the stars' faces. Lopez looks like a fair-skinned expectant mom in scenes rather than her normal sun-kissed olive look, which might be on cue, but her love interest, Australian-born actor Alex O'Loughlin also looks like he needs a trip to the outback to get some color.
Without many action sequences, the sound is fairly unremarkable, but overall the 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtack is even and stable. Surround sound is put to good use when events happen off screen, which adds to the comedic attempts of the movie. Ambient noises such as traffic, crickets, and other sounds of the city (and country) could have been played up a bit, thought they do occasionally fill the room with a tangible sense of space. Dialog comes through clearly as expected, and is easy to understand. As a bonus J-Lo's songs play in all their lossless digital glory while the credits roll: a nice touch if you happen to like Jenny from the block's singing style.
The Extras
Extras are sparse, much like the plot. Deleted scenes and a making-of featurette with interviews of the main actors, director, and crewmembers are about all we get. The Blu-ray also includes Sony's movieIQ and BD Live. Using movieIQ you can get real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and other facts. This is fairly minimal use of the movieIQ feature compared to the some other releases (e.g., the actual Julia Childs recipes available on screen while watching Jules and Julia).
Final Thoughts
It's not an uncommon scenario. A few single women may relate to the plotline of considering all options to have a baby as they get to a certain age and haven't found someone to have a family with. Beyond that select audience the movie's comedic value is limited and overall entertainment value is close behind.
Product Details
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