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Back-up Plan, The

4/10

Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin, Eric Christian Olsen, Michaela Watkins, Linda Lavin, Tom Bosley, Anthony Anderson

Director: Alan Poul

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Jennifer Lopez? This failed romcom has all the feel of a last throw of the dice in Lopez's plunging movie career.

Jenny-from-the-Block plays Zoe (the name doesn't suit her), a thirtysomething pet shop owner who gets herself artificially inseminated after her biological clock ticks overtime. Getting pregnant straight away, she then meets the man of her dreams (Aussie hunk O'Loughlin). But can she hold on to him under the circumstances - especially when she learns that she's expecting twins?

O'Loughlin is perfectly OK as the long-suffering beau, but Lopez is nothing special, and the situations are calculated to make you cringe rather than chuckle. Lowpoint is a scene where one of Lopez's single-mom group gives birth in a pool in a rubber dinghy. Yecch! And there are far too many soundtrack songs to while away the overlong running time while the heroine does nothing special on screen.

David Quinlan

USA 2010. UK Distributor: Sony (Sony Films). Colour by deluxe.
104 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 03 May 2010