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THE BACK-UP PLANMovie Reviews
Romantic comedy about a single woman who decides to become a single mom by getting artificially inseminated, and then meets a guy who might just be "the one.". Cast:Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin, Eric Christian Olsen, Danneel Harris, Anthony Anderson, Adam RoseDirector:Alan PoulRelease Date:April 23, 2010DVD Release:August 24, 2010From:CBS FilmsRating:PG-13Length:1 hr 46 min
The Back-up Plan played to weak reviews. • Steve Persall wrote in the St. Petersburg Times, "...barely a movie. More like a sitcom's season arc played out in 105 minutes. Yet this artificially inhabited baby flick kind of works, most of the time." • And Elizabeth Weitzman called the film in the New York Daily News, "...charmless pregnancy cliché." More Reviews Below...
The Back-up Plan Positive Reviews (35 Reviews, reviews below)
Mary Pols, Time: POOR "Jennifer Lopez seems to have forgotten everything she ever knew about acting. The best that can be said is that she's game for some mortifying on screen moments."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 846 words, 04/22/10
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: WEAK(cg) "Alan Poul hits every obvious note, complete with pratfalls, pregnancy cliches and cheesy pop-music cues that signal the characters' emotions in painfully literal fashion."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 609 words, 04/22/10
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: MODERATE(cg) "It's dramatically vanilla, suffers from sit-com humor tendencies, lacks a compelling romance, and struggles to find a convincing performance."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 887 words, 04/21/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: POOR(cg) "...plays like an unendurable TV commercial about beautiful people with great lifestyles and not a thought in their empty little heads."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 873 words, 04/22/10
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: POOR(cg) "Lopez works visibly hard to keep things light... O'Loughlin's flat performance suggests that he's either deeply uncomfortable or just struggling to hide his Australian accent."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 331 words, 04/23/10
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "One character observes: 'In a year's time, this is just going to be a funny memory'... in a year's time, the fluffy 'The Back-Up Plan' will find its rightful venue: Showtime."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 439 words, 04/23/10
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: WEAK(cg) "...crass.... throws in jokes about cervices and mid-labor bowel movements. There is much vomit, not all of it human. The film's central romance is also hard to stomach."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 313 words, 04/23/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: POOR(cg) "...plays like an unendurable TV commercial about beautiful people with great lifestyles and not a thought in their empty little heads."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 873 words, 04/22/10
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: MODERATE(cg) "Jenny from the Block is still flawlessly beautiful, while proving the theory that Hollywood is working on its last and only idea in the romantic-comedy genre."(See all of Linda Barnard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 618 words, 04/23/10
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: POOR(cg) "Between Zoe and Stan's recurrent spats and reconciliations, there are more than a dozen supporting characters used to cover the lack of any real dramatic conflict."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 642 words, 04/23/10
Dan Kois, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Never let it be said that Jennifer Lopez doesn't give her all.... one of the pleasures of her new movie is watching J-Lo abase herself in the service of her art."(See all of Dan Kois's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 620 words, 04/23/10
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "...cutesy and formulaic, has the approximate depth of a cookie sheet. On the plus: Its leads are easy on the eyes, Lopez wears great clothes, there are a few cheap laughs."(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 411 words, 04/23/10
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "...an often riotous send-up of impending parenthood and its myriad transformations, casting old age-old truisms inside modern dilemmas."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 516 words, 04/23/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...passes the time engagingly... the production values are barely midrange. Apparently Lopez is declining in star magnetism at the very time she's improving as a comic actress."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 321 words, 04/23/10
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: WEAK(cg) "Lopez is actually pretty good at this kind of thing... O'Loughlinlooks and sounds like a lesser Jon Stewart... But they're treading woefully familiar ground..."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 531 words, 04/23/10
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: VERY GOOD(cg) "Lopez can do comedy. But this is too soft and gooey for her or Alex O'Loughlin, who fares well as a Jon Stewart type, to leave much of a lasting impression."(See all of Chris Vognar's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 469 words, 04/23/10
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: MODERATE(cg) "...a title apt for a dancer who acts and sings but excels at neither. Lopez smiles, whines, and blinks her way through this movie."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 668 words, 04/23/10
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: WEAK(cg) "Directed by Alan Poul (TV's 'Six Feet Under,' any random episode of which is vastly more compelling), 'The Back-up Plan' is shiny and pretty and very dull."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 359 words, 04/23/10
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: MODERATE(cg) "...suffers from sludgy pacing, flat writing and acting, and a strange and puzzling fondness for scatology and coarse language..."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 398 words, 04/23/10
Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: WEAK(cg) "With its animated opening credits, outtakes playing during the closing credits and a hackneyed relationship storyline in between, we've seen it all many times before."(See all of Kevin C. Johnson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 420 words, 04/23/10
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: GOOD(cg) "...barely a movie. More like a sitcom's season arc played out in 105 minutes. Yet this artificially inhabited baby flick kind of works, most of the time."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 04/22/10
Alicia Potter, Boston Phoenix: WEAK(cg) "...skips no maternity cliché... That the film manages to be largely inoffensive seems faint praise -- painful but not excruciating, it's like a cinematic epidural."(See all of Alicia Potter's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 149 words, 04/29/10
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: WEAK "Jennifer Lopez carries a thin concept about as far and as well as she can, with Alex O'Loughlin in his first leading-man outing managing not to get lost in the shuffle."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 536 words, 04/07/10
18.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Back-up Plan's reviews are separated by an average 18.6 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Back-up Plan (35 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Back-up Plan's reviews cover 59.2% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 17,123 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 489 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Back-up Plan Coverage, Volume & Length (35 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 12.2 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Back-up Plan's reviews on average broke 12.2 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Back-up Plan's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Back-up Plan (35 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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