I am looking forward to having a girls’ night out this weekend and we’re going to see the movie based on One For The Money by Janet Evanovich. To prepare for this movie viewing, I went back and re-read the book to see if it was as funny as I remembered. A friend recommended the Stephanie Plum novels to me, so I got the first 3 from the library and sat down to read. I remember laughing out loud (LOL) several times during my marathon reading session.
As I re-read OFTM, I didn’t laugh out loud so much as chuckle several times. It was nice to revisit a story and characters that I had so thoroughly enjoyed at the first reading.
Stephanie has lost her job as a lingerie buyer at a local department store and her family convinces her to ask her cousin Vinnie, the bail bondsman, for a job. She blackmails Vinnie into letting her try her hand at bounty hunting. Her first victim? The “movie-star handsome” Italian stud of her high school – Joe Morelli. Morelli, now a Trenton, NJ police officer, is on the lam trying to prove that his shooting of a suspect was self-defense not murder.
Stephanie is adorably clueless and turns to Ranger, a hunky former special ops turned bounty hunter, for tips on how to catch a criminal. Ranger introduces Stephanie, and therefore her family, to guns, handcuffs and the finer points of chasing down people that have jumped bail. Stephanie runs afoul of a local boxer and his manager while alternatively helping Morelli prove his innocence and trying to turn him in for the reward.
Overall, I enjoyed revisiting One For The Money, especially since I’ve become less enchanted with the series as it has gone on and on. Now I look forward to seeing the movie this weekend and see how Hollywood has interpreted a popular book onto the silver screen.
Movie Review Hints: I wasn’t sure about the casting of Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, a tough talking Jersey girl. Or Jason O’Mara as Joe Morelli. I mean, the ethnic makeup of Trenton, NJ and the “Burg” is hammered on throughout all of the Plum novels – almost 90% Italian with a few others thrown in for variety. Morelli is described over and over as “movie-star handsome” with chocolate bedroom eyes, olive tanned skin and dark hair curling over his collar. Jason O’Mara is an Irish guy and IMHO, not movie-star handsome. So, I’m really hoping the movie can overcome these preconceptions and surprise me with its humor.