If you go to MiL expecting "Cat Ballou" or even "Nine to Five" you'll be disappointed, but I thought it considerably funnier than Jane's last "comeback" comedy, "Fun with Dick and Jane" (1977). It also helps (though it isn't essential) if you've read or better yet listened to Jane's narration of "My Life So Far," because a lot of the humor is found in Jane's own self-parody. (Viola's use of alcohol, for example, should be seen in light of Jane's embracing total abstinence.)
I don't want to say too much here for fear of "spoilers" where the humor and one-liners are concerned, but in very general terms I'll say that the movie gets off to a great start with Jane (Viola) in her last days as a talk-show host but then goes down-hill for a while until Jane and J-Lo take up cudgels as live-in room-mates, when it really perks up as Viola goes into passive-aggressive mode and Jane really gets the self-parody going.
Jane, who's hardly ever guilty of hamminess, is a little hammy in MiL, but she's playing a character who's a ham, some hamminess is appropriate in a comedy anyway, and a lot of Jane's purpose in all this is self-mockery, including any "new age guru" image that some might be (I think unfairly) inclined to peg onto her spirituality. When MiL degenerates into slapstick, it does go overboard, but some of the bondage humor in "Nine to Five" went overboard too, so let's not be too harsh on this point. If it weren't for the sometimes excessive slapstick, though, I'd probably give the movie itself a solid 5. I'd probably give just about anyone else an 8 or 9 for this performance, but comparing Jane to herself I'll give her a solid 7. Viola Fields is no Cat Ballou or even a Judy Bernly, but it's still a good solid comic performance.
As Jane puts it in "My Life So Far," she's "earned every wrinkle," and she isn't afraid to show them in MiL. One well done feature is the change in Viola's hairstyles and cosmetic appearance as the action progresses. And also, keep an eye on Jane's eyes. She's still got that cute little trick of eye-crossing that she used to such great effect when the noose went around Cat's neck and when Judy got reefer-high in "Nine to Five."
I don't want to say too much here for fear of "spoilers" where the humor and one-liners are concerned, but in very general terms I'll say that the movie gets off to a great start with Jane (Viola) in her last days as a talk-show host but then goes down-hill for a while until Jane and J-Lo take up cudgels as live-in room-mates, when it really perks up as Viola goes into passive-aggressive mode and Jane really gets the self-parody going.
Jane, who's hardly ever guilty of hamminess, is a little hammy in MiL, but she's playing a character who's a ham, some hamminess is appropriate in a comedy anyway, and a lot of Jane's purpose in all this is self-mockery, including any "new age guru" image that some might be (I think unfairly) inclined to peg onto her spirituality. When MiL degenerates into slapstick, it does go overboard, but some of the bondage humor in "Nine to Five" went overboard too, so let's not be too harsh on this point. If it weren't for the sometimes excessive slapstick, though, I'd probably give the movie itself a solid 5. I'd probably give just about anyone else an 8 or 9 for this performance, but comparing Jane to herself I'll give her a solid 7. Viola Fields is no Cat Ballou or even a Judy Bernly, but it's still a good solid comic performance.
As Jane puts it in "My Life So Far," she's "earned every wrinkle," and she isn't afraid to show them in MiL. One well done feature is the change in Viola's hairstyles and cosmetic appearance as the action progresses. And also, keep an eye on Jane's eyes. She's still got that cute little trick of eye-crossing that she used to such great effect when the noose went around Cat's neck and when Judy got reefer-high in "Nine to Five."