Family Plan (2005)

Redundant and unnecessary.

An Exercise In Nonsense

A lot of fun.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Gentlemen, we all know what we're in for when our women mention that a Tori Spelling movie is on. We're all in agreement that Tori looks like the female version of Robert Z'Dar (ladies, if you don't know, look him up). When the plastic surgeons were messing up her boobs they should have taken a couple pounds off her Leno-esque chin as well. She is also a bad actor. She wouldn't be in the entertainment business at all if her father didn't have so much pull in the industry.This forgettable TV movie is like all her others, overly sentimental and dripping with emotional treacle. It's a Chick Flick through and through, without a laugh or any action to be found. There is nothing here for men, not even a pretty lead to distract us from the fairy tale nonsense of a story.Guys, you've been warned. Ladies, now I know how YOU feel when WE watch The War of the Gargantuas.

An absolute pleasure where Tori Spelling places a career woman whose company is gobbled up by a larger one. Her new boss believes in family values, and the single Tori hires a guy to pose as her husband so that she can keep her job. Her friend's daughter, played by a very young and precocious Abigail Breslin, acts as her daughter.What makes this film so good are the complications that soon develop over this lie. We're dealing with houses, the boss wanting to meet the family, her friend, whose house is used, is separated and her suspicious husband thinks she is fooling around with the guy that Spelling has hired to portray her husband.Obviously, we all know where this is going but it's quite funny and by the end, this is one lie that has worked out quite well.The old subjects of career woman and no family, and a lie spinning out of a control are well worked on here.

Charlie (Tori Spelling) has worked for a baked-goods company for quite awhile. Very talented, she has earned the respect of her fellow workers. However, her company has just been bought out by another cookie enterprise, one that has a very particular business philosophy. The owner places family as a top priority, along with other important work ethics. This means that bachelorette Charlie is not the most desirable of employees, for she is seen as having a life "out of balance." Therefore, when the takeover owner (Greg Germann) arrives to interview his new employees and make decisions about their futures with his firm, Charlie is advised by a close friend to "pretend" to have a husband and children. Against her best judgment, Charlie does so, telling her new boss that she has a hubby and a young daughter, but she also impresses the big man with her smarts. In short order, Charlie is given a higher level job and a big office. But, things get complicated when the CEO asks to have dinner with her family and, even worse, may move into a home very close to "hers". Although Charie hires an actor, Buck (Jordan Bridges) to pose as her better half and "borrows" a darling daughter, Nicole (Abigail Breslin) from her friend, it is a ruse that is hard to sustain. More complications arise when the handsome Buck thinks Charlie is a very attractive female. Can Charlie save her job, even if the truth surfaces? This is a very nice and funny love tale for those who never refuse a romcom. Although Spelling may not typically be everyone's cup of tea, she is quite warm and engaging in her role as the self-sufficient Charlie. Bridges is also a very attractive love interest while Germann is likewise good as the conservative boss. As for Breslin, in an early role, she is enchanting and one can easily see why she is a much sought-after young star these days. All of a film's niceties, from costumes to scenery to script, are well above average. I happened upon this film at K-mart, in a cheaper-movie bin, so my advice is to take a stroll over to this fine store. When the work day is done, get a group of ladies together for popcorn, cocoa, and the sharing of this very enjoyable romcom.

It should have been a really cute movie. It had all of the elements - good actors, good acting, good directing, great soundtrack (not that is was trendy, but that it really set the mood well), good production value, good costuming, good make-up, good pacing...but it was missing a key element - a convincing script. This movie is virtually the same premise as the Jenifer Aniston/Kevin Bacon vehicle Picture Perfect - girl feels she has to pretend to be married in order to get a promotion/keep her job as that will make her look stable (unfortunately, a rather accurate business prejudice); she hires an actor to take the part, borrows a coworker's house and daughter (who though she works for the same newly acquired company apparently does not have the same concerns?!) and fakes it. Unlike in PP, though, there is no awareness of the long-term consequences. How do you work (especially as an executive) for a company and fake having a family, what about the office party and other events? What if she begins dating someone? Then, without an convincing writing or thematic transition, the actor falls for the girl played by Tori Spelling and makes things more difficult, and annoying, than ever. What this movie turns out to be is a really long sitcom. You know it's a bad idea to lie from the beginning and without any logic or planning it just comes across as stupid. Not even the good acting was able to save to day. It was nice to see Kate Vernon.