Empire's Did You Hear About The Morgans? Movie Review

Did You Hear About The Morgans?
It’s... um... er... well, it’s kind of... a likable Hugh Grant rom-com

Plot
Paul and Meryl Morgan (Grant and Parker) have separated. On the night when he takes her out in an attempt to reunite, the pair witness a murder. With the killer on their trail, they’re sent into witness protection in a sleepy Wyoming town, where they’re forced to play the happily marrieds...

Review

There’s a school of thought — quite a big school, with class capacity higher than government targets — that says Hugh Grant is able to play only one role: the self-effacing Englishman with a charming inability to get a sentence out without frequent pause for looking unsure that he should even have started. Probably true, but who cares when he does it so well? Clint Eastwood is always hacked off with the world. Stephen King’s written an unhealthy amount of horror. George Stubbs never painted a great picture of a cow...

So, whatever you imagine you’re going to get from a rom-com in which Grant plays a British lawyer forced to go into witness protection in Hicksville with his estranged New Yorker wife, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. And it’s sort of comforting. He tries to be polite to rednecks. He always carries instructions on evading bear attack and then resorts to blustery chitchat when actually confronted by one. He strives to win his wife back via the medium of jogging. The material’s far from the best he’s worked with — frankly, it’s not even close — but you couldn’t ask him to do much more with it.

Sarah Jessica Parker isn’t so reliable. She’s a talented comic actress, but she can seem brittle on screen and doesn’t have the immediacy of some of Grant’s other recent leading ladies (you don’t warm to her as quickly as a Bullock or a Barrymore). It takes a long while for the chemistry between her and Grant to achieve even the slightest fizz, but it comes eventually in a wooing (or whatever you kids call wooing these days) scene that squishes in a high concentration of laughs and sweetness that should have been eked out across the rest of the film.

Comedically, it’s, well, fine. There aren’t any lines that stick in the head after the lights come up, but there aren’t any terrible thunkers either. It saunters right down the middle of the road, inspiring neither enough emotion to truly love it, nor enough passion to hate it, just the odd titter and a feeling of relief whenever Sam Elliott sidles on as — what else? — a kindly law man with a big moustache (Sam Elliott being the cinematic equivalent of a car airbag, assurance that we’re all likely to come out of this okay). It’s completely vanilla, devoid of surprise; the sort of film to see if you’re passing by and it happens to be raining.

Verdict

Reviewed by Olly Richards

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Average user rating for Did You Hear About The Morgans?

Come On!
People need to lighten up a bit. So what if Hugh Grant and SJP are aging? They're not pretending to be young people! If they were touched up to perfection, the mob'd be out for their heads. There's no pleasing people anymore! Sheesh. If you're ever in the mood for a light romcom, this movie is as good as any. It's not the greatest movie ever, but I laughed sometimes and there were some sweet lines that stuck for me. ... More


Posted by thereallovefilm at 03:11, 28 March 2010 \| Report This Post




A warring married NY couple are sent to Wyoming in a witness protection programme after witnessing a murder. A run of the mill rom com is enlivened by some genuinely funny lines, a great supporting cast and obvious chemistry between its leads. Your enjoyment of this will, however, depend on your tolerance of Hugh Grant being.......very Hugh Grant ... More


Posted by duncan1964 at 09:34, 10 February 2010 \| Report This Post




A warring married NY couple are sent to Wyoming in a witness protection programme after witnessing a murder. A run of the mill rom com is enlivened by some genuinely funny lines, a great supporting cast and obvious chemistry between its leads. Your enjoyment of this will, however, depend on your tolerance of Hugh Grant being.......very Hugh Grant ... More


Posted by duncan1964 at 09:34, 10 February 2010 \| Report This Post



Golly gosh Ollie - this was bloody awful; The pits..
I just wanted to ask your reviewer what he had been smoking before he saw this awful rom-com. I had a small spliff before I watched, but clearly my stuff wasn't as effective as what Ollie had been smoking. I saw it on Saturday morning, It was ghastly. To call "Did You Hear About the Morgans" mediocre would be a generous compliment . Not only did Hugh Grant - who, despite his utter lack of range I usually rather like - look pretty damn awful, he looked as if he wanted to be somewher... More


Posted by grant aubin at 10:05, 25 January 2010 \| Report This Post



good,funny and charming but not great.
i thought it was a very funny movie i enjoyed Hugh grants acting Sara Jessica Parker is always descent,i enjoyed the movie i don't think ill be buying it on DVD. and at some points i could relate to Sara Jessica parker's character.(like how she felt about the town she got stuck in) also the side to side comparison to the little town that they had been relocated too and new york city was nice. if you like cute romantic comedies you should definitely go see but if your looking for a more true to ... More


Posted by hpmoviefan777 at 21:09, 15 January 2010 \| Report This Post



*RE: yeah i heard it was a fck up**
Empire Review: 'Neither good nor bad. Scales dizzying new heights of okay. Aims for mediocrity... and nails it' It's mediocre, hence why I didn't see this film. My friend went to see it and said it was like watching two monkeys attempting to act. L: workingsushi SJP plays her own stock NYC socialite character and it is hard to discern if Hugh Grant is even acting as he simply plays the same character he has for all time, the bumbling english man. ouldn't put it better myse... More


Posted by robwillphill at 19:26, 10 January 2010 \| Report This Post



*yeah i heard it was a fck up**
It is a boring film in which the acting is so dismal that you spend much of the time wondering how SJP and Hugh Grant have gotten so far in their careers already. SJP plays her own stock NYC socialite character and it is hard to discern if Hugh Grant is even acting as he simply plays the same character he has for all time, the bumbling english man. in all ways it is mediocre with the exception of two rather funny scenes which i will not tell you about hear in case you mistakenly see this... More


Posted by workingsushi at 16:53, 08 January 2010 \| Report This Post



Reviewer: Olly Richards
"Neither good nor bad. Scales dizzying new heights of okay. Aims for mediocrity... and nails it." I haven't even seen this. I would watch it on TV. The point is, Olly gave it three stars. He must have liked it. Man up. I hate seeing that in reviews. It's cool to be true. ... More


Posted by keyser82 at 05:50, 06 January 2010 \| Report This Post




Funny? Yeah. Classic? No. ... More


Posted by nc_jj at 20:07, 05 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Did You Hear About The Morgans?
I don't want to hear about the Morgans! F*ck the Morgans! ... More

Posted by Tank Boy at 03:38, 04 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Did You Hear About The Morgans?
I haven't seen it yet but my reason to see it is that Sam Elliott is in it. He makes even the most cheesy movies cool, (cough) (cough) Roadhouse (still like it but it's cheesy) ... More

Posted by JoeyPottr at 23:12, 29 December 2009 \| Report This Post



Of course he can act!
Just check out An Awfully Big Adventure. Apart from that he just does basically the same thing in every movie, pretty well. If you want bad actors just watch any film with Daniel Radcliffe, Keanu Reeves or Andi McDowell. Hugh looks like Laurence Olivier compared with those three ham peddlars. ... More


Posted by stenton at 22:54, 29 December 2009 \| Report This Post




I have literally no interest in this film, but that comment about Sam Elliot made me laugh out loud. Just very good writing. I've giving this a three even though i haven't seen it. Let's be honest, it probably sucks. But no film with Sam Elliot is less than a three. ... More


Posted by mebbetheywasinjuns at 18:57, 29 December 2009 \| Report This Post



Hugh Grant
i'm absolutely speechless to be honest, i love empire and yet here we are, i'm actually reading that Hugh Grant can act...... SINCE WHEN, this is news to me, when i first heard about this film i liked the sound of it, i liked the concept it's quite cool, but really Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker they aswell have cast monkeys, Hugh Grant has a speech impedament and Sarah Jessica Parker....well i'll stop while i'm ahead, i give it a 3 for the idea, better actors and it could have gotten highe... More


Posted by Mikeyjoewhit at 11:38, 29 December 2009 \| Report This Post

Did You Hear About The Morgans?It’s... um... er... well, it’s kind of... a likable Hugh Grant rom-com

Did You Hear About The Morgans?
It’s... um... er... well, it’s kind of... a likable Hugh Grant rom-com