Writer: George Gallo
Director: George Gallo
Cast: Meg Ryan, Selma Blair, Antonio Banderas, Colin Hanks
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Sony Home Entertainment
Release Date:June 17, 2008

Two things before I begin. Number one, I absolutely loathe this movie. When I say that, let me clarify by saying that I would cut off my leg, roast it, and eat it, before I had to watch this again. Number two, what happened to Meg Ryan? How do you go from When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and The Doors to this? Meg Ryan has been in plenty of great movies, so it’s sad to see her revert to such unwatchable drivel.

I can watch just about anything. That, in essence, is the job of a reviewer. I have to be able to watch good and bad and convey my feelings for whatever it is, either way. Watching this movie made me want to take it out of the player and put it in my driveway so that I could run over it to ensure that no one else had to live through the mental anguish of watching this film. I never want to see it again. In fact, if I pass it while looking for something to watch on cable, I may go into shock and end up needing psychiatric treatment as a result of severe trauma.

Release Information:
I don’t recall this movie ever being mentioned prior to the press release, which explained the premise of the movie. I didn’t find the premise to be terribly exciting and I am generally not a romantic comedy fan, but I like Meg Ryan, so I wanted to give this a chance. I suspect that when people find this in the $5 bin at Walmart they will make the same mistake that I did. Unfortunately, all of the talent in the world cannot make a crappy, poorly-written script into a movie. Furthermore, I am curious to know if these stars even read the script before they signed. I am thinking something must be in their past that forced them to make this movie against their will. This is just a theory, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was right.

I doubt that this is going to be a highly stocked title in any store, whether it’s at Target or something that specializes in DVDs. However, you can find just about anything on the Internet. That being said you can find this particular DVD at Amazon. My Mom’s New Boyfriend came out on June 17, 2008 courtesy of Sony Home Entertainment. You can pick this up at Amazon for $19.99.

The My Mom’s New Boyfriend Plot
Putting it mildly, the plot here is almost non-existent. The talent sleeps through this or isn’t used enough, at all. Well, that or they are used stupidly. Within the first five minutes you realize that you’re in hell, but it just gets worse when you also figure out the length you have left to burn. While the movie might not last forever, it can cause you mild shock and fear of the more pathetic romantic comedies that come out in the future.

The movie centers on Henry Durand (Colin Hanks - Roswell) and his relationship with his mom, Marty (Meg Ryan). Henry is an FBI agent who leaves his overweight, pathetic mom for a few years while going away on assignment. Color him surprised when he comes home to Meg Ryan. She’s thin and has become somewhat of a free spirit. She has plenty of guys around her and she lives the high life with sex, motorcycles, and wild nights. Henry has a hard enough time dealing with all of this, but when Mom ends up dating a thief, Tommy (Antonio Banderas) and he becomes a suspect of Henry’s, things go from bad to worse.

Find a romantic comedy/crime cliché and put it here. Henry’s FBI colleagues make mommy jokes all the time (unfunny ones at that), Henry gets weirded out having to listen to surveillance with his mom doing a number of things with her boyfriend, the action sequences (when they occur) are bad, and Selma Blair’s character is wishy washy and unnecessary while she as an actress is completely under-used. It’s a 100% disappointment all the way around.

The entire premise is obviously only based on fiction. This normally doesn’t bother me, but the idea of a son going after his mom’s boyfriend and doing surveillance on her in this way is just god awful. I thought the real life FEMA guys were the worst we could offer, but these guys would present a very close second. I get that a lot of the lines that seem downright childish are supposed to be funny, but they aren’t. It doesn’t help that Colin Hanks isn’t up to snuff here and Antonio Banderas is being his natural self. This movie simply couldn’t get worse if it tried. The casting department should have put Cameron Diaz in Meg Ryan’s spot. At least I would have expected this kind of thing from her, so it wouldn’t have been such a letdown.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
Starting things out with the visual quality, everything looks good here. The widescreen version of the film is anamorphic with a transfer ratio of 2.40:1. Colors are strong and things are pretty clear for the most part. It’s not the absolute best transfer I have ever seen, but it is above average and it is free of any real noticeable problems. On the off chance that you like this movie, the transfer here should be a real treat that only enhances your movie entertainment.

Audio comes in English and French Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound passes just fine. It’s not overly dynamic, but it gets the job done. I was kind of hoping that it might go out midway (or sooner), but come to think of it, watching this as a silent film still would have been torture. Also included here are subtitles in a variety of languages including English, Spanish, French, and Chinese.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
I am happy to report that there are not many special features here on this disc. Normally when I see a gut wrenchingly bad movie, it comes with 600 bonus features that just keep the torture rolling. I am thankful to Sony and those that worked on My Mom’s New Boyfriend for only adding two real special features to this disc. Neither of them are particularly important, but I doubt that any of the things that are tacked on here would have been, so just having two saved me loads of potential wasted life minutes.

The bonus features are useless deleted scenes that were surprisingly even worse than the actual feature. I know it sounds impossible, but it was obvious why these were deleted. The other feature is a featurette, “The 3rd Degree: The Making of My Mom’s New Boyfriend”. This turns out being more brown-nosing, promotional crap about how everyone liked working with everyone else. Like the deleted scenes, it was boring, trite, and pretty useless.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
I know it has some decent people in this, but nothing can save My Mom’s New Boyfriend from being the evil, entertainment-less, death trap that it is. Don’t watch it. Just trust me and save yourself from the trouble. Even if you think you will like this because you like romantic comedies and crime shows, it’s highly unlikely that you will like this movie unless you like everything. If that’s the case, then you deserve My Mom’s New Boyfriend, and I hope you’re happy together. Everyone else, I highly recommend you run far, far away from this movie.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Movie, DVD Review, Meg Ryan, Selma Blair, Antonio Banderas, Colin Hanks, Romance, Surveillance, Action, Comedy, Mom, My Moms New Boyfriend, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

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