I was entirely ready to skip this one. I hadn’t seen the original or any trailers for this one, and we all know I don’t do romcoms. But what I don’t do more than I don’t do romcoms is I don’t do going straight home on a Friday when there’s a movie I can watch. And no other movie had viable times (there was no way I’d stay awake thru anything that wasn’t immediately after work). I prayed this would be more com than rom.
In a gender swapping remake of the Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell film, Eugenio Derbez is a bratty billionare, who spends his life partying on his party yacht. Anna Faris is a mother of three, working that many jobs to barely stay afloat. Derbez has an accident that leaves him with amnesia, so Faris convinces him that they’re married and sets him to work helping and providing for her family. Hilarity ensues.
It did take me a while to get with it. Derbez starts off completely unlikeable (I’ve never been a fan of his to begin with). The story is completely implausible and problematic. Plus I had a guard up because for everyone in the back I-DONT-DO-ROMCOMS! And yet,as the film went on, I was more and more into it.
Despite being a bit problematic, the intentions of the film felt very sincere. It was sweet and endearing and felt more like a family comedy than a romantic comedy. Now those I definitely do. I could tell everything that was gonna happen, but it didn’t really matter. I was enjoying being in their world. Pure escapism at its best.
Also, MAJOR points for Hispanic representation, and not only because I came around to Derbez over the course of the film. A good amount of the characters were Hispanic, and maybe a third of the dialog was in Spanish. The bilingual dialog made me feel like I was back home in Texas. I hope this movie plays huge in Hispanic communities. Representation matters.
Overboard – \m/ \m/ \m/