Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) - Movie Review

From the writer and director of Miss Congeniality comes Did You Hear About the Morgans?, the latest Hugh Grant romantic comedy. Now available on DVD, the movie also stars Sarah Jessica Parker as half of an unmarried couple who, after witnessing a crime, are sent to Wyoming or Montana or some Hollywood simpleton town for protection. The movie had promise, until you realize that director Marc Lawrence is also responsible for such classics as Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous, The Out-of-Towners, and my personal favorite, Forces of Nature.

The forces of nature were at work here, as they tried their hardest to make Did You Hear About the Morgans? as unfunny as humanly possible. The forces of nature did a pretty damn good job.

Despite some people's reservations, I've always been a fan of Grant; he's a naturally funny actor who knows his sweet spot and tends to hit it more often than not. Sure, he plays the same character in just about every movie, but he plays it well. I've never been a huge fan of Parker, but she can be tolerable at times. You just never know.

But one thing is for certain: put Parker and Grant together and bad things happen. While not nearly as bad as Forces of Nature (Hugh Grant isn't repeatedly attacked by random furry creatures, thank God), the movie is a cliché, uninteresting and poorly written film that even Grant's charm can't save. It's your typical fish-out-of-water story, full of wild animals, small town activities and simple townsfolk. In other words, it's so far removed from reality it's impossible to take seriously.

Did You Hear About the Morgans? is a poorly titled, poorly written and horribly unfunny comedy. This is one Hugh Grant film that can easily be ignored.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.