mjanelle-24974

They say, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

I'll say this. The acting is good (that's the five stars). Ella Mackey (I'm sure the name is just a coincidence) is very likeable as the politically inept lieutenant governor thrust into the governor's seat, just likeable enough for the audience to feel for her (and this could have gone south really quick). You feel sorry for her because everyone seems to be gunning for her, except Julie Kavner (her secretary) who is nothing but helpful (the way Marge Simpson would be), Kumail Nanjianji as her sympathetic driver, and an excellent Jamie Lee Curtis as her loving aunt. The rest of the cast is passable and fit their roles just fine, including a wasted Woody Harrelson as Ella's philandering, narcissistic father.

That's about all I can say in keeping with my first statement. So I won't keep with it.

The movie is cute. It's (very) light entertainment, although there was plenty else playing the night I saw it that I would rather have spent my time on.

Otherwise it's kind of a mess. This could have passed as a Netflix or Hulu original, or even a Hallmark movie (where Ella ends up with the driver - that would have been fun as a romcom). But as a full $13/ticket movie, nope.

The plot is silly. The motivation for Ella's husbands actions make no sense (there are so many plot holes and unexplained events in other areas of the movie as well.) And then there's a side story of Ella's brother's failed romance that just doesn't fit other than to show the closeness of the siblings and the brother's social awkwardness as a counterpart to Ella's political ineptness.

There's a kind of an almost satisfying up yours moment towards the end and a happy ending of sorts.

All in all, everything about this is just sort of, kind of, almost, and not enough, and I think this one fails as a movie.

I'm confused that the fate of humanity, which has become insufferably happy, rests in the hands of one, incredibly bitter woman. Maybe it becomes more complex in a few episodes but the story so far is falling a little flat. We understand that the "invaders" are all passive. But it becomes shallow pretty quickly. But if this is actually just a retelling of War of the Worlds, it will be interesting to see what the "virus" that takes them down.

This show ended more than six years ago and it still feels fresh and relevant. I've seen every episode at least three or four times, and many much more than that, and it's still laugh out loud funny, even though I can recite most episodes by heart. In fact that becomes part of the fun, trying beat the characters to their lines. I just love this show. It's always on somewhere and it's my go to show when there's nothing else on, or I don't want to invest in what is on.