One for the Movie

Since I'm being totally honest about being a big nerd today, let's talk books! Yay! Are you guys Stephanie Plum fans? While the Janet Evanovich novels are not Pulitzer Prize winning, they're smart, sexy, and funny, the epitome of a "beach read" and I love them. If you aren't familiar, the premise is this: Stephanie is a bounty hunter whose sidekick is a plus-sized ex-hooker and they get into the craziest situations in Trenton, NJ. The books are VERY Jersey. (Having grown up 15 minutes from NJ, I feel as if I understand it.) Stephanie's family is over the top and crazy (her grandmother carries a gun and goes to funerals for fun) and she has two men in her life: Joseph Morelli and Ranger. Morelli is a cop she has known forever and her sexy on-again off-again boyfriend. Ranger is Latin and gorgeous and dangerous and super protective of her. They have crazy sexual chemistry but Ranger isn't boyfriend material. Sound cheesy? It is. But it's also laugh out loud funny. There are currently 16 books and having read them all, I believe I know who Stephanie is. Who she is not? Katherine Heigl, who will be playing her in the film adaptation of the first book.

Heigl as Plum

They Jersey-fied her here but I still don't think she works. She's not likable enough. If Sandra Bullock would put on maybe 20 pounds, she would be perfect. She's supposed to be goofy and awkward and funny. Heigl's movies have not been funny as of late (see The Ugly Truth, 27 Dresses, Killers.) Disappointing.

Lula is the ex-hooker who favors too small clothing and terrible amounts of fast food. She's supposed to be quite large, not curvy but large. Having just learned that Sherri Shepard will be playing her, I'm not feeling too positive about the movie. Shepard isn't funny OR likable (how stupid she is on The View makes her SO unappealing.) She will try to make the role pretty and girly and cute when Lula is actually a little grotesque. (Not because she's big, but because of her clothes and food choices. Hey, no one said it was PC.) She is also extremely loyal to Stephanie and a favorite character of Plum fans. Disappointing #2.

The casting peeps DID get the men right! Jason O'Mara, I loved him on Life on Mars, was cast as the lovable Morelli. At first I thought he was a little too pretty but now I'm thinking he can pull it off.

so cute.

Now for the pièce de résistance, maybe the hottest guy to ever grace the TV, Daniel Sunjata as Ranger.

YUM.

Are you guys excited for the movie? What do you think of the casting choices? Cloris Leachman should be Grandma, right?