MONSTER-IN-LAW

MONSTER-IN-LAW is a pleasant enough romantic comedy built around a battle of wits between two very different women. Jane Fonda gives the film weight as Viola, a lonely television personality who fights to keep her son from marrying Charlie, while Wanda Sykes supplies many of the funniest moments. The movie’s moral center is ultimately sound: both women put love and family above selfish desires.

The tradeoff is substantial. The script is predictable, the language count is high because characters frequently say “God!” and “Oh my God!,” and the film includes sexual discussion, cohabitation with fornication implied, occult Tarot imagery, and a pagan Hindu ceremony for calm. A stereotyped homosexual character also features in the story.

If you are an adult who can exercise discernment around those concerns, this is worth the trip for light comedy and a morally positive ending. Families with children or young teens should choose something else.

Charlie is a humble dog walker who falls in love with Kevin, a doctor, and suddenly finds herself entering the world of the rich and famous. Kevin’s mother, Viola, is a longtime television personality whose talk show has just been canceled.

When Kevin introduces the women and then proposes to Charlie, Viola feels threatened. She begins an increasingly intense campaign to separate her son from his fiancée, turning the road to the wedding into a battle of wits.

Three stars means a nicely made, decently funny movie with clear strengths and noticeable limitations. Jane Fonda and Wanda Sykes are the comedic center. Fonda gives the film weight that its C-grade script otherwise lacks, while Sykes’ irreverent humor provides welcome relief from the predictable scenes involving Lopez.

The movie is breezy and keeps viewers interested, but it is nothing special. Its comedy comes mostly from the performers rather than from a consistently strong script. Still, the ending gives the film pleasant emotional and moral resolution.

MONSTER-IN-LAW presents a light moral worldview with redemptive forgiveness and a strong conception of the family. Viola and Charlie begin by acting out of selfish desires and using underhanded tricks against each other, but the film ultimately rebukes revenge and moves them toward better understanding.

The movie also includes false religious elements: an occult Tarot card reading and a pagan Hindu ceremony intended to promote calm, though the ceremony has the feeling of a joke. Its sexual permissiveness includes cohabitation with fornication implied. The film also uses a stereotyped homosexual best-friend character who rambles about fashion and discusses a date with a man.

At its best, the film argues that love and family should rise above control, resentment, and selfish ambition. That emphasis aligns with Scripture’s call to forgive: “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other” (Colossians 3:13). The movie’s reconciliation is limited, but its longing for restored family relationships points in a constructive direction.

MONSTER-IN-LAW is breezy, decently funny, and ultimately positive about forgiveness and family. But its language, sexual permissiveness, and false religious elements make it a choice for discerning adults only. For younger viewers, choose something else.