One for the Money

"How comfortable are you with the lowlifes?"
"I sold lingerie for three years in Newark."
  "You're good to go."

Stephanie Plum's (Heigl) life is in shambles: she is unemployed, her car has been repossessed, and can't pay her rent.  Feeling desperate, she turns to family.  Her cousin, Vinnie (Fischler), owns a bail bonds company and needs another bounty hunter.  Despite not having any training, equipment, etc, Vinnie sends her after Joe Morelli (O'Mara), an old flame with a significant price on his head.

Apprehending Morelli won't be easy... especially since he always seems a step ahead.  To stack the odds her way, Stephanie gets some training with seasoned bounty hunter Ranger (Sunjata).  And the more she digs into the case, the more problems she finds, and then her witnesses start disappearing.


The story is based on the popular Stephanie Plum series, written by Janet Evanovich.  Each book in the series includes the number of it's placement in the series ("One for the Money," "Sizzling Sixteen," etc).  Everyone I know enjoyed the series, but I had yet to read it.  I had a coupon for a Redbox movie and decided to give this film a try.

Without any other information related to the story, I enjoyed it.  It was a fun and interesting story... mostly made sense (there were a few pieces of information that seemed to come out of nowhere, but I'm willing to overlook it.  However, I just finished reading the novel and have started the sequel, "Two for the Dough," and I can understand why the film did not do as well.  Evanovich's novels are engrossing and well-written... while the film sticks close to the story, they took out some important details and replaced them with predictable movie tropes.  The acting works, with major kudos to Debbie Reynolds as the scene stealing Grandma Mazur.

If you want to read the series, I would suggest watching the film first, to get a basic introduction to the characters and the story.  If you don't want to see the film, I would still suggest the novels.

One for the Money (2012) 91 minutes
Rated: PG-13 for violence, sexual references and language, some drug material and partial nudity
Director: Julie Anne Robinson
Starring: Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum
Jason O'Mara as Joe Morelli
Daniel Sunjata as Ranger
John Leguizamo as Jimmy Alpha
Sherri Shepherd as Lula
Debbie Reynolds as Gradma Mazur
Nate Mooney as Eddie Gazarra
Ana Reeder as Connie
Patrick Fischler as Vinnie Plum