E-Mail This Article to a Friend MONSTER-IN-LAW

Provided you don’t find the basic premise — an overbearing mother thinks no woman is good enough for her son — too creepy, you might be pleasantly surprised by Monster-in-Law. Jane Fonda, in her first film in 15 years, plays Viola Fields as a neurotic, controlling, unstable woman who’s just found out that her son, Kevin (Michael Vartan), is engaged. She sets about breaking up the marriage by annoying the hell out of bride-to-be Charlotte "Charlie" Cantilini (played with one-dimensional sweetness by Jennifer Lopez). Director Robert Luketic introduces some feisty supporting characters, including Will Arnett (from TV’s Arrested Development), early on, then jettisons them to focus on the J. Lo/Jane smackdown, from which Wanda Sykes as Fonda’s wisecracking assistant offers a welcome respite with her deadpan one-liners. The path to mutual destruction is disappointingly mild, though Fonda does seem to be having fun with her big-screen comeback. If only the filmmakers had let the claws come out — that would have been a catfight worth seeing. (102 minutes)