Cast: Eugenio Derbez, Anna Faris, Eva Longoria, John Hannah

Director: Rob Greenberg

Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) and Pantelion Films presents Overboard, a fresh take on the iconic romantic comedy. In a splashy new twist, Overboard focuses on “Leonardo” (EUGENIO DERBEZ), a selfish, spoiled, rich playboy from Mexico’s richest family and “Kate” (ANNA FARIS), a working class single mom of three hired to clean Leonardo’s luxury yacht. After unjustly firing Kate and refusing to pay her, Leonardo falls overboard when partying too hard and wakes up on the Oregon coast with amnesia. Kate shows up at the hospital and, to get payback, convinces Leonardo he is her husband and puts him to work – for the first time in his life. At first miserable and inept, Leonardo slowly settles in. Eventually he earns the respect of his new “family” and co-workers. But, with Leonardo’s billionaire family hot on their trail and the possibility of his memory returning at any moment, will their new family last or will Leonardo finally put the clues together and leave them for good? A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Pantelion Films of a 3Pas Studios production, Overboard is set for release on May 4, 2018.

Review:

With all of the recent remakes of films that we feel nostalgic about from the 1980’s, it is only fitting that the mediocre comedy Overboard gets a remake with the gender roles reversed.  So how does this new twist on an old, “classic,” hold up?  While Faris and Derbez are funny in their roles and the film is generally a good time, there are too many oddities about this remake that stand out for the wrong reasons.

The film follows Leonardo (Derbez), a wealthy Mexican bachelor who spends his time partying and not having a care in the world.  After he falls off his yacht and wakes up with no memory of his life, Kate (Faris), a cleaning woman that he was rude to on his yacht claims to be his wife to put him through the same pain that she went through. As her plan develops, personal relationships begin to change and the idea of Leonardo getting his memory back could change everything.  One of the main areas where the film succeeds is the chemistry between Derbez and Faris.  I was very concerned that this film would be emotionally manipulative but that we would laugh it because it was a woman abusing a man, and while are definitely moments of that, for the most part the two work very well with one another.  Faris can really do no wrong when it comes to her comedic timing and delivery while Derbez takes his background and is able to use it effectively throughout the movie.  Where the film falls flat those is the changes it tries to make to the original story.  Whenever someone remakes a movie, I will always give them some sort of credit if they try to do something new.  In this case, they try to turn Leonardo’s story into some type of weird Spanish soap opera with his family. There is this awkward and unnecessary plotline about his dying father’s company being handed over to Leonardo and Leonardo’s sisters feel differently about him disappearing.  They try to make this big storyline about wealth, betrayal, and family and frame it in a comedic environment and while other might be intrigued by that story, it did not really do it for me.  Outside of that, one of the things I am most curious about is how much money the Seattle Seahawks made from the product placement in this movie.  Every shirt that Leonardo and his co-workers wear has some sort of Seahawks logo on it and there is a scene where one of the children is trying to teach Leonardo about football by watching a Seahawks game.  I understand that the film takes place in Oregon and that the Seahawks have a very loyal and dedicated fanbase, but I am going to go out on a limb and say they that people in the Pacific Northwest wear clothing outside of Seahawks jerseys.  Barring those complaints, the actual substance and delivery of the jokes are funny and realistically this is the type of film you can spend a Sunday enjoying on Netflix.

Overall, I hate the influx of remakes and sequels as much as the next person, but I will give praise when it is deserved.  While Overboard is not the funniest comedy of all time, it does what it needs to do and provides enough laughs where I do not believe you will be bored.  Anna Faris once again brings her elite level of personability and humor to the film and elevates it to a level that it probably would not have reached without her.  It does not take itself too seriously and as a result, we get a decent movie that does not tarnish the reputation of the original.

Overall Score: 5.5/10