Did you hear about the Morgans? (www.the-usher.com)

"I love you Meryl... if you are in fact Meryl I cant really see"

Paul Morgan (Grant) is trying to do anything to save his marriage. Showering his wife Meryl (Parker) with gifts, promising to go to marriage guidance counseling, just to get her to talk to him. When she reluctantly agrees to have diner with, the two finally start to talk but when Paul escorts Meryl to her business meeting they witness her client been killed. Now the couple has to enter the witness protection and are transported from their busy, successful lives in New York to Ray, Wyoming.

High concept romantic comedies have become a Hollywood stable over the past few years but can Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker inject some originality into the genre?

When it comes to naming the number one British actor in romantic comedies over the last two decades, then one name should instantly spring to mind, Hugh Grant. Seen as the quintessential English man, floppy haired, slightly upper class, mumbling and always very apologetic, Hugh Grant has made a career of playing, for the most part, the same character in all of his movies. Films like ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘Notting Hill’, ‘Nine Months’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’, ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Music and Lyrics’ had him playing essentially the same role but he has tried to different and show his acting range by appearing in ‘The Remains of the Day’, ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Extreme Measures’ and ‘Mickey Blue Eyes’ but it is really only achieved this in his best film, ‘About a Boy’. In ‘Did you hear about the Morgans?’ however, he is back to his stereotypical self.

For the early part of her career, Sarah Jessica Parker made a name for herself playing the blonde love interest in films like ‘L.A. Story’ and ‘Striking Distance’ but she has tried a few different types of roles in ‘Ed Wood’ and ‘Mars Attacks’. It was her role as Carrie Bradshaw in the hit TV show ‘Sex and the City’ that she back a real household name and her career followed suit as she appeared in ‘Failure to Launch’ and ‘The Family Stone’, never really stepping out of the shadow of her TV persona. ‘Did you hear about the Morgans?’ does not allow her to do this.

The high concept romantic comedy is becoming very commonplace at the box office with couples getting into situations that would never happen outside of Hollywood and ‘Did you hear about the Morgans?’ is no different. Here we have a soon to be divorced couple who witness the death of a client and they end up been put into the witness protection programme. Taking them out of the big city, the pair is transported to the middle of Wyoming to live the life of a cowboy. This, of course, supposed to be a road to a comedy riot but instead we have a just bearable romantic comedy that is saved by only one thing, the presence of Hugh Grant.

With Sarah Jessica Parker just playing another version of Carrie Bradshaw, Sam Elliot just been his cool cowboy self, Mary Steenburgen doing the same thing and a very, very, very predictable plot, only the presence of Hugh Grant makes ‘Did you hear about the Morgans?’ more watchable than it should have been. With all the best laughs in the trailer, ‘Did you hear about the Morgans?’ is a disappointment but a bearable one.

A Bear of a Scene
Deleted Scenes
Commentary with Director Marc Lawrence and Stars Hugh Grant & Sarah Jessica Parker
Location, Location, Location: The Making of Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Cowboys and Cosmopolitans: The Stars of Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Park Avenue Meets the Prairie: The Fashions of Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Outtakes
International Special
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2010