Katherine Heigl in One for the Money.

Thanks in large part to the power of extremely lowered expectations, I actually enjoyed this Katherine Heigl chick flick fantasy based on the series of successful books by Janet Evanovich. Sure, it's being dumped in the dead of winter and wasn't screened for critics before it was released, but I still enjoyed it. It's far from perfect, but I wasn't bored.

Heigl stars as Stephanie Plum, a divorced woman recently fired from her job in the lingerie department of the Newark Macy's. With nowhere else to turn she goes to her bail bondsman cousin and blackmails him into giving her a chance as a bounty hunter. Her first fugitive is ex-cop Joe Morelli, an ex-lover of Stephanie's who is wanted for murder. While investigating Joe's disappearance, Stephanie gets involved with hookers, fighters and other assorted lowlifes as she struggles to get her man.

While most chick flicks are romantic comedies, this one is more of a mystery comedy. It's just as much a fantasy as any romantic comedy and there is a romance angle to it, but it takes a back seat to the "mystery". Stephanie's detective work mainly consists of her seemingly able to get anyone to talk to her. This could be because she seems so harmless that they don't feel threatened by her or it could be because the writers couldn't think of another way for the mystery to unravel.

The men in the film are only there to support Heigl. Jason O'Mara is the cop she's hunting down and while he's rough and rude to her at first, he's also incredibly buff and cooks for her. Daniel Sunjata plays Ranger, another Bounty Hunter who takes her under his wing and shows her the ropes without ever asking for anything in return.

Heigl herself does an okay job in the role. She never quite pulls off the Jersey persona but she comes close enough. With her dyed brown hair and slightly more curvy appearance she certainly looks better than I've ever seen her look. I never thought of her as that attractive before, but she's quite sexy here. She should definitely keep the dark hair.

Debbie Reynolds has a small part as Stephanie's grandmother. While it's nice to see Reynolds in a film, she's never quite as zany as she should be. Not through any fault of her own, but because the script never really gives her the chance. The writing is definitely the movie's weakest point. It also fails to give a wasted John Leguizamo much to do beyond collect a paycheck.

Despite the weakness of the mystery and the failure of the humor to be as funny as it should be, there is just enough of everything plus a dose of likable charm from Heigl to keep the story moving along.

I feel like I'm apologizing for enjoying this movie and that's partly because I can objectively see that it's not particularly well made, but despite that I still rather liked it. Although yes, a big part of that is because I went into it with absolutely zero expectations.

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