So here’s the thing…

One For The Money is not a film that’s going to get a lot of love in geek circles. Watching the trailer promises a very TV-feeling, slightly quirky, vague romantic action comedy amalgam starring Katherine Heigl (and almost no one else of note). I have a feeling most chewers wouldn’t give this more than a passing glance before moving on with their day. What I feel I should warn you is that this may very well end up being one of those movies that, again for the average CHUD reader, will fucking come out of nowhere when it makes a huge amount of money. This is not a guarantee, but it is a distinct possibility and one I feel I should prepare you for.

Janet Evanovich is the woman behind the Staphanie Plum series of books, the first of which having been adapted in the film you see above. That first book spent 75 weeks on the-best seller list, and the popularity of the series has only grown since. Supposedly Evanovich fetched something like forty million dollars for her last book deal, as this series has stayed popular since the mid-90s and nears the release of its 17th feature novel. There is an active, multi-generation fanbase for the books that only a cursory search of the trailer’s YouTube comments will show you is as fixated on fine details and character fidelity as the Twilight fanbase.

It will never be the phenomenon the Twilight books/films are, but this is a definitely a female-targeted franchise starter that has the potential to rake in some serious cash. That’s said, this movie has gotten shoved around from being a Summer release to a January plop. That move itself is hard to criticize though, considering how many films have lost games of chicken each weekend at the box office this year. But beyond that, how the fanbase will react to small changes, the tone of the film, and Katherine Heigl as their beloved main character I can not say. If the stars align how Lionsgate hopes though, that trailer will be the first of many many Plum films, and Katherine Heigl will be enjoying her own continuous franchise. She could probably use it, since her rom-coms haven’t all performed quite up to par, and it’s never felt like she’s had a firm grasp on her image or her career so far.

My mother and several other women I know are big fans of these books, and I’ve heard more than my fair share of them via audiobooks on car trips. At their best they’re fun stories that have a sort of 30 Rock meets Dog The Bounty Hunter vibe to them, at worst way too wrapped up in which of the two love interests she’s banging at any given time. Regardless, don’t be shocked if this comes out of nowhere and makes bank…

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