Unforgettable

Unforgettable is the kind of movie that you want to fly off the rails.  You want it to revel in camp, and you want to howl at the movie.  And thanks to the knowing direction of Denise Di Novi (a long-time producer making her directing debut), there are moments where it does revel, and the audience does howl.  There simply aren't enough.  If this movie had been allowed to truly take its place as the great trash it really is, we'd be looking at one hell of a guilty pleasure here.

Not that the movie doesn't try its hardest.  This is kind of a gonzo mix of Fatal Attraction and Mommie Dearest, anchored by a wonderful villain performance by Katherine Heigl, who after years of being stuck in forgettable romantic comedies seems to have found her niche playing a tall, statuesque blonde who must have been born with ice water flowing through her veins.  Her character, Tessa, is the kind of villain who could only exist in a romance novel or a Lifetime Original Movie.  She's a manipulative woman who has set her sights on Julia (Rosario Dawson, who proves here that she's still one of the most beautiful women acting in films today), the new girlfriend and potential fiance to her ex-husband.  The fun in this film comes from Tessa's attempts to secretly destroy Julia's life, as well as attempt to turn her sweet daughter Lily (Isabella Kai Rice) against Julia.  Tessa is such a fun, snarling villain, and Heigl is clearly relishing the chance to play her, you start to wish the movie was told entirely from her perspective. 

Sadly, we mostly get Julia's side of the story, and how she attempts to fit into the life of her attractively bland fiance David (Geoff Stults).  As the film opens, Julia moves to Southern California in order to live with him and his daughter.  She's doing this to start a new life, as we learn early on that she was in an abusive relationship with a former boyfriend.  It's not really clear what Julia does for a living.  She does work for some kind of online company for writers, but we never actually see her work.  She does, however, have plenty of time to call her best friend from back home (Whitney Cummings), which is great, since the friend apparently has nothing to do but sit around and wait for Julia to call her.  Not long after Julia moves into David's home, Tessa starts showing up at all hours.  She does have shared custody of little Lily, but she seems to be taking an unhealthy interest in Julia as well. 

Not long after, Tessa steals Julia's cell phone, and starts hacking into her life.  She discovers a copy of the restraining order that Julia has against her old boyfriend, and decides to create a fake Facebook account so that she can get in touch with the abusive ex, and convince him to come and stalk Julia.  This is all interspersed with scenes of Tessa obsessively polishing the silver in her home, and chopping off her daughter's hair when she misbehaves.  It's all so theatrically evil, and Heigl is obviously having a blast.  However, she's the only character who is allowed a personality.  Julia and David are your generic couple who don't seem to hold much personality, and often have nothing to talk about when they're alone together, other than dialogue that conveniently moves the plot along.  It's kind of like Tessa (whom one character describes as "Psycho Barbie") is inhabiting an over the top and trashy melodrama, while everyone else is inhabiting the blandest domestic drama ever put to film.  It creates a bizarre tonal shift in the movie, depending on whichever one of the two leading ladies happens to be on camera at the moment.

Outside of Heigl, the only other actor who gets to have fun is, appropriately enough, the one who plays her mother.  This would be Cheryl Ladd, whom the movie could have used so much more of.  Not only does she allow us to see where Tessa got her personality, but her passive aggressive sarcasm gets some of the biggest laughs.  Watching the scenes between Heigl and Ladd, I quickly came to the realization that I would much rather see an entire movie where these two characters do nothing but horrible things, and put each other down with withering remarks.  Now that would be the kind of movie I would recommend full-heartedly.  Not only that, but it would probably be the funniest trash comedy in years. 

Unforgettable is slickly made, and does have some moments of fun throughout, especially the off the wall climax.  But in between these moments of self-aware trash are long periods of awkward dialogue and scenes that just don't connect.  I'm not recommending the movie, but if I have to be honest with myself, I do kind of admire it.

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