Overboard (2018)

“Overboard” stars Eugenio Derbez, Anna Faris, Eva Longoria, John Hannah, and Swoosie Kurtz.  Released on May 4, 2018, the film is about a single mother who gets even with a spoiled playboy when he suffers from amnesia.

The film is directed by Rob Greenberg, who has produced and directed several television shows like "How I Met Your Mother”, “Frasier”, and “Scrubs”.  It is a remake of the 1987 film of the same name.  The original “Overboard” film wasn’t a bonafide success with critics when it was first released, but that didn’t stop it from becoming a cult classic for fans of romantic comedies.  This year, Hollywood is attempting to recreate the spirit of the 1987 film for a new generation of fans…with a Spanish twist.  I literally had no experience with this piece of 80s nostalgia, which starred Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, so for this review, I will be looking at the remake as its own film without comparing to the original.

The story in “Overboard” is obviously similar to the 1987 film, in which a spoiled rich person winds up with amnesia and is convinced by a widower that they’re married.  For the remake, they decided to “gender-swap” the main roles in order to provide some variety, with Derbez playing the role of Hawn’s character and Faris playing the role of Russell’s character.  While the film is presented in English, there were a few scenes where the characters communicate with one another in Spanish with English subtitles appearing at the bottom of the screen.  A very clever strategy for those who are either learning how to speak Spanish or just didn’t have the time to learn it.  For people who grew up watching the original, the film obviously followed the same footprints from the 1980s classic and almost every other romance comedies that we’ve seen before.  As its own film, it didn’t provide anything new to the rom-com formula, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have a lot of moments that made it a tolerable watch.  Eugenio Derbez offered a pretty entertaining performance as Leonardo.  His comedic style didn’t quite reach its hilarious status just yet, but based on what I’ve seen, he’s getting there.  Anna Faris was also enjoyable as Kate, a single mother who convinces an amnesic Leonardo that she’s his wife.  Faris has been on and off in terms of her acting career, and so far, her status as a comedian still remains unchanged.  She’s not getting better, and she’s certainly not getting worse either.  She’s somewhere down the middle.  The only member in the cast that tried a little bit too hard on delivering the laughs was Eva Longoria as Kate’s friend, Theresa.  She’s one of those characters that wants to be the comic relief, but doesn’t feel like a comic relief.  She has her moments, but not the ones that stick with you by the time the film reached its end.  Even though some of the jokes were either forced or a bit silly for the strong-minded, the humor was surprisingly well-balanced with its sense of charm.  So if you’re worried about the amount of comedy the film might use, I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about.

Overall, the 2018 remake of “Overboard” won’t win anyone over due to its formulaic rom-com plot elements and a few salty jokes.  However, the amount of charm in the chemistry between the two leads and its storytelling was able to provide enough feel-good moments to entertain plenty of rom-com fans.  I was honestly expecting it to be predictable and entertaining and that’s pretty much exactly what I got.  It’s not a perfect remake of the 1980s film, but it’s not a bad remake, either.  It’s worth a watch if you’re familiar with the original or if you’re in a mood for something that makes you feel good inside.

C+