181, One for the Money

It was only recently while watching Steven Segal classic 'Under Siege 2' that I noticed his 15yr old niece looked vaguely familiar - and much to my surprise it was a young Katherine Heigl, way back in 1995 in only her 4th movie did our Hollywood sweetheart impress under Segal's wing and 17 years later with titles such as Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth, Killers and most recently, New Years Eve under her belt, Heigl is fast becoming the 'Cameron Diaz' for a new generation and her cute naivety wins over audiences time after time.

In One for the Money, Heigle plays a Jersey girl who's out of work, out of love and pretty much out of luck after losing her job as a lingerie sales manager in Macy's.  Desperate for work she hooks up with her cousin, Vinny (I know, corny!) who runs a bail bonds office and Heigl unwittingly sets herself up as a Bounty Hunter, tracking down bail jumpers for cash payouts - her main target - an ex-boyfriend who she has beef with played by Sky 1'sTerra-Nova star, Jason O'Mara.

In her opening hapless attempts at capture, O'Mara comically deals easily with Heigl until she asks one of the offices top hunters, Ranger to assist and as a special ops wannabe takes her under his wing and helps her out when needed - which is most of the time.

Heigl is her normal cute self, only this time upping the ante slightly with a few revealing shower scenes much to her characters embarrassment but again she proves she can do adorable and funny in the same breath.  In addition, she also manages to express a little of her wild side in this with a slight Jersey twang to her accent and a definite swagger in her step.  A new direction for Heigl and a well received one.

As for O'Mara - quite surprised to see him in this after adorning my TV screen weekly in Terra-Nova, I had the same reaction when I saw saw Hawaii 5.0 lead, Alex O'Laughlin appear in The Back Up Plan (2010) so in my mind a TV actor getting a lucky break but in all honesty he coped well and played Heigl's opposition really well.

It does rumble along nicely for 90 minutes this movie with Heigl in almost every scene and some comedy performances from the back-street hookers as her 'ears on the street' as well as her seedy cousin Vinny, his receptionist and an expected performance from movie regular, John Leguizamo.  All in all if you liked Heigl's other movies you can add this to your list as one to watch.