Second Act
Published June 12, 2019
Film info
- Title Second Act
- Director Peter Segal
- Year 2018
- Run time 1hr 43m
- Genres Romance, Comedy
- Tagline Her talent was real. Her résumé was not.
When a big box store employee reinvents her life and her lifestyle, she gets the chance to prove to Madison Avenue that street smarts are as valuable as a college degree, and that it's never too late for a Second Act.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 2:08 | “I’d argue fifteen years experience is worth ten degrees.” Well, maybe one or two. Fifteen seems like a lot. |
| 3:57 | Has she invented FaceTiming the supermarket? |
| 11:29 | Loving the funny best friend in this one. She’s really funny. |
| 21:00 | “Who’s the champ?” “I’m the champ?” |
| 23:59 | If he’s happy with adopting, there’s no issue with waiting is there? You can adopt whenever. |
| 26:52 | Little kid doing running man is fun. |
| 33:11 | What’s an ass-panda I wonder? |
| 41:00 | Yay for mid-film Boat Race! |
| 45:34 | I know she’s supposed to be wrong, but she’s not… people are idiots. |
| 50:33 | I was gonna say how she didn’t look like him. But honestly, in New York, what are the chances? |
| 57:44 | The High Line!! |
| 1:12:28 | Suddenly the rom-com has gone all science! |
| 1:18:01 | Oh god, the birds… didn’t see that coming. |
| 1:18:41 | “Why waste four years on a piece of paper that says I know how to do what I already know how to do?” |
| 1:29:10 | Well that Keynote didn’t go as expected. |
| 1:37:37 | “The only thing stopping you is you.” |
Thoughts
Let’s go into this being upfront and honest - one of my favourite films is The Wedding Planner which is a) a guilty pleasure and b) frustratingly not available anywhere. I wouldn’t argue that it’s a good film, particularly, but I do love it and that has given me a soft spot for any film that J-Lo is in.
I was expecting this one to be your standard fluffy rom-com style movie, but it had more layers and more humour to it than I was expecting. Firstly, of course, it’s inspirational - be who you want to be, lying might get your far but it won’t be easy to live with, and that you can make a success of your life with or without a college degree, even if it doesn’t quite go to plan.
The secondary characters were initially one-dimensional but started to branch out to be stand-outs of their own. Several times during the movie we’d say, they’re the best thing in it! But it was a different person each time.
And then it was a good story that always looked like it was going to take the cliché path but then swerved somewhere you weren’t quite expecting. I complained in my notes “what are the chances she’d end up working for the company that is partly run by her long lost daughter.” But it turns out they had an explanation for that which totally makes sense and actually isn’t all that far-fetched. She did suddenly pop up on Facebook and stuff under her real name… it stacks up!
It wasn’t all perfect, I didn’t like the boyfriend at all and thought he was pressuring her to do things she didn’t want to do. I was also disappointed that the rat colleagues never really got their comeuppance. But it was pretty darn good.
Rating: 4 / 5