Charlotte's love life is reduced to an endless string of disastrous blind dates--until she meets the perfect man, Kevin. Unfortunately, his merciless mother will do anything to destroy their relationship.
After years of looking for Mr. Right, Charlotte "Charlie" Cantilini finally finds the man of her dreams, Kevin Fields--only to discover that his mother, Viola, is the woman of her nightmares. A recently-fired news anchor who is afraid she will lose her son the way she has just lost her career, Viola determines to scare off her son's new fiancée by becoming the world's worst mother-in-law. While Viola's long-time assistant Ruby does her best to help Viola execute her crazy schemes, Charlie decides to fight back and the gloves come off as the two women battle it out to see just who is the alpha-female.—Sujit R. Varma
When simple but versatile Charlotte meets surgeon Kevin, she finds her Prince Charming. Meanwhile, his obsessive mother, famous anchor Viola, is replaced on her TV talk show and has a nervous breakdown. When she leaves the clinic, Kevin schedules a visit with Charlie to her mansion and unexpectedly proposes to Charlie. Viola decides to plot a despicable plan to make Charlie crazy and call off their wedding. When Charlie discloses the scheme of her future mother-in-law, she pays her back for her malice.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A doting, overly-possessive mother fresh from a mental breakdown after she was replaced on her TV talk show re-enters her son Kevin's life just as he decides to get engaged to Charlie, a free-spirited, multi-talented woman who works as a dog-walker and a doctor's-office temp. Immediately seeing the woman as a threat, Viola puts on a good face in front of her son but immediately starts plotting against Charlie. However, two can play that game and the war is on. In the middle of the mess is the mother's assistant, who is loyal to her boss but has been with her long enough to not take any of her guff.—John Sacksteder <[email protected]>
Charlie Cantilini (Jennifer Lopez) is a temporary worker/dog walker/yoga instructor and aspiring fashion designer from Venice Beach, California. Remy (Adam Scott) is Charlie's next-door neighbor. Charlie has not been in a relationship for a while and wants to date a sweet, gentleman type person.
Charlie runs into Doctor Kevin Fields (Michael Vartan) at the beach and then at the coffee shop. She believes this is a sign. Then Charlie serves as a waitress for a party thrown by Dr Fields, who has just moved to San Francisco. Kevin is clearly interested in Charlie and introduces himself to her at the party. Fiona is Kein's ex-girlfriend and notices the chemistry between the two. Kit (Will Arnett) is Kevin's best friend and is getting married.
At first, Charlie believes Kevin is gay because of a lie his vindictive ex-girlfriend Fiona (Monet Mazur) told her. Kevin later asks Charlie out and she realizes that Kevin is straight. Charlie feels she has finally found the right man.Things start to sour when Kevin introduces Charlie to his mother Viola (Jane Fonda); a former newscaster-turned-talk show host. She was recently replaced by someone much younger, leading to her having a meltdown. Viola is committed to finishing her contract with the network and leaving with dignity, but she ends up attacking a young guest on-air (she is a 17-year-old music sensation, and calls some of the recent movies as really "old". Viola again breaks down when she finds out that her guest doesn't read newspapers and yet is an idol to millions of kids around the world) and being committed for a number of months.
Viola goes to meet Kevin and finds that Kevin and Charlie have moved in together. Viola is surprised that Kevin has a serious girlfriend within a few months of her being away. Viola's husband died when Kevin was 2 years old. Then she married a Network Executive and got her first on-air break. Viola has been married a total of 4 times.Loathing Charlie immediately due to her being a temp (with no money and no career goals. And Viola believes that Charlie is a gold digger); Viola becomes more distraught when Kevin proposes to her. She fears that she will lose her son just as she lost her career. Determined to ruin Kevin and Charlie's relationship, she enlists the help of her loyal assistant Ruby (Wanda Sykes) with assistance from Fiona. Ruby has stayed with Viola even after she was fired from the network.Viola tells Charlie that marriage is a sacred union and should be entered into with great care. Charlie retorts that Viola has been married 4 times.
At the engagement party (which Viola organizes without telling Kevin or Charlie) Fiona kisses Kevin in his dressing room, deeply hurting Charlie who feels out of place in Kevin's world (as Viola is friends with all sorts of world leaders and celebrities and she introduces Charlie as a "temp"), exactly as Viola and Fiona planned. Kevin is committed to Charlie and decides to step away from his mother's world and build a life together with Charlie.
Viola orders a background check on Charlie, and Ruby finds nothing. Ruby insists that Charlie is a good girl and that maybe Kevin is lucky to find her.Viola wants a church wedding, but Charlie wants a non-denominational service. Viola finds that Charlie is allergic to nuts, shellfish, blueberries and soy. Viola takes over the entire wedding planning and makes it loud and gaudy, nothing like what Charlie wanted. Charlie pushes back to Viola.
Viola feigns an anxiety attack and moves in with Charlie (on the recommendation of the doctor) while Kevin is away for a medical conference, hoping to drive her crazy with her antics. Due to her anxiety attack, Charlie has to relent and agree to Viola to be involved in the wedding planning. Viola keeps Charlie up all night, by pretending to cry. She makes Charlie share her bad, and then hits all night, supposedly while being asleep. Viola wants Charlie to sign a Pre-nuptial agreement.Charlie soon catches onto Viola's plan and retaliates by destroying her bedroom and tampering with her anti-psychotic medication (which Viola had replaced with vitamin C tablets). Charlie eventually confronts her, forcing her to move out.
Finding no way to stop the wedding, Viola tricks Charlie into eating nuts during the rehearsal dinner, causing an extreme allergic reaction, resulting in Charlie's face swelling up. Luckily, it subsides by morning.On the day of the wedding, Viola turns up wearing an extravagant white dress instead of the peach-colored one Charlie had specially made for her. This leads to a violent standoff between them, with Viola refusing to accept Charlie and declaring she will never be good enough for Kevin.
Suddenly, Viola's own dreadful mother-in-law, Kevin's grandmother Gertrude (Elaine Stritch); arrives and they have an indignant argument. Gertrude holds Viola responsible for the death of her son, Kevin's father, many years earlier, claiming he died of "terminal disappointment."Gertrude's resentment of Viola bears a strong resemblance to Viola's animosity towards Charlie; who decides to back down as she feels the same thing will happen to them in 30 years.
Charlie leaves to tell Kevin the wedding is off but before she can, Ruby finally gets through to Viola. She resents being compared to Gertrude, but Ruby points out that Viola is actually far worse as Gertrude never tried to poison her referring to the nuts at the rehearsal dinner.Gertude also wore black to Viola's wedding due to being "in mourning" for her son, an equally disrespectful mirror of Viola's own behavior. When Viola claims that she just wants her son to be happy, Ruby asks her what made her think he wasn't.
Viola has an epiphany and ultimately realizes that she wants Charlie to stay and tells her that she will leave the couple alone if that means her son is happy. Charlie, however, tells Viola that she wants her to be a part of their lives, and they set some boundaries and ground rules.Charlie and Kevin get married and, when she throws the bouquet, Viola (now wearing the peach-colored dress) catches it. As the newlyweds drive away to their honeymoon in Hawaii, Viola and Ruby leave to go out drinking.
