Review of One for the Money

I have read all the Stephanie Plum books, including the holiday novellas and a short story called The Last Peeps so I feel like I know the series pretty well. I was excited to find out a movie was made because I wanted to see how well they managed to visualize the characters and storyline. I wasn't completely disappointed and that made me happy. The books make me laugh and so did the movie. I had no real cast expectations so Katherine Heigl as Stephanie was a reasonable choice. In other movies I've seen her in, she's silly and cute and a bit of a bumbler so she fit as far as I was concerned. My only wonder was that she seemed a bit tall and a bit too thin. Stephanie is 5'7 and 130lbs. Jason O'Mara as Morelli did nothing for me. He isn't at all the Mediterranean skinned, Italian, drop dead gorgeous guy needed. Only thing I'll give him is he says "cupcake" with the just right amount of contempt. I liked that they stuck close to the book in that there is unfinished business between Stephanie and Morelli due to her feeling slighted that he took her virginity without so much as a backwards glance. Daniel Sunjata as Ranger… Not exactly what I had in mind but he definitely is Yummy. Ranger is described as Cuban American with Latino good looks and "too light for the blacks and too dark for the Cubans" in book 12. Many mentions of The Rock were made for playing Ranger, which would have completely ruined it for me. He is so NOT who I see in my mind when I think Ranger. I did find Ranger portrayed as not mysterious and dark enough though. He seemed too friendly, and too eager to go to Stephanie's rescue. It takes several books for any of his interest to show and even then, he's not a talker. I didn't favor Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur. She was mischievous but not thin and wily enough. Other cast members were good. Sherri Shepherd as Lula was perfect. Not using a 1950's Big Blue was a huge mistake. I was looking forward to that. Stephanie hates that car but it's very much necessary and as important as having Rex the hamster. I was expecting Benito to be scary and demented so I was disappointed with how that part of the book was played out. It was a bit fluffier than I thought it might be but close enough to the mark that I will buy it when it comes on DVD. With 18 books and 4 novellas, I don't imagine all of them would be made into movies but I would like to see 10 and 12 for sure.