Featured DVD Review: My Girlfriend's Back

February 28, 2011

My Girlfriend's Back - Buy from Amazon

My Girlfriend's Back is a romantic comedy aimed at an African-American audience. It's a smaller film, one that is almost destined to slip between the cracks, but does it deserve better?

The Movie

We meet Dereck Scott who is hard at work trying to complete a difficult contact negotiations for his law firm. He does so well that the daughter of the company's CEO, Miss Yamaguchi, comes to his office to sign the contract and thank him personally for all his hard work. He celebrates with his friends at a local bar, only to run into Nicki Russell, his ex-girlfriend. The awkwardness only ends when his current girlfriend, Becca Jones, shows up and they leave for dinner at her father's place. They've been going out for four years and since her father's big at the law firm where Dereck works, he has to play it cool when his girlfriend announces they are getting married.

This was part of his plan, even if the timing was off. Get ahead a work, earn a partnership at his law firm, get married, etc. But now that it's all coming true, he's starting to wonder if he's getting married because he loves Becca, or just because it's part of his plan. And now that he's reconnected with Nicki, things become a lot more complicated. Will he stick with his plan? Or will he throw it all away for love?

The film is described as a romantic comedy on the back of the DVD box, but I don't really agree with that description. It's more of a romantic drama with a heavy emphasis on issues of class. While Dereck comes from a working-class family, his fiancee's family is extremely wealthy. Additionally, Dereck complains in the movie that his job is about helping major corporations find legal loopholes to crush the little guy. I like this angle in the movie, but it's overplayed. It's handled in a far too blunt fashion and could have used a more delicate touch. (Becca's three friends in particular are mere caricatures.)

The film has a number of good ideas, but the execution is only mixed.

The Extras

Aside from an image gallery, there are no extras. I don't even consider the image gallery a real extra.

The Verdict

Right now according to Amazon.com My Girlfriend's Back's sales ranking in the in the 34,000 range. Generally speaking, when it comes to our weekly Home Market Release Report, unless it is an exceptionally slow week, it is usually safe to ignore anything with a sales rank greater than 2,000. Had this DVD not arrived on my desk, there's almost no way I would have noticed it on the list. Granted, My Girlfriend's Back does have some issues and could use a more subtle script, and some toned back performances, but it does deserve better than this. On the other hand, with a featureless DVD, a rental is the better choice.


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