It was not that long ago when it felt like Jennifer Lopez was everywhere.  She was the movie star of the moment, a pop star and a paparazzi favorite.  Over the past few years, though, she managed to stay out of the spotlight and play the role of wife and mother.  The Back-up Plan is her first movie since her pet project in 2006, El cantante.  Her comeback actually began with a guest spot on How I Met Your Mother a few weeks ago which was both sexy and humorous.  Unfortunately, The Back-up Plan is anything but.

Lopez plays Zoe, the single owner of a pet store whose life is missing only one thing: a baby.  To this point, she’s been waiting for the ideal partner before venturing into motherhood, but she’s gotten tired of waiting.  She artificially inseminates and couldn’t be happier when she stumbles into the handsome goat farmer Stan.  He’s the one she’s been waiting for, but how will he react when he finds out she is pregnant with the baby of an anonymous donor?  At first, Stan is taken aback and ready to run for the hills, but something in those first three dates told him it was a journey worth taking.  So begins a movie filled with plenty of will they-or-won’t-they-moments and plenty of baby-making movie clichés.

The Back-up Plan is just another example of current state of the romantic comedy genre, which may just be at an all-time low.  Already this year, audiences have been subjected to the stale clichéd drivel of Leap Year, When in Rome, and Valentine’s Day as it becomes increasingly clear that charming, original rom-coms like Definitely, Maybe and (500) Days of Summer are the exceptions, not the rule.

The Back-up Plan has all the usual suspects.  There’s the heroine’s wise-cracking best friend, the guy’s “been there” dude, and the charmingly romantic elderly couple.  There’s even the adorable, handicapped pet.  As expected, all of these characters—yes, even the dog—know what the lead characters can’t seem to see.  What’s worse is that the audience sees it too, just as it sees the inevitable ending of a movie that doesn’t stray one step from the formula.

Lopez is fine in her big screen return, but she still hasn’t proven that she can carry a romantic comedy on her own, like to the level of a Sandra Bullock or Meg Ryan. And she practically has to carry it on her own as relative unknown Alex O’Loughlin is wildly miscast as Stan.  Eric Christian Olson is wasted as Zoe’s friend and employee, while Robert Klein’s and Anthony Anderson’s comic contributions are great, but few.

The movie goes for a couple of big laughs, but the result is more awkwardness than humor.  A ritual birthing scene walks the tightrope between funny and disturbing and I can see audiences falling on either side of the fence depending on their sense of humor and mood.

Fans of Lopez’s previous romantic comedies may find something to like, but those of us who long to see her back in the Out of Sight mold will have to keep waiting.

The Back-up Plan is rated PG-13 for “sexual content including references, some crude material and language.”  A couple of sex jokes and a slightly graphic birthing scene are cause enough for the rating.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of The Back-up Plan.