Amnesia is a horrible condition that has a stereotypical stigma associated with it. Many know what it is, but another large section of the population do not realize how rare it is. There is no true cure for it, and almost every case’s time frame is different.
“Overboard” is the new film directed by the duo of Bob Fisher (Sirens) and Rob Greenberg (Marry me, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs) and stars Anna Faris (Scary Movie, My Super Ex-Girlfriend), Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included, How to be a Latin Lover), Eva Longoria (Harsh times, Lowriders), Swoosie Kurtz (Bubble Boy, Liar Liar), Emily Maddison (Big eyes, Power Rangers), John Hannah (The Mummy, Four Weddings and a Funeral), Mel Rodriguez (The Watch, Panic Room), Cynthia Mendez (Blurt, Lucky in Love),Hannah Nordberg (Longmire, The remains), Alyvia Alyn Lind (Dark Skies, Blended), Mariana Trevino (Luciana, Bros), Cecilia Suarez (The Air I Breathe, Blue Eyelids) and Payton Lepinski (making her feature film debut). In it, Kate (Faris) is a single mom with three daughters, living paycheck to paycheck in small town Oregon. While working one of her many jobs as a carpet cleaner, she meets Leonardo (Derbez), the oldest child of the worlds’ third richest man. He has no responsibilities, so he lives his life as a spoiled brat who lets his dad and two younger sisters run the family company. After their chance encounter (where Leonardo ends up being mean to Kate), Leonardo falls out of his boat and gets amnesia, which leads to Kate pretending to be his wife, tricking him to come to her house and make him live their lives as if he was her husband. Kate goes so far as to make Leonardo go work at a construction job with her brother and do all the chores around the house.
Faris and Derbez do well as the leads overall, complimenting each other with great give-and-take. Lind, Nordberg and Lepinski also do a good job playing the daughters, shown in the growth of their characters as Leonardo becomes more of a part of their life. The mix of comedic and emotional moments keeps moving things along nicely for a film that is almost two hours long. Granted, there could have been about ten minutes cut to be paced a bit better, but not enough to make that much of a difference. “Overboard” is a fun film which has a good heart, so I will recommend it as a matinee or Saturday afternoon showing in the theaters.