‘Overboard’ (2018) Blu-Ray Review: Unseaworthy Sequel

Overboard, a reimagining of an identically-named 1987 film, is a romantic comedy, one that retains its predecessor’s core concept while shifting aspects of it around. Our lead characters are Leonardo Montenegro and Kate Sullivan, respectively portrayed by Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris. Question is, will you fall in love with Overboard or is its story best left forgotten?   

OVERBOARD (2018) BLU-RAY REVIEW

Kate is overloaded, working multiple dead end jobs while raising her three kids. She’s studying to become a nurse, but her financial situation prevents her from focusing on the exam as diligently as she needs to. Leonardo, in contrast, lives a life of fantasy, a shallow existence where he can sleep with beautiful women on his yacht while hiring and firing staff members on a whim. He has no personal or professional responsibilities, although that will soon change as his terminally ill father is planning to leave him the family business.

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Their antithetical lives intersect when Kate, on a cleaning job, arrives at Leonardo’s boat, a meeting that closes with a mutual dislike borne between the two. After pushing her overboard and then chucking her equipment at her (ruining it in the process), Kate leaves in debt. However, the sheltered billionaire soon endures his first hardship when he falls overboard overnight, washing up on shore without his memory. Kate learns of this and decides to devise a form of payback, tricking the former playboy into believing he’s her husband, putting him to work at home and using him as a secondary source of income.

As a whole, neither the film’s dialog or slapstick antics demonstrate anything witty or original. Much of comedy is performed at the expense of Leonardo as he struggles to acclimate to his new working class life. Some of the jokes are unimaginative but inoffensive, such as how Leonardo’s new coworkers dub him “Lady Hands” in response to how he’s discernibly never performed physical labor. Other jokes, however, almost border on being mean-spirited to the amnesiac, like how his presumed wife initially forces him to sleep alone in the shed, leaving him a bottle in lieu of access to the bathroom. In short, don’t watch this putative comedy expecting to laugh.

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Overboard does bear a few merits that make its ridiculous premise easier to overlook, however. The film’s cast is talented (and its effort to add diversity to Hollywood is laudable), even if its script never truly allowed that talent to shine. Leonardo’s (clichéd) epiphany had some poignant moments, and his reunion with his biological family does propose an interesting inquiry regarding Leonardo’s identity. Being unable to reconcile his two radically divergent lives and pondering his place in the world, Leonardo’s paradigm shift is the closest the film comes to sincerity, although these inquiries are let down by the saccharine ending.

In addition to a requisite commentary track, Overboard has three bonus features of note. The first, “Chemistry is Comedy,” spans 13 minutes, detailing the cast members and their time with and affection for each other. “Culture Clash,” which is over six minutes, discusses the casting of Mexican actors in the film. The final feature, “Captains of the Ship: Bob & Rob,” is over three minutes, and it covers how synchronized the two directors, Rob Greenberg and Bob Fisher, were during the development of the movie.