Katherine Heigl freshens up her act

HEIGL. Plays radically against type.

Katherine Heigl’s latest starrer, “One for the Money,” is a departure from her glitzy rom-coms. She deglamorizes herself to play a young woman who’s so strapped for cash that she takes on the most unconventional job of a warrant-server for criminal runaways.

As bad luck would have it, however, the runaway she’s assigned to track down is her former boyfriend, a cop who’s unjustly accused of murder. He protests his innocence, but he has a tough time getting the proof he needs, because his potential witnesses keep getting bumped off.

Although the film can best be described as an action-comedy, the fact that so many of its supporting actors are shot at, blown up or otherwise disposed of, occasionally gives the viewer pause and makes him relate to its story in a more serious way.

Heigl herself is sufficiently challenged by the character arc that her role describes, from a raw recruit to a tough sharpshooter who’s even able to save the runaway cop from certain death.

Unusual requirements

In the process, she figures in scenes she’s never done before, like getting handcuffed to a shower rod without any clothes on, figuring in numerous shootouts, stealing a car, wading through the smelly contents of a dumpster to find her car key, etc. All those unusual requirements may have taken a toll on her glamorous projection, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

After all she’s been a TV-film star for over a decade now, and could be getting soft and smug as a result of all that success. Playing radically against type could be just what the career director—and doctor—ordered to shake things up and freshen up her act again.

Aside from Heigl, the actor who plays the cop on the run, Jason O’Mara, comes on strong by way of the bright wattage and charisma he has in hunky heaps, so we should be seeing more of him on the big screen soon.

Unexpected treat

For “senior” viewers, the movie has an unexpected treat in store—the supporting performance of Debbie Reynolds as Heigl’s feisty and trouble-prone grandmother. Reynolds isn’t given many scenes to make her mark, but she takes full advantage of the limited time she has onscreen. —Trust a time-tested trouper to make the most of a less-than-terrific opportunity to remind viewers of her stellar sparkle!

Let’s hope that Heigl was paying attention, because she could pick up a tip or two from Reynolds’ sterling example about how to sustain viewers’ interest after many years of stardom. Reynolds may look her age, but the joy of performance hasn’t faded, and neither has her desire to entertain, even if only in a supporting role.

If Heigl follows her example and keeps “reinventing” herself now and then, she should be around for a really long time.