'Monster-In-Law' (PG-13) (out of four popcorns)

Look past Jennifer Lopez as the same low-key character she's played in her last few movies, "The Wedding Planner" and "Maid In Manhattan," and you'll thoroughly enjoy "Monster In Law."

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Preview: 'Monster-In-Law'

The first 15 minutes of the film provide some déjà vu moments as Lopez's character is established as a dog-walking, medical receptionist who moonlights as a caterer for her friend's company and desperately wants to be a fashion designer. She lives in a fantastic California neighborhood, with a gay neighbor who uses the "emergency" key as an excuse to raid her refrigerator. It sounds like a movie with J-Lo you've seen before or maybe a conglomeration of all of them.

Despite the film being billed as equal parts Jane Fonda and Lopez, veteran actress Fonda shows her years of experience when she swoops in and dominates from the moment she enters until the grand finale.

She plays a well-known television anchor who, a la Barbara Walters, has spent her career spanning the globe with royalty and celebrities. Photographs adorn her expansive California conclave of Viola Fields with everyone from the Dalai Lama to Oprah Winfrey. Were those real-life pictures of Fonda herself with those folks, you have to wonder?

Fonda as Fields is introduced just before she loses her job to a young anchorwoman who tells her that she's in need of an autograph from the broadcast legend for her grandmother. During an interview with a Britney Spears clone after Fields learns she's been put out to pasture, she loses it when she asks the pop tart what she thinks of Roe vs. Wade and the youngster replies, "I don't follow boxing."

After a scene of mayhem on the set, Fields is checked into a hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown and is on the road to recovery when her successful doctor son, Kevin (Michael Vartan) brings Charlie Cantilini (Lopez) to meet her. Things are going somewhat well until Kevin picks the wrong time to propose marriage to Charlie.

In a series of misadventures, the two women go at each other, racing for Kevin's attention, but practically killing each other in the meantime.

The typical go-for-laugh events, such as a scene in a restaurant where Viola presents the non-denominational Charlie with a large religious cross necklace, and Charlie making the perfect dinner for Viola -- a family favorite, tripe -- achieve the writer's goal.

"Monster-In-Law" is a tour de force for Fonda, who returns to the screen after a 15-year hiatus where she concentrated on workout videos and a media mogul marriage that's since dissolved. Comedian Wanda Sykes proves her muster as Fields' cynical personal assistant who has some of the funniest lines in the movie. When she's given the task to check out Charlie's background, assistant Ruby proclaims her findings: "She's had fewer lovers in her lifetime than you had at the closing day of Woodstock."

Elaine Stritch as Field's own monster-in-law adds some great fuel to the fire near the film's finish.

I saw the film with a preview audience that was primarily women. They laughed out loud, some whispering their own stories to each other of mother-in-law catastrophes. For the audience it's targeted to, the giddy female farce has its charm.

If you're a guy whose been dragged to this chick flick, you'll find a couple of moments to relate to, but there's probably something in the theater next door you'd much rather be seeing. Unless of course, you're sitting with your mother-in-law.