Jane Fonda Comedy She Credits With Rebooting Her Career Finds Renewed Streaming Success 20 Years Later

Though not well-received at the time of its release, a Jane Fonda comedy is finding some renewed success on streaming. After a string of supporting roles on both the big screen and on stage, Fonda broke out on screen with Cat Ballou and the Marlon Brando-led drama The Chase in the mid ’60s. Shortly thereafter, she found some of her most iconic roles to date, including the cult classic sci-fi adventure Barbarella and her Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning turns in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Klute, Julia, Coming Home, The China Syndrome, On Golden Pond and The Morning After.

Despite being an iconic star throughout the ’80s, Fonda memorably retired from acting for 15 years, partly due to her marriage to Ted Turner, as well as her lack of further interest in the industry. She would, however, return to acting in the mid 2000s and steadily increase her output from there, ranging from roles in Lee Daniels’ historical drama The Butler to the acclaimed Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie, which reunited her with longtime friend and frequent collaborator Lily Tomlin. Her first movie back, however, remains an interesting outlier and one Fonda looks back on fondly.

Monster-In-Law Is Climbing Streaming Charts

Fonda’s Career-Rebooting Comedy Wasn’t Well-Loved On Its Original Release

Before finding later acclaim with The Newsroom and Grace and Frankie, Fonda first returned to the acting world with Monster-in-Law, which is now finding some new streaming success. The two-time Oscar winner starred in the comedy alongside Jennifer Lopez as the controlling mother of a handsome doctor who acts as a major hurdle in Lopez’s growing relationship with him. Helmed by Legally Blonde‘s Robert Luketic, Monster-in-Law was a critical misfire upon its release, but a box office smash, grossing over $155 million against its $43 million production budget.

Now, nearly 20 years after its release, Monster-in-Law is climbing Hulu‘s streaming charts. At the time of writing, Fonda and Lopez’s comedy sits in the No. 15 spot on the streamer’s Top 15, coming in just behind fellow comedy The Watch at No. 14. The rest of the Top 15 is largely composed of some of Pixar’s biggest releases, with Ratatouille at No. 2, Finding Nemo at No. 3, The Incredibles at No. 5, WALL-E at No. 6, Up at No. 12 and Inside Out at No. 13, and fellow Disney franchise Avatar at No. 2

Hulu’s Top 15 chart does, however, include a variety of non-Disney-owned blockbuster and mid-budget releases, including the Nicolas Cage-led Longlegs at No. 4, Emile Hirsch’s Dead Money at No. 7, the two-time Oscar-winning dramedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at No. 8, Tom Cruise’s The Mummy at No. 9, Emma Stone’s The Help at No. 10, and the sci-fi thriller Things Will Be Different at No. 11.

Our Take On Monster-In-Law’s Renewed Streaming Success

Lopez’s Recent Acting Surge & A Feel-Good Comedy Are Helpful Factors

If one were just to look at Monster-in-Law‘s reception, it might come as something of a surprise that Fonda and Lopez’s comedy is climbing the charts the way it is. Critics were none too enthused with the movie at the time, awarding it a 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and while audiences were generally kinder to it, it still only sits at a 55% rating from viewers on the review aggregate, thus landing it two Rotten ratings on the platform.

Even still, there are certainly a number of reasons why Monster-in-Law‘s renewed streaming success makes sense. Lopez remains a draw for pretty much any movie, but particularly as the past few years have seen her begin to ramp back up her film acting career, with everything from her Netflix action-thriller The Mother, which is the platform’s sixth-most watched movie, to the recently released sports drama Unstoppable either finding critical or viewership success.

The other likely reason why Monster-in-Law is regaining ground in the world of streaming is that audiences generally enjoy a lighthearted comedy. As predictable as it may be criticized for, the movie packs enough of a feel-good romance at the heart of its broadly enjoyable comedy that makes it the perfect movie for people looking for something to watch that they can relax with.

Source: Hulu

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Monster-in-Law

Release Date

May 13, 2005

Runtime

95 minutes

Director

Robert Luketic