DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS?

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? is a breezy, funny, and heartfelt comedy about a man trying to heal his broken marriage. The movie presents a modern twist on the classic story of the city mouse visiting the country mouse.

Starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, the movie opens with Paul Morgan, a high-class lawyer in New York City, trying to seek forgiveness from his estranged wife, Meryl, who caught him cheating once on her. A successful real estate broker, Meryl agrees to have dinner and talk. Paul walks Meryl to her next appointment, where they see a contract killer murder her new client, who turns out to be an international arms dealer working with the FBI.

The killer sees their faces, so the FBI places them under the witness protection program. Before they can find permanent places for them, however, the FBI agents put them under the care of an older U.S. marshal and his wife, who’s also the Marshall’s deputy, for a week, on the woodsy outskirts of a very small Wyoming town.

The rest of the movie shows Paul and Meryl comically trying to rekindle the love and trust in their marriage and decide if they really should get back together. Meanwhile, the killer is trying to track them down by bugging Meryl’s office in New York.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? is funny and heartfelt. Some of the comedy involves the Morgans trying to get used to the ways of the folk in rural Wyoming. Other comic bits involve Paul and Meryl trying to get past their own bickering ways.

Though somewhat predictable at times, the movie’s dialogue and acting enliven the story. Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker do a great job as Paul and Meryl. Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen give fine support as the marshal and his gun-loving wife. The great Wilford Brimley, an American icon, plays the curmudgeonly owner of the small Wyoming town’s only restaurant.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? has a strong moral worldview that promotes biblical values like family, marriage, adoption, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The negative consequences of drinking too much and infidelity are also addressed, but in a light manner. Finally, the movie acknowledges the cultural and political differences between the apparently liberal married couple and the more conservative, Republican people in rural Wyoming, but in a comical way where both sides transcend their differences. In fact, the more conservative people actually help the liberal married couple in a couple major ways.

MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children because of too many light profanities, a couple “s” words, and the movie’s subplot of marital infidelity. The movie’s main focus, including its premise, is positive enough to transcend those objectionable elements, however.