Montana is a woman who loves love. She is desperate to find Mr. Right and get married. Not necessarily because she wants it, but because her mother had drilled into her from childhood that finding a man and having a family was an absolute must. So she and her co-worker/friends devise a plan to try and reignite a spark with some old flames to see if any of them are truly The One.
It’s actually taken me some time to sit down and write about Baggage Claim! First things first – I enjoyed the cast quite a bit. There’s a lot of talent here, and I think the actors elevate an otherwise uninspired script. As Montana, Paula Patton does nothing to distinguish this character from the others she’s played. She is a starry-eyed romantic looking for a man and, at times, comes across almost like an old-school Disney princess who does nothing but wait around for Prince Charming.
Baggage Claim was released in 2013, but it feels more dated than that. The entire premise centers on Montana finding a man to marry. I could get on board if it were just Montana wanting to find a date for her sister’s wedding to keep her mom off her back, but marriage?
She meets up with several exes, hoping they’re the One, but each ends in disaster. Well… all but one. And as Montana rearranges her life to coincidentally be in the same places as these guys, her BFF down the hall, Will, is clearly the right guy for her. Nearly all romantic comedies follow a predictable formula, but Baggage Claim doesn’t even attempt to subvert the norm in any way.
Bright spots! Jenifer Lewis is Catherine, Montana’s judgmental mother, who has been married several times. She may have a very outdated view of a woman’s place in the world, but Lewis is still fun to watch. Adam Brody and Jill Scott play Montana’s friends and fellow flight attendants who book her flights with her exes. They probably have the funniest lines in the film, and their bickering is more entertaining than Montana’s quest for love.
This would probably work for someone looking for a fluffy, mindless rom-com romp. But Montana’s quest for true love grows old quickly without much else to carry it.
Watched: 01/24/2022
Notable Song: In Love With Love by Nikki Leonti
