In this remake of the 1987 classic of the same name, “Overboard” follows the story of a hardworking, single mom named Kate (Anna Farris) and a rich, Mexican playboy named Leonardo (Eugenio Derbez). The two opposites meet when Kate is assigned by the carpet cleaning company she works for, to clean the carpets of Leonardo’s highly expensive yacht, otherwise known as his “birthday present”, which has a net worth of 8 million dollars. When snotty, selfish Leo oversteps by asking her to do chores that do not involve cleaning the carpet, Kate calls him out for being a complete jerk, who cares about nothing besides money. With this, Leo throws Kate and her equipment into the water, refusing to pay her.

The following night, Leo becomes very drunk and falls off of his yacht, only to show up on the shore the next morning with all of his memory lost. Kate hears about the incident and uses it to her advantage by rescuing him from the hospital and pretending to be his “wife.” In doing this, she makes Leo work hard every day to pay back all of the money that he owes her, as well as doing some other helpful, household duties. Soon, Leo, who has never worked a day in his privileged life, slowly turns into a responsible, caring man and becomes a wonderful, “pretend” husband and father as well.

The best word to describe this movie would be: cute. It is not a great movie, as told by its terribly “rotten” Rotten Tomatoes score, but overall, it is very cute. By cute I mean that it is very enjoyable, especially for mostly the whole family. 

Fans of the original will probably enjoy this reboot just as much, if not more. The gender-reversed roles add a more comedic affect to the overall vibe of the plot, as well as the cross-cultural elements in the film, which keep it refreshing and exciting.

Would I go see this movie again? No. Would I buy it on DVD? Probably not. But this film does work its given purpose as a simple, cheesy romantic comedy. You can watch this kind of film like a critic and find that almost everything about it has issues or you can take it for what it is worth, (a senseless rom-com), and enjoy yourself like everyone else in the theater.

There is always that line between being a critic and being an audience member that can be easily blurred. But, it is important to watch movies as if you were the specific audience it is targeting. 

For example, me, and all of the other people in the theater with me, were seeing this movie on Mother’s Day. This movie’s central plot has to do with family; mothers in particular. So, due to its storyline and also its release date, this film is very obviously targeted towards families. Therefore, if you watch it just for laughs with the family, you’re going to receive at least a little entertainment value out of it.

All in all, “Overboard” is an extremely sweet, but somewhat juvenile flick that will be enjoyable in the moment, but you will probably never think anything of it ever again once you leave the theater.