'One for the Money' Movie Top Ten Must See Scenes

So, I've had a lot of time on my hands, as you all know, and I was skimming over the 'OFTM' book just for the hell of it. I came across a scene that raised an interesting question, I thought...One that should be blogged about no less. ;)


I've blogged about which cars should be in the movie, but I really haven't blogged solely about which scenes must be in ‘OFTM’ for me to be a happy girl. So here they are...My top 10, and they aren't in any particular order!

*Spoiler Alert!* Detailed scenes from the book below.

1) Joe Catches Stephanie with his Jeep ~ This scene in the book is where Stephanie is having trouble with her Nova, and she decides that since she confiscated Morelli's keys when she was in his apartment and he wasn't able to drive his shiny new Jeep, she might as well look after it for him. She is driving down the street, and to her complete and utter horror, Joe is on the opposite side of the street, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, checking out Stephanies new ride. He jumps the curb, parks the van, and tries to run up to the car on a red light unsuccessfully to Steph's relief. Joe then ends up calling her on his car phone passionately quizzing her about where she got her shiny new wheels. LOL

2) Shower scene ~ This is after Joe finds out that Stephanie "commandeered" his car, and he is determined to get it back. She renders the Jeep undriveable by taking the distributor cap off and hides in the bushes to wait for him to reclaim his precious property so that she can taze him. Joe's cousin, Mooch, shows up instead and is unable to take the car back. A soggy and disappointed Stephanie goes up to her apartment and hops in the shower to get warm. Joe barges in on her and finds her armed with nothing but a shampoo bottle. His fuse is a little on the short side. After the interrogation ends badly, Joe handcuffs her to the shower rod and leaves her with the phone to call whomever she chooses to free her. She then has no choice but to call Ranger. After some heavy pleading, he comes to her aid. I have it on good authority that this scene made it into the movie, so I can put away my torch and pitchfork....for now.

3) Turkey Murder ~ Mama Plum is up to her matchmaking schemes again and invites a “winner” over to the house for dinner. Stephanie's new profession comes up, and Grandma Mazur in the process of bragging her up overturns her purse and starts cataloging her bounty hunter loot for the timid suitor. Somehow through all the excitement, Granny loads Stephanie's gun and, channeling Annie Oakley, shoots the innocent bird cooked to perfection right in the gumpy. I'm pretty positive this made it onto the movie because in a recent interview, their publicist said that they wanted to give Grandma Mazur, Debbie Reynolds, more face time and even made up a whole new scene for that reason.

4) Pussymobile ~ After Ramirez meets Stephanie and attacks her in the gym, Joe saves her from what could have been a very bad situation. After a proper tongue lashing and a couple of skinned knees, Joe walks her back to her beater Nova, and the car had been decorated Dayglo Pink with the word "pussy" written all over it. After finding out the beautiful piece of artwork is her car, Joe busts up laughing and says "Usually people go with pinstriping and a vanity plate." I would be very disappointed if this doesn't make it onto the movie.

5) Dumpster Diving ~ Joe catches Stephanie tailing his van, and after a knee knocking kiss he plants on her, he takes the keys from the ignition and throws them into a very ripe deli dumpster. After 2 showers and a bonfire of her clothes, she finally managed to get the putrid stench from her hair. I for one hope that this makes it into the movie because it just proves what a stinker Joe can be and riles Stephanie up even more for revenge. Plus it can evoke a hell of a lot of laughter! Can you just imagine KH wading around in a putrid dumpster looking for the keys… using a bread bag to dig through the muck and grumbling a long string of obscenities under her breath. LOL! This is a must have to me!

6) Lonnie Dodd FTA ~ Stephanie finds Lonnie at his house, and after she asks Lonnie, very nicely I might add, to come in and reschedule his court date, he steals her bag with her gun, pushes her off the porch into the mud, and shuts the door on her. Stephanie learns very quickly that not every FTA is as easy as her first drunken piece of cake capture. She has to call Ranger who comes and helps her and gets shot in the process by Stephanie's gun no less. This is Stephanie's first hard FTA and shows how vulnerable and naive and green she is at her new job. It also paints a very good picture of how impossible it is going to be to find the elusive Morelli. It also gives Ranger more screen time for us to appreciate how great his ass looks in those jeans...I mean...er... how skilled Ranger is...although he does end up getting shot. hahaha.

7) Morty Beyers BBQ ~ After Morty gets out of the hospital with a busted appendix, he asks Stephanie for his FTAs back. When Morty is suddenly rendered carless, he tries to steal Morelli's car from Stephanie. Unfortunately for Morty, a busted appendix ended up being the least of his problems. He ends up in tiny little pieces all over the parking lot when a bomb meant for Stephanie stops his career short. If they have Morty Beyers cast in the movie, which they do, I'm pretty sure this scene is going to make it on the big screen. I'm really looking forward to seeing Morty blown to bounty hunter Baco Bits...No offense to Morty of course...I just enjoy a good pyrotechnics show!!

8) Jimmy Alpha Attacks Stephanie ~ Surprise, surprise...Jimmy Alpha is a bad, bad boy!! He breaks in to Stephanie's apartment in order to do the job himself right this time. Stephanie prevails and Alpha gets "riddled with bullets." Now according to John Leguizamo's script, this is a little different in the movie. It sounds like the climax takes place by the meat truck down by the docks. This doesn't bother me too much just because it seems like a lot of the climaxes to Evanovich's books take place in Stephanie's apartment. A change in scenery doesn't bother me all that much. There are plenty of ways to write this climax to make it work, but all I care about is that it doesn't screw up the next scene I want to make it into the movie.

9) Stephanie Takes Joe for a Chilling Ride ~ Joe gets a little crabby when his mystery guy ends up dead in the back of the refrigerator truck, and he has no one to prove his innocence now. He proceeds to inform Stephanie that she will not be receiving her capture money she desperately needs, and he gets a little cocky and lippy in the meantime. Stephanie then locks him in the refrigerator truck being kind enough to turn up the temperature a little so he doesn't catch cold and drives him to he police station to retrieve her capture receipt. Joe’s not too thrilled with this move and tackles Stephanie the minute the truck door is unlocked. They wrestle for a moment and then Joe gets dragged away cursing like a sailor and promising his revenge. I have a feeling this made it into the script just because on a recent interview with John Leguizamo, he says that Stephanie beats him up, beats up her love which could only be Morelli, and also beats up some other guy (Which might just confirm Lonnie Dodd scene)..So here's hoping my rationalizing is on the right track.

10) Flashbacks of Stephanie's unfortunate mishaps, or fortunate...however you want to look at it, with Joe Morelli growing up. ~ I don't know how they are going to write this in the script, but it would be funny if she has a series of little flashbacks remembering her encounters with Joe Morelli growing up...It doesn’t have to be anything distasteful mind you. Maybe just 2 kids walking up to a garage, and the boy (Joe) is explaining to the girl (Steph) the rules of Choo-Choo. He explains that she is the tunnel and he is the train, and then cut to a screaming little Stephanie running out of the garage...Later a teenage Stephanie working behind the bakery counter sees the confident teenage Joe walk up to buy a cannolli with a mischievous grin on his face. Skip to a couple of feet sticking out behind the eclaire case making the outcome obvious. Then last but not least...Stephanie is driving down the road and sees Morelli walking down the sidewalk. Her face could go from surprised to angered determination as you see her swerve the wheel with a big klunk and Morelli bounces off her bumper. LOL

That's my top ten, folks! Do you agree with my choices or are there some other scenes you would like to see? Please comment below. (If anyone has any incite on any of my top ten choices, about whether or not they will make it in the movie...please feel free to confirm or deny this as well. Wink, wink!!