One for the Money

One For The Money is a 2012 comedy film starring Katherine Heigl, based upon the book by the same name by Janet Evanovich.

Heigl plays Stephanie Plum, a born-and-bred Joisey girl who finds herself in financial straits after being fired from her job as manager of the lingerie department at Macy's. After being turned down for a variety of demeaning jobs, she blackmails her cousin Vinnie, a bail-bondsman, into letting her recover some of his bail-jumpers for him.

Taking in small-time quarries for the money, Plum has her sights set on the $50,000 bounty for the capture of her ex-boyfriend, vice cop and murder suspect Joe Morelli. As she gathers evidence to track Morelli, she suspects he may not actually be guilty.

Tropes used in One for the Money include:

• Backhanded Compliment: Stephanie seems to be a magnet for them.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Stephanie and Morelli.
• Big Eater: Stephanie manages to stay thin and toned despite eating nothing but bad carbs and fat.
• Bounty Hunter: A career path Stephanie takes up out of desperation, and isn't very good at. She gets better.
• California Doubling: The movie takes place in Trenton, New Jersey, but was filmed in Pittsburgh.
• The Casanova: Half the women in Jersey "sold [Morelli] a cannoli".
• Fan Service: Katherine Heigl in the shower, and later stripped down to her bra so Morelli can attach a wire.
• Hopeless Suitor: Bernie Kuntz.
• Kissing Cousins: Stephanie blackmailed her cousin Vinnie into giving her the job because he tried to make out with her at her wedding.
• One-Scene Wonder: Fisher Stevens as Morty Beyers, the equally-pathetic bounty hunter Stephanie is filling for. He gets blown up at the end of the scene.
• Naked People Are Funny: One of Stephanie's quarries is her elderly neighbor who refuses to wear clothes...ever.
• Shower of Awkward: When Morelli barges in on Stephanie in the shower. And later, when Ranger comes to unlock the handcuffs tethering her to the curtain rod.
• Supreme Chef: Morelli, who whips up an amazing omelet using only the leftovers in Stephanie's fridge.
• Took a Level in Badass: Stephanie isn't very impressive at the end of the movie, but is leaps and bounds ahead of where she started.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Stephanie, at least at first.