Katherine Heigl’s Return To The Big Screen Has Her Playing A Crazy Ex-Wife

It's almost 2017, but Hollywood is still relying on the "psycho ex-girlfriend" trope. If Fatal Attraction, Swimfan, Obsessed, and Vanilla Sky weren't enough to round out the category, we've got another one to add to the list, and this one looks like a real gem. The trailer for Unforgettable just dropped, and if this movie lives up to its title, it seems like it will be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. The project seems promising, especially given that it is directed by a woman (Denise Di Novi in her directorial debut, though she has served as producer on 35 films), has a female scriptwriter (Christina Hodson), and features a predominantly female cast, including Rosario Dawson and Heigl in her return to the big screen. On paper, it checks all the boxes...right? But the trailer is a sight to behold, and we're not sure if this is going to be prime guilty-pleasure viewing or just another example of lazy, sexist Hollywood storytelling. Heigl plays Tessa, an Ivanka Trump look-alike whose ex-husband has remarried a woman named Julia (played by Dawson). Julia's just trying to navigate the murky new wife/new stepmother role when Tessa appears as the batshit ex-wife on a mission to destroy her replacement. Aside from the fact that we clearly have not moved past the "manipulative and mentally unstable ex-wife" archetype yet, this film marks Heigl's first leading film role since 2012. She famously fell out of favor in Hollywood after earning a reputation for being "difficult," paired with a few scathing remarks she made about her roles in Grey's Anatomy and Knocked Up. The actress went from being a romantic comedy queen to the star of kitty litter commercials. We were hoping Heigl would somehow find her way back to the spotlight in a triumphant way, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem like this will be it. On the bright side, it kind of looks like a big-budget Lifetime movie, if that's what you're into — no judgement! Check out the trailer for Unforgettable, below. The movie hits theaters April 21, 2017.