MONTE CARLO (2011)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Thomas Bezucha
Cast: Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, Katie Cassidy, Cory Monteith, Andie MacDowell, Luke Bracey, Brett Cullen, Pierre Boulanger
RunTime: 1 hr 49 mins
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Rating:  PG
Official Website: http://www.montecarlothemovie.com/

Opening Day: 30 June 2011

Synopsis: Their dream vacation in Paris proving to be an unmitigated dud, three women find the adventure they've been searching for after one of them is mistaken for a rude British heiress and pampered like royalty. Arriving in Paris to find that the City of Lights has lost its luster, a girl, her tightly wound stepsister, and her best friend ditch their tour guide and find themselves drawn into the lavish lobby of a world-class hotel. The next thing they know they're on a posh private jet to Monte Carlo, where romance and excitement await.

Movie Review:

Let’s face it. If all of us could do away with hard work to achieve riches and greatness and success, we would. Unfortunately, the rules of life are such that, for the majority of us who are not born with silver spoons in our mouths, such a thing is on the impossible side. Thank goodness, however, for Hollywood. How else are we able to achieve that feeling of instantaneous change other than through Hollywood’s bag of characters? Boys may have their comic book superheroes, but girls, we have our heiresses.

Peter Parker might have had to endure radioactive venom to achieve his wildest dreams, but all Grace (Selena Gomez) had to do was impersonate her British socialite doppelganger – one Cordelia Winthrop Scott (also Selena Gomez) whom she encountered in a posh Parisian hotel while on a less than exciting high school graduation trip. As if it’s not fun enough to talk in a snooty English accent while acting snooty, it leads her to a detour via private jet, to the capital of Monaco. Yes, to Monte Carlo - the former kingdom of none other than modern history’s most famous instant heiress - Princess Grace Kelly. Upon touchdown, fake heiress Grace is automatically given full access to a world of bling, bottomless wardrobe cases and big hotel suites. She even gets herself a handsome French-accented love interest.

Opting to shoot on location in Paris and Monaco is a great move on the producers’ part as it sets the warm, breezy feel of the movie. Like summer air, the movie is fun, light and full of frivolity. In fact it is too full of frivolity that to put any thought to it would put the brakes on the enjoyment process. As Grace, her stepsister, Meg (Leighton Meester) and her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy) bounce through the ultimate modern girl adventure, even the most mindless teenybopper is able to spot the plot contrivances from a continent away – if he or she is not too star-strucked by the teenybopper favourites acting in this movie. Other than the mentioned actresses, Glee’s Corey Monteith is in this one too acting as Emma’s boyfriend, Owen.

Back to the plot contrivances… How come the girls’ passports were not checked when they flew into Monte Carlo? Yes sure, this Cordelia Winthorp Scott might be rich, but even the rich cannot skip sticky customs procedures, no? Why was real Cordelia’s aunt, amongst her social circle, the only person to sense that something was wrong with fake Cordelia? Why did Owen not just try calling the other two girls on their phones when he couldn’t get through to Emma instead of flying all the way to Europe to play detective? And why did the police not treat a crime of impersonation as a real crime of impersonation? (Yes spoiler alert, she gets caught in the end, but hey what were you expecting?)

To list down all of the too-convenient parts of the plot would be quite unfair because it is obvious that the movie is no Oscar contender. But, it would have been more enjoyable if this teen chick flick was closer to the realism of adult chick flicks than the fantasy of a magical Disney fairy tale.

Movie Rating:

(Get a Chihuahua, put on your social tiaras and suspend your logic)

Reviewed by Siti Nursyafiqa