The problem with Disney Channel stars like Selena Gomez is they're a piece of product placement themselves. They almost come branded with a Disney logo on their forehead, and they present themselves like Disney is always watching them, making sure they maintain the "pretty-girl-who-is-always-clean" persona every one of their actresses has.
Speaking of Disney Channel, I'm curious why this film was so special it had to go theatrical. This is Disney Channel, ABC Family, TV show movie quality. Not summer blockbuster quality. Nothing in this film is remotely special for it to go theatrical. Some points I was trying to pick and choose where commercials would've gone. This will likely end up on the network sometime in 2012. I'm sure parents might be forced by their eight year olds to watch this and I'm sure they'll think "I'm glad we didn't have to pay money to see this in the theaters." Monte Carlo is about Grace (Gomez), a teenage girl who has just graduated High School, and plans to go on a big trip to Paris. She's been saving money for this trip for a while, but her step-dad (Cullen) announces at the dinner table that he has paid for Grace, her friend Emma (Cassidy), and Grace's half sister Meg (Meester). The three girls go off to their destination, and realize soon after that the trip has been a bust. That is until Grace is mistaken for Cordelia Winthrop-Scott (also played by Gomez), a British heiress. So the three girls now travel to Monte Carlo where they are living someone else's life.
No doubt that little girls still amused by Disney Channel's antics will find this film perfectly acceptable, and Selena Gomez to be a role-model. For someone like me, this isn't the kind of film I find good or unique. We also get contrived love stories for each of the three girls, and this winds up feeling more like Sex and the City than a Disney Channel film.
The message is "be yourself, not someone else" as if we hadn't heard it before, the soundtrack boasts bubblegum pop much like every other teenage film, and by the end of the film nothing is learned from the girls or even hinted that they even found what they did was wrong. They suffer no consequences. So instead of telling us to "be ourselves," Disney is possibly saying "go ahead and lie about who you are and fake your identity, the consequences won't be as serious as long as you say you learned something." Most illogical.
Monte Carlo's problem doesn't stem from the three leads. They are beautiful women with lots of potential. The problem is that this is nothing short of cliché, nothing shy of Disney, and the fact that this doesn't attempt to morph its characters into recognizable human beings. I'm hoping one day Selena Gomez will ditch her Disney Channel persona, and hopefully, take on an acting career filled with drama roles and very heartfelt comedies. Something of Judd Apatow maybe. But, as of now, she is stuck advertising for a network that lost its touch many, many years ago.
Starring: Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, and Katie Cassidy. Directed by: Thomas Bezucha.
Speaking of Disney Channel, I'm curious why this film was so special it had to go theatrical. This is Disney Channel, ABC Family, TV show movie quality. Not summer blockbuster quality. Nothing in this film is remotely special for it to go theatrical. Some points I was trying to pick and choose where commercials would've gone. This will likely end up on the network sometime in 2012. I'm sure parents might be forced by their eight year olds to watch this and I'm sure they'll think "I'm glad we didn't have to pay money to see this in the theaters." Monte Carlo is about Grace (Gomez), a teenage girl who has just graduated High School, and plans to go on a big trip to Paris. She's been saving money for this trip for a while, but her step-dad (Cullen) announces at the dinner table that he has paid for Grace, her friend Emma (Cassidy), and Grace's half sister Meg (Meester). The three girls go off to their destination, and realize soon after that the trip has been a bust. That is until Grace is mistaken for Cordelia Winthrop-Scott (also played by Gomez), a British heiress. So the three girls now travel to Monte Carlo where they are living someone else's life.
No doubt that little girls still amused by Disney Channel's antics will find this film perfectly acceptable, and Selena Gomez to be a role-model. For someone like me, this isn't the kind of film I find good or unique. We also get contrived love stories for each of the three girls, and this winds up feeling more like Sex and the City than a Disney Channel film.
The message is "be yourself, not someone else" as if we hadn't heard it before, the soundtrack boasts bubblegum pop much like every other teenage film, and by the end of the film nothing is learned from the girls or even hinted that they even found what they did was wrong. They suffer no consequences. So instead of telling us to "be ourselves," Disney is possibly saying "go ahead and lie about who you are and fake your identity, the consequences won't be as serious as long as you say you learned something." Most illogical.
Monte Carlo's problem doesn't stem from the three leads. They are beautiful women with lots of potential. The problem is that this is nothing short of cliché, nothing shy of Disney, and the fact that this doesn't attempt to morph its characters into recognizable human beings. I'm hoping one day Selena Gomez will ditch her Disney Channel persona, and hopefully, take on an acting career filled with drama roles and very heartfelt comedies. Something of Judd Apatow maybe. But, as of now, she is stuck advertising for a network that lost its touch many, many years ago.
Starring: Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, and Katie Cassidy. Directed by: Thomas Bezucha.