The Great Mom Swap (1995 TV Movie) User Reviews

Why don't they make more teen movies like this?!!!!

[menaka · 8/10 · 18 January 2002]

The movie wasn't exciting nor enormously witty....but I liked it,I liked it a lot!The story is basically about two girls,who are intense rivals and their mums well they were intense rivals too,as a matter of fact they still are.Coming from two different worlds when they have to switch homes and thus families as a school punishment the fun begins!Sid Caeser was great and so was Schellhardt,the chemistry between her and Kavovit was just perfect.No complicated plot twists or unexpected endings,but if you are looking for a nice enjoyable teen movie sans violence or swearing pick this one!!

One of those 90s classics

[tlharrison-59546 · 6/10 · 27 July 2022]

One of those movies you probably saw at least once or twice on tv if you grew up in the 90s. It's not a masterpiece but it has its charm and is worth a watch.

The best teen movie

[the_shadow_guard · 10/10 · 13 January 2004]

Not all teen's lives are full of gross-out occurrences, incredibly beautiful women who are obviously too old to be in high school, or losing virginity, but on seeing the most popular teen flicks that are released into theaters, you wouldn't know it.

This movie, unfortunately, is made for TV and not nearly as accessible as other teen movies, yet it has the best combination of both realism and fiction. On the side of realism, the girls in this movie are not supermodels, but cute, interested in school and activities, flirt with boys, and are actual teenagers. One is an upper-middle class teen living with her parents and siblings in a large house. The other is a lower-middle class girl living with her mother and Italian, maternal grandfather (the wonderful as always Sid Caesar) by the deli where they work. Both girls feel a mixture of being happy in their own type of living, but feeling jealous and curious of how the other lives. After pulling too many pranks on each other, their punishment--and I think this is where fiction sets in--is to live in each other's houses, obey each other's parents, and see what life is like on the other side.

Maybe this doesn't happen in real life, but I'd really have loved to be the poor girl moving into the beautiful big house where I find out that the girl I'm taking the place of has a hunky brother who is actually mature enough to show his attraction for me without constantly trying to get me into bed.

Funnily enough, I also envied the rich girl, simply because I would sure love to spend some time around Sid Caesar.

All movies have some amount of fantasy, but this is as close to everyday life adventure as you might get. Wish I was a teenager again.

One of the really great "teen" movies, in the tradition of John Hughes.

[Movie_Girl · 23 April 2000]

I myself am a teen, and I thought this movie was actually a really good "teen" movie, even though (or maybe because) the characters don't really kiss that much or swear. It had good acting, and their was really nice and genuine chemistry between Terry (Mary Kate Schellhardt) and David (Andrew Kavovit). In most movies nowadays, characters who are supposed to be "in like" or have crushes on each other, just aren't convincing. They don't usually have the look many people get when talking to their crushes, you know, a slight blush, a big smile, things like that. That's not the only reason this movie was good though. It had a good plot and it didn't use pointless swearing to make it more dramatic. Sure sometimes the plot did get a little slow, but overall the movie was pretty good.

Perfect Teen Romance

[FemmeBikerFaery · 2 May 2003]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This is such a wonderfully romantic movie. They don't sale it! So I waited for it to come on T.V and am now the proud owner of a very scrambled version that I watch over and over again. The film is about two girl that are 15: Terry and Karen. Terry is middle class to poor, she is stuck in that tomboy zone, even though she has grown into a beauty, her father passed away and now she lives with her grandfather-played by the great Cid Caesar-and her mom-Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore-at a deli they own. Karen is rich, she has two stuch up friends, and they like to dress alike?? Her parents are very busy, but they have a good marriage. She has a little sister and an older brother who sort of wishes he wasn't so rich and could be some mysterious person in black sitting at a coffee house reading the Crucible. And so Karen and Terry are rivals. They both are secretly jealous of what eachother is about, and think the other one gets a 'free ride' through life. After years of pulling pranks on eachother, Terry accidentally goes too far. Instead her prank gets the whole school shut down. Of course the Principle knows who did it, and so he decided to expel them. Easier said than done. Karens parents think she shouldn't have been expelled because her prank wasn't the one that shut the school down; Terry's mother thinks that her daughter was just defending herself and can't afford to lose any school. So a probation officer is brought in and gives them two options: A Pea Farm, full of hard labor, OR: They swap families for a month and learn to see life through the other ones eyes. Well you can guess which one gets chosen. A lot goes one, Karen loses her so-called best friends because her status is demoted from technically being 'poor' now. Terry is now teased more so for being on the rich side of town and riding the 'rich' school bus. But the best part of this film is the relationship that surprisingly forms between Terry and Karen's older brother David. David besides being so handsome, and smart. He sees something about Terry, like her sense of humor and I'm guessing her natural beauty that he just can't resist. The chemistry between these two people is amazing. And you just know that they'll one day get married. Prom ensues, with the witch of the highschool pulling a prank on Terry, and finally, a freindship and complete understanding of eachother evolves. Who knew? I LOVE THIS FILM!!!