Monte Carlo (2011)

Three young women vacationing in Paris find themselves whisked away to Monte Carlo after one of the girls is mistaken for a British heiress.

Director:

Thomas Bezucha

Writers:

Thomas Bezucha (screenplay), April Blair (screenplay),

Stars:

Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy, Leighton Meester

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Selena Gomez	...	Grace Bennett / Cordelia Winthrop Scott
Katie Cassidy	...	Emma Perkins
Leighton Meester	...	Mary 'Meg' Kelly
Cory Monteith	...	Owen Andrews
Andie MacDowell	...	Pam Bennett-Kelly
Brett Cullen	...	Robert Kelly
Amanda Fairbank-Hynes	...	Amanda
Joe Camp III	...	Carl at Diner
Luke Bracey	...	Riley
Valérie Lemercier	...	Madame Valerie
Franck de la Personne	...	Manager at Grand Belle
Máté Haumann	...	Concierge at Grand Belle
István Göz	...	Doorman at Grand Belle
Attila Árpa	...	Security at Grand Belle
Joël Lefrançois	...	Manager at Le Petite Sommeil

Storyline

A young woman, her uptight step sister and her best friend use their savings for a long anticipated dream trip to Paris, which turns out to be a big disappointment. When they decide to take a break from their lousy tour and duck into the lobby of a luxury hotel, one of them is mistaken for a spoiled British heiress. Before they get the chance to reveal their true identities they are wrapped up in misadventures during a vacation to Monte Carlo instead.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | monte carlo | young woman | cell phone | misunderstanding | 

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Taglines:

She's having the time of someone else's life.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Country:

USA Hungary

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Princesa por accidente

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,588,318 (USA) (1 July 2011)

Gross:

$23,179,303 (USA) (23 September 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, DiNovi Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The production spent four days filming in Paris and two weeks filming in Monaco. The rest of the filming took place in Hungary with Budapest doubling for Paris and Monte Carlo. Raleigh Studios Budapest was used to substitute for Monte Carlo's Hotel de Paris for the filming.

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Goofs

When Grace is given the breakfast order at the beginning of the film the eggs on the plate are crispy and burnt. Yet when she hands the food to the customer the eggs are clearly different from the ones on the plate before.

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Quotes

Grace: I finally meet a guy who likes me for me. And I'm not even me.

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Connections

Referenced in 2011 MTV Movie Awards (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Keep your head"
Written by ' Julian De Martino and Katie White '
Performed by ' The Ting Tings '

User Reviews

All it's missing is a narration by its female lead

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.