Slap Her, She's French! (2002)

A French foreign-exchange student comes to a small Texas high school, befriends a classmate, and practically takes over her life.

Director:

Melanie Mayron

Writers:

Lamar Damon, Robert Lee King

Stars:

Piper Perabo, Jane McGregor, Michael McKean

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Piper Perabo	...	Genevieve Le Plouff
Jane McGregor	...	Starla Grady
Trent Ford	...	Ed Mitchell
Julie White	...	Bootsie Grady
Brandon Smith	...	Arnie Grady
Jesse James	...	Randolph Grady
Nicki Aycox	...	Tanner Jennings
Alexandra Adi	...	Ashley Lopez
Matt Czuchry	...	Kyle Fuller
Cristen Coppen	...	Doreen Gilmore
Michael McKean	...	Monsieur Duke
Mary Portser	...	Kimmy Sue Sprinkle
Katherine Cortez	...	Lurlene Haskell
Jerry Cotton	...	Sheriff Flinkman
Kirk Sisco	...	News Contest Judge

Storyline

A French foreign exchange student, named Genevieve, comes to a small town in Texas to attend a local high school where she shacks up with the school's popular head cheerleader, Starla, and her parents. But Starla soon learns that this French girl is not only smart, attractive, and naive, but quite conniving when Geneviere, with no social life of her own, begins to take over Starla's, starting with stealing the affections her parents, her friends and Starla's boyfriend. When Starla is forced to quit the cheerleading squad after getting some bad grads, Genevieve moves in to take her place. When Starla figures out that Genevieve deliberately set it up by giving her bad tutoring to fail all those classes, she begins an all-out personal war against Genevieve to take back her social life. But Genevieve is anticipating exactly that type of response from Starla and soon turns everyone, including Starla's friends and family, against her by playing the poor victim and making it appear that ...

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Plot Keywords:

french | cheerleader | exchange student | high school | texas | 

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Taglines:

Miss Perfect is about to meet her match.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor, drug content and language

Details

Country:

Germany UK USA

Language:

English French Spanish Italian

Release Date:

7 February 2002 (Germany)

Also Known As:

She Gets What She Wants

Filming Locations:

Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$482,575 (Germany), 8 February 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bandeira Entertainment, Constantin Film, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 2. Produktions KG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 84 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actor Michael Weston originally had a starring role.

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Goofs

The close-ups on the football field during the game show the game being played on Astro Turf. The aerials show real grass.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Starla Grady: [in a jail cell; voice-over] We're all capable of doing bad things. Lord knows I've done my share. Things I'm truly ashamed of. But should my life, so young and full of sweet promise, be tragically cut down before it ever had a chance to shine? If I ever get out of her, as God is my witness, somebody's gonna pay. Or as the great German philosopher Fred Nitsche once said: "that which does not kill us, is gonna wish it had," because we are about to Fed ex it's sorry ass back to skank ...

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Crazy Credits

No French people were harmed during the making of this film.

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Alternate Versions

The USA DVD version runs 88 minutes which is shorter than the original version. The TV network version, although edited with some scenes cut, has additional scenes and extended scenes which include a longer version of the opening 'Beef' beauty pa gent with the dance interrupted by Doreen protesting beef, as well as extended dressing room scenes between Starla, Ashley and Tanner. Also cut from the DVD is the part of Kimmy Sue introducing Tanner, the beauty finalist, first ahead of Ashley who mumbles her response to the questions. An extended scene of Starla talking to Geneieve in her bedroom about her desire to become a TV star.

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Connections

Spoofs Badlands (1973)

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Soundtracks

All Night Long
Written by Cricket Taylor / Linda Garner / Dirk Douglas
Performed by Cricket Taylor

User Reviews

Silly but Fun

She Gets What She Wants, also known as "Slap Her, She's French," this little movie is about a solipsistic Texas high-school cheerleader named Starla (Jane McGregor), whose family takes in a foreign exchange student from France named Genevieve (Piper Perabo). The plot then devolves into a less subtle version of Mean Girls (2004) with the Genevieve becoming popular at school, stealing the affections of the family and taking Starla's place on the cheer- leading squad. Will young Starla be able to take her social life back or will the conniving Genevieve successfully ruin her future.

This movie was released overseas mere months before the invasion of Iraq and wasn't given a TV release in the United States until 2005. By that time freedom-fries were all the rage and Franco-hatred was on the rise. The creators probably felt there was finally a market for this unfairly shelved movie. Thing is this movie is less about Americans hating on France's stance on Iraq than it is a sardonic and satiric look at American culture told from an outsider's perspective. Starla, our protagonist is so insulated to the trappings of American life that she doesn't realize there's something very off about Genevieve. The final reveal at the end of the film only reinforces that idea that our culture as a whole conditions us to be self-centered, confrontational and petty. Even if that comes at the cost of our reputation. Now, in 2015 we've stopped eating freedom-fries but there's not a chance in hell we're eating humble pie.