Poppy (Roberts) is a spoiled rich Malibu teen who has gone too far after playing an over-the-top prank and making her dad (Quinn) snapped. Thus, deciding to send her to an English boarding school for girls. She is, of course, taken in as an outsider, becoming Harriet's (King), the School Head Girl, greatest nemesis in mere seconds. But the headmistress (Richardson) really would like to help her mend her ways. She bonds with her roommates (Nixon, Temple, Wu and Cocker), after a rough start and they agree to help her get expelled so that she could go back home. Of course, cliché as it may sound, these friendship and a crush on the headmistress' son, Freddie (Pettyfer), give her second thoughts.
I can say that this move is like Mean Girls, except the girls aren't as mean. We get an American girl who's ignorant about all-thing Brit (and the other way around). Poppy came to the school overdressed, and thought that somebody will carry her bags for her, and was completely oblivious about the school hierarchy. You might think this is another fish-out-of-the-water type of film, but it's more than that.
The movie is witty, fun, honest, and slightly intelligent enough to make it watchable. It's nothing new, but it's pretty entertaining.
As the movie progresses, we see the character, mostly Poppy, develops. We get to learn why she is this "wild child" in the opening scene, and why she's so mean and ignorant about other people.
It all get slightly predictable towards the end...everything comes crashing down, Poppy's friendship is heading for breaking point, Freddie is angry with what Poppy has done, and she is on the brink of being kicked out of the school. So she only gets on chance to make everything alright again. School movies will do better without this kind of scenes. Anyway, the ending is quite emotional and touching, it'll make up for the rest of the clichéd trip you take since the start of the movie.
