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, Leighton Meester, Katie Cassidy

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Selena Gomez	...	Grace / Cordelia Winthrop Scott
Katie Cassidy	...	Emma
Leighton Meester	...	Meg
Cory Monteith	...	Owen
Andie MacDowell	...	Pam
Brett Cullen	...	Robert
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 C. Arpa	...	Security at Grand Belle (as Attila Árpa)
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:

tied feet | high school graduate | 22 year old | 21 year old | 18 year old | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

Hungary USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monte Carlo

Filming Locations:

Voie Georges Pompidou, Paris 1, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,453,944, 3 July 2011

Gross USA:

$23,186,769

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$39,667,665

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, DiNovi Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

20th Century Fox bought the rights to Jules Bass' novel in 1999, three years before it was actually published.

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Goofs

When Amanda is walking to the podium to give her graduation speech, her graduation robe is open. In the next shot when she starts her speech, it is zipped all the way to the top.

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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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Crazy Credits

The title "Monte Carlo" doesn't appear until 31 minutes into the film.

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Connections

Features To Catch a Thief (1955)

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Soundtracks

To Catch a Thief
Written by Lyn Murray
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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.