I’ve said it before and I’m not afraid to say it again – Hollywood has pretty much run out of ideas. Most films that are released are either sequels or remakes or book adaptations or hybrids of other movies. I’m going to say that “Monte Carlo” is a mix of “Big Business” and “White Chicks”. I’ve seen comparisons between “Monte Carlo” and “Model Behavior” but I disagree because the switcheroo in “Model Behavior” was intentional, while in “Monte Carlo” it was accidental. (Don’t know what “Model Behavior” is?? Check it out on imdb, here)
Grace (Selena Gomez) has just graduated from high school. She’s been saving money for her dream trip to Paris for the past four years. Now she is about to take her fabulous vacation with her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy), a 20-year old waitress who wears “hoochie heels” and is dating local boy Owen (Cory Monteith from “Glee”). Too bad Grace’s stepfather is insisting that Grace’s stepsister Meg (Leighton Meester, who was much less scary in this movie than in “The Roommate” thank goodness!!) join the girls on their vacation. Grace and Meg aren’t very sisterly towards each other, and Grace and Emma pretty much resent Meg’s intrusion into their trip.
Once in Paris, the girls join a tour that truly is “whirlwind tour” of Paris. They move through the Louvre so fast, I’m amazed they saw anything at all!! (Anyone who’s been to the Louvre knows that you need a long time to really see everything there). And as it always happens in the movies, the accommodations are not what they seem, as their room is dirty and small and ugly. But hey, they do have their own bathroom (unlike the Griswolds). On the second day of their tour the girls are left behind, stranded at the Eiffel Tower, unable to make it back to the tour or their crappy hotel room. They then get in a tiff about the tour bus leaving and Grace feels terrible because she was the one who planned the whole trip and now it’s all ruined. At this point, I got a little annoyed, because there are always tons of taxis near the Eiffel Tower, so I’m not sure why they didn’t just get in a taxi to rejoin the tour group, but they didn’t. They ended up traipsing through the sudden rainstorm and popping into the lobby of a fancy hotel to dry off.
Also at the fancy hotel is Cordelia Winthrop Scott (Selena Gomez again), a spoiled British heiress who is a tabloid favorite due to her outrageous behavior. She is angry because she is supposed to fly to Monte Carlo to do a charity event but she would rather go off and party. While the girls are drying off in the bathroom, Cordelia enters and Emma and Meg are stunned by her striking resemblance to Grace (Grace is crying in a bathroom stall at the time and didn’t see Cordelia). Once Cordelia is gone, the hotel workers mistake Grace for Cordelia and show her to her lavish suite, complete with a multitude of suitcases containing all kinds of fancy clothing, jewelry, and makeup galore. So they decide to lie down on the posh bed and rest for a few minutes. Next thing they know, it’s morning and they attempt to sneak out of the hotel, until the hotel employees inform “Cordelia” that her plane is ready to take her to Monte Carlo. The girls decide to go along with it, and a case of mistaken identity has now become impersonation, as Grace now takes Cordelia’s place at the charity event in Monte Carlo.
Cordelia’s escort is Theo (Pierre Boulanger), whose father is in charge of the charity that is holding the event (the charity raises money to build schools for needy children). At first Theo is unhappy that Cordelia is supposed to be there but then she grows on him (of course, because she is really Grace!!). The girls thought they would only be in Monte Carlo briefly, but they discover they will be there for a few days, until the big charity auction, to which Cordelia is donating a multi-million dollar necklace (it was gorgeous and sparkly, all diamonds and sapphires!!).
Along the way, the three girls grow up and learn more about themselves and their relationships with each other and with the boys in their lives. Since Emma did not leave Owen on such good terms, he decides to fly to Paris to surprise her. And that’s where the “White Chicks” comparison comes in, as he sees the girls in the newspaper at the charity event (just like how the Wilson sisters discovered they were being impersonated) and knows where they are. And since they’re in the newspaper, someone else spots the picture and discovers what is really going on.
My complaints about this movie were that the girls never appeared to return to their original crappy hotel to retrieve their belongings (wouldn’t they want their stuff??) and the lack of consistency in the character’s accents. Emma’s Texas accent faded in and out, and when Grace was impersonating Cordelia her British accent faded in and out as well (although I’m not sure if that was intentional or not). Oh, and they also kind of glorified identity theft, but they didn’t do it on purpose (not really) and they tried to help a charity, and they did come clean in the end.
Overall, “Monte Carlo” was a fun, fluffy, fantasy confection (not a dirty fantasy, but a happy, fairy-tale fantasy). I probably would have done what those girls did if given the chance. Who wouldn’t want to live like the rich and famous, even for only a few days??
