Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo
Directed by: Thomas Bezucha
Cast: Selena Gomez as Grace / Cordelia Winthrop Scott
Katie Cassidy as Emma
Leighton Meester as Meg
Cory Monteith as Owen
Catherine Tate as Alicia Winthrop Scott




Rated PG


*The following may contain spoilers*
Every once in a while, there's a movie that just looks too cute to be bad. You see the commercial and smile from the simplistic premise of it all. Monte Carlo is that movie for the summer. Well, Monte Carlo and Winnie the Pooh.

Monte Carlo is about a girl named Grace. Desperate to escape her small Texas town, Grace has been planning and saving for a trip to Europe throughout high school. With graduation over, Grace, accompanied by her best friend Emma and stepsister Meg head out on their tour of France.

Things don't go according to plan however and before long, the girls have been abandoned by their tour while seeing the Eiffel Tower. Lost and wet in the convenient rainstorm, the girls duck into the lobby of a fancy hotel where Grace is mistaken for a British heiress, Cordelia Winthrop Scott and is rushed to her suite. After a night in a massive room and fluffy bed, the girls decide to take Cordelia's place at a charity event that weekend in Monte Carlo. Let the adventures begin!


What I Liked: 
Selena Gomez first came onto the scene in Wizards of Waverly Place, Disney's attempt at Harry Potter. Despite Selena's natural talent, the show constricts her. Mostly because it's Disney. Anyways, I really liked seeing her come alive in this movie. She really does a great job portraying both characters; the sweet and sensitive Grace, as well as the snobby and spoiled Cordelia. It was just really fun to see her getting to stretch her wings and show off her talent.
While Selena shined, credit cannot be denied from her supporting cast. Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy have great chemistry with Selena and each other, even though they're supposed to hate each other. The three of them work really well together and held the whole film together.

Despite the unoriginal plot, Monte Carlo did a good job with keeping it real and fresh. The characters grow and learn things from the experience. It added a good element to the whole film and left you happy with the characters once it's over.

What I Didn't Like: 
As I said in the opening, this movie really was too adorable to be bad. There are the obvious flaws, but most can be overlooked. The only thing that really bothered me would the lack of more Cordelia. Selena really did a great job with that character and it was so out of her normal range that I would have loved to see her in a more prominent role.
The only other thing would be the stress factor. Maybe I just get too into the movies I see, but Monte Carlo really stressed me out. All of the conflict came in about five minutes and just kept escalating. It wasn't done badly, it was just so sudden and slightly intense that I kind of freaked out. No big deal.

Final Thoughts:
Monte Carlo is not a complicated film. Simplistic and fun in both content and execution, there is not a lot to get from it. It will not win any awards or get very high ratings, but they're not going for that. Monte Carlo is simple, summer fun that entertains and pleases and that's really all there is to it.

When Should You See It?
If you're looking for something fun and clean in the theaters, Monte Carlo is perfect and you should go now.
If you have no interest at all, you're okay to wait for the DVD.


Personal Rating: 7 of 10
Plot: 4 of 7