A teenage fantasy trip

Monte Carlo (2011)
Certified: U
Duration: 109 minutes
Directed by: Thomas Bezucha
Starring: Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, Katie Cassidy, Pierre Boulanger, Catherine Tate, Luke Bracey, Cory Monteith, Andie MacDowell, Brett Cullen
KRS release

Selena Gomez, the child star of the hit Disney Channel series The Wizards of Waverly Place, is embarking on her conquest of Hollywood. She has sold over one million albums with her band The Scene; was Unicef’s 2008 Goodwill ambassador; has her own fashion line and is now also launching her own perfume. After voicing stints and a main role in 2010’s Ramona and Beezus, it is Monte Carlo that sees her capitalising on her image. And Monte Carlo turns out to be a better than expected calling card.

Grace (Selena Gomez) has long had a dream of going to Paris. She is about to graduate from high school and has saved enough money from her waitressing job to make her dream come true. Tagging along is her friend Emma (Katie Cassidy) who is older than her and works as a waitress too. Her parents are divorced and her mother Pam (Andie MacDowell) has recently got married to widower Robert (Brett Cullen). Meg (Leighton Meester), Robert’s daughter, has been hit hard by her mother’s death and has cut herself off from social life. Robert wants Grace and Meg to get along and so upgrades Grace’s tickets to first class and Meg gets to join too. This does not bode well since Emma and Meg do not see eye to eye since their high school days.

When in Paris Grace is mistaken for the British, snobby heiress Cordelia (Selena Gomez). Emma and Meg overhear Cordelia planning to escape from her family obligations for a week. Grace is convinced by her friends to take her place and the three live the high class life and are soon off to Monte Carlo.

Emma starts tinkering with the idea of cheating on her boyfriend back home with Prince Domenico (Giulio Berruti) while Meg is soon enchanted by Riley (Luke Bracey), an Australian who is touring Europe. Grace builds an attraction to Theo (Pierre Boulanger), a Frenchman who finds Grace refreshing from the boring socialite girls he usually frequents. Meanwhile, when Cordelia’s aunt Alicia (Catherine Tate) and, later on, Cordelia herself, show up the three girls’ lives will soon be in turmoil.

Appealing mostly to female teenagers, Monte Carlo will go down well as both a romantic comedy and also a mistaken identity movie. The result is a light slice of escapist entertainment that will get the girls swooning and giggling. The film adds nothing new to the already established parameters of the genre; anyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy will know where to join the dots. However, the film is actually better than one would expect and I found myself enjoying the movie; the trio of girls won me over.

Ms Gomez fills the story with her cheery presence and gives the film an overall sheen to it. Her two co-stars complement her well, leading one to think that the feeling of bonhomie the three share on screen is seeping over from real life. Leighton Meester as Meg is quite a find.

As for Ms Gomez’s Hollywood future, the ingredients for her success are there as evidenced from this picture.