Monte Carlo (2011)

What a beautiful movie!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

A Masterpiece!

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is basically a romantic comedy of 3 American girls on summer holiday in France finding romance and revealing to themselves who they really are.Missing that tour bus leads to a madcap adventure when one of the girls is mistaken for resembling a British heiress, the latter being quite nasty to say the least.Romance abounds for the three women as they are wined and dined at Monte Carlo where the nasty one was supposed to be.There are some inane moments, but the picture is basically a satisfying one as the girls find adventure by being at the right place at the right time.As for our nasty heiress, she does receive an awakening of what life should be about and that in itself makes this a film worthy of praise.

What is wrong with you people???? I just read the review from the guy that said it had been done before. Duh, can you think of any movie that's NEVER been done before? What a stupid statement to make about such a cute, romantic movie. And for the record, I would love to have this buffalo head show me a movie like this one. Clever, clever story, great writing, great acting, excellent photography, just an all around sweet movie. The girls were especially great and I referred it to ten of my friends who all gave it a thumbs up. So, please, don't listen to that Wlly Nilly and go see this movie. It was my idea of a perfect date movie and my wife loved and my friends loved it. What's not to love. A perfect little romantic comedy.

Unlike some IMDb reviewers I can watch a movie and understand what demographic it is for and enjoy it for that demographic and review it fairly. Obviously Monte Carlo was not written for my demographic but there has been plenty of "Disney" type pre-teen "Chick flicks" that I have thoroughly enjoyed for what they are. Monte Carlo doesn't really fit that bill very well. The movie has a decent, well liked, and popular lead cast, lovely European locations, a funny comedic plot but none of it really takes off. I would have liked to have seen more slapstick laugh out moments and better chemistry with the cast would have made this far better than what it was. I think I expected the film to fit the demographic of pre-teen...12-14 year olds but instead, at best, this is made for 10-12 year olds.Selena Gomez plays her dual roles in the film as down to earth likable Grace, and the uppity, snotty, entitled Cordelia. She actually does a solid job in both roles but she is one of the people I expected more laughs from and that never really happens. Katie Cassidy plays Grace's best friend. I thought she sort of didn't fit in the cast very well. I like Cassidy in certain roles but this one just didn't fit her and she didn't have great chemistry with Gomez. Leighton Meester is okay as Gomez's step-sister. Meester is a great actress but I don't think her character has much depth and she comes across as very unlikable for the most part. The supporting cast including Andie MacDowell and Cory Monteith are okay in their roles but far from noticeable or stand out in their performances. Even the romantic story lines are rather weak because the male romantic leads are completely forgettable.I would imagine that young girls will still get a kick out of the film but it could have been a whole lot more given the positive aspects of the film. I would say that the film's lack of impression was due to co-writer and director Thomas Bezucha lack of experience but he did an excellent job on his previous film "The Family Stone" but I still think this wasn't necessarily the right project for him because I think the script lacked real depth and the execution of the film lacked punch. While there are some fun moments and some amusing laughs, overall this one is definitely avoidable. There are just too many better films for the same demographic. 6/10

I suppose that many people will excuse the extremely low level of quality from Monte Carlo saying stuff such as "What did you expect? It's just a light comedy made for girls". I have two answers to that point of view: 1) There are some movies "for girls", such as St. Trinian's and Mean Girls, which were funny, interesting and very entertaining, because they had solid screenplays, competent performances and good direction. And number 2) That kind of excuse is only useful to insult the target audience of the film, because it tacitly suggests a level of ignorance in the girls which will avoid them to recognize the low quality of a film made for them. So, in summary: crap is crap regardless of the target audience it was made for.The screenplay from Monte Carlo is absolutely hollow and improbable, something which exacerbates the fact that it is totally unfunny and lacking of any ingenuity. Unfortunately, co-screenwriters Thomas Bezucha (who was also the director), April Blair and Maria Maggenti took the easy route, building the story on the cheap structure of a TV sitcom, free of any creativity, surprises and narrative integrity.As for the performances, Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy tried to do their best, but their poorly written characters did not bring them too much to do. Selena Gómez feels listless and not credible at all, at the same time she shows an absolute lack of charisma. In conclusion, I cannot recommend Monte Carlo because it is a horrible film which bored me to tears.