If you can believe that gorgeous Disney superstar —- and Justin Bieber gf -- Selena Gomez might ever be an insecure outsider, you are the perfect audience for "Monte Carlo.”
Also, if you are a 12-year-old girl, you are the perfect audience for "Monte Carlo."
So that makes it easy, really. Anyone who fits the above requirements will love Thomas Bezucha's featherweight fantasy, based on Jules Bass's novel "Headhunters." And anyone who doesn't can at least appreciate that such wholesome entertainment even exists.
Gomez is, if not entirely authentic, perfectly adorable as Grace, an unpopular diner waitress and recent high school grad who's been planning a big trip to Paris. She's going with BFF Emma (Katie Cassidy) and, at her parents' insistence, her uptight stepsis Meg (Leighton Meester).
Alas, the City of Light feels dark and dreary, because they can't afford to do much. But then Grace discovers that she looks exactly like a spoiled British heiress named Cordelia (Gomez again). When the girls overhear that Cordelia's skipping out on a charity ball in Monaco, Grace decides to secretly impersonate her. Soon they're hobnobbing with royalty, falling for first loves, and doing their very best not to get caught.
Director and co-writer Thomas Bezucha shows no particular flair for either of his jobs. But kids are unlikely to focus on the terrible editing, flat visuals, or lack of character development. They'll just see three adorable actresses--and a matching set of equally cute actors--playing dress-up in glossy, wish-fulfillment style.
Meanwhile, chaperones wary of 'tween culture will get their own wish fulfilled: the movie consistently discourages superficial values while promoting charitable attitudes. (Granted, the entire plot revolves around a fraud. But everyone learns to take responsibility for their mistakes.) Equally important, it never undermines its own heroines—a lesson, incidentally, that many grown-up rom-coms have yet to learn. entertainment,monte carlo,preteens and grownups,review,wholesome
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