Monte Carlo (Blu-ray)
Lincee Ray
November 16th, 2011
Grace (Selena Gomez) has just graduated from high school and is about to embark on a week-long vacation with her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy) and her step-sister Meg. The trio are headed across the pond to check “visit Paris” off of the recent graduate’s bucket list.
Her dream trip turns out to be spearheaded by a bossy woman in a red suit with a thick French accent waving the country’s flag as she hurries a large crowd through the Louvre in a brisk walk. The living arrangements are less than stellar and Grace begins to feel the resentment of her two travel mates when they miss the tour bus and are stuck walking back to their motel in the pouring rain. While Grace pouts in the bathroom stall, Meg and Emma overhear British heiress Cordelia (also played by Gomez) ditch her royal plans in lieu of a quick trip to visit friends. The resemblance is uncanny, so they convince their friend to step into the expensive shoes of Cordelia so they can live it up in Paris as they always envisioned since they were kids. Ironically, one of the first orders of business is to hop a private jet to Monte Carlo. Au revoir Paris!
It wouldn’t be a true tween romance if all three didn’t find true love and learn something about their character in the process of seven days. But that’s neither here nor there. I think that the story would be well received by anyone who isn’t old enough to drink yet. There’s glamor, there’s fashion, there’s jet setting, there’s love and there are three strikingly handsome yet different male leads to hold the attention of any female. Especially the Australian Riley played by Luke Bracey.
I think Gomez has done a really great job making the transition from Disney television to the big screen. She’s lovable, a decent actress and if none of the jealous Justin Bieber fans get to her first, I think she’ll be around in a Miley Cyrus kind of capacity. Cassidy was the comic relief for sure, but I was confused by her role at first. She looks years older than Grace, yet she plays her best friend. I got over it pretty quickly. Meg has the most depressing storyline of the group, but she’s with the hottest guy, so my interest remained peaked when she was on the screen.
Bezucha did an amazing job capturing the feel of both Paris and Monte Carlo. They were absolutely gorgeous. Again, I thought it was random that Grace had dreamed her entire life of going to Paris and when she finally got there, she ditched it in 48 hours for the sunny beaches of Monte Carlo. It was another plot detail that I chose to get over quickly.
MONTE CARLO will certainly not supersede any of the young girl flicks that are notoriously popular at social gatherings, but I’d be willing to bet that it does make a few slumber party appearances in the next year or two.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: 1080p High Definition: Monte Carlo was gorgeous. The beach scenes were particularly beautiful. They did an amazing job on the hotel, which I learned in the bonus feature was actually a set. There was a ton of attention to detail.
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1: The audio was pretty good. French sounds so pretty no matter how you watch it, but it was particularly charming in Blu-ray.
Deleted Scenes (6:46): I thought a few of these were pretty good. Cordelia’s fate should have been included in the movie. Very funny.
Monte Carlo Match Up (8:39): Answering a series of questions about your life determines which Monte Carlo character you would be. For the record, I was Emma.
Ding-Dang Delicious: The Boys of Monte Carlo (5:45): The American boy, the aristocrat and the drifter. I watched this one twice. Is that wrong?
Monte Carlo Couture (6:00): All the different dresses compared with the different girls and their personalities.
Jet Setter’s Dream (6:09): The director talks about filming in Budapest, Paris and Monte Carlo. They shut down the Eiffel Tower for filming one morning and all cried at the beautiful sunset.
Backstage Pass (3:48): GLEE’s Corey Monteith (who plays Own) takes the camera behind the scenes.
Gossip with the Girls (5:52): The three main actresses talk about the movie.
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