I would like to preface this statement by saying that I have never really been a Hilary Duff fan and so I entered this movie with a clear bias against it. However, even if I was viewing cold, I still would have hated the movie. Let's start with the acting. Very boring/standard across the board, with no knockout exceptions. Basically, it was mediocre. While the leads weren't fantastic, neither was anyone else. The only exception I could possibly grant would be for the emo goth piano playing chick. The script was stunted and awkward at best. Entirely predictable and "feel good" artsy. My personal favorite scene was Hilary/British punk boy on the roof where she initially denies him a kiss then a few minutes and a compliment later, she puts out. Also, Corbett at one point says "Artists feel things differently then other people." Come on. If that's not pretentious, I don't know what is. I would also like to comment on the lack of talent. Supposedly, Duff was accepted to the most prestigious music school in the US. Why, then, was everyone's talents only slightly above average? The big choir project was the Hallelujah chorus, which I sang in high school. I'm not saying that the kids were bad; I'm just saying they certainly weren't the epitome of talent for their age group. I would also like to question the movie's moral intent. Duff is theoretically a good little Christian girl, but she engages in a number of immoral activities (i.e. lying to her father, covering up underage drinking, etc). Even though both were for a good cause, I then would examine a script that would glorify such behavior. Even if her father was unable to give up his own emotional baggage for the sake of his daughter, does that really constitute and justify such extreme behavior? And really, why is her mother enabling her husband's weaknesses? Marital problems are best worked out when the children aren't used as pawns. As for the drinking, Hilary not only hides British punk boy on the roof, but then stays with him all night. Alone. On the roof. After he kissed the other girl. What does that teach girls? I'm not a prude by any means, but this was advertised as a movie I would want to take my little 7 year old sister to.
In the future, I would only watch this movie drunk. Bad choice, bad acting, bad script, bad movie. Cheap laughs for cinematic disaster.
In the future, I would only watch this movie drunk. Bad choice, bad acting, bad script, bad movie. Cheap laughs for cinematic disaster.