Review of Monte Carlo (2011) by Hoops2448 — 05 Oct 2011

Monte Carlo as a piece of escapism from reality works quite well but in most other ways it falls flat. Overall the three main leads (Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy and Leighton Meester) do a decent job of keeping the story trundling along while also keeping the tone light and entertaining. The main problem with the actors has to be the addition of Katherine Tate who seems to serve no purpose besides the bizzaro ending where she has at least 30 seconds of meaning. However the film doesn't try to be a serious character piece, it just tries to entertain while providing beautiful landscapes (Paris, Budapest imitating Monte Carlo and Monaco) and a jolly soundtrack, including a lively score by Michael Giacchino.

However as the film enters its final act things start to unravel and the story which up until then was "plausible" just turns downright ludicrous. The final problem with Monte Carlo is that it degrades itself by shoehorning in a silly rivalry between Katie Cassidy and Leighton Meester where it would have been much more effective concentrating on the dynamic of the step sisters between Gomez and Meester. Overall it isn't a bad film, it just doesn't deliver a significant enough story to make it memorable or worthy of another watch.