Monte Carlo is a 2011 American adventure-romantic comedy film based on the 2001 novel Headhunters by Rankin/Bass co-founder Jules Bass. It was directed by Thomas Bezucha. Denise Di Novi, Alison Greenspan, Nicole Kidman, and Arnon Milchan produced the film for Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises. It began production in Harghita, Romania on May 5, 2010.
It stars Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy as three friends posing as wealthy socialites in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The film was released on July 1, 2011. It features the song "Who Says" by Selena Gomez & the Scene (whose album When the Sun Goes Down which included the song, was released 3 days before the film's release) and numerous songs by British singer Mika. Monte Carlo received mixed reviews from critics, but earned $39.7 million on a $20 million budget. Fox Home Entertainment released Monte Carlo on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 18, 2011.
Contents
Plot
Grace Bennett is a NYU-bound, Texas high-school student who works as a waitress in a restaurant with her high school dropout, best friend Emma Perkins, to earn money for a post-graduation trip to Paris, France. Grace's stepfather pays for her uptight older stepsister Meg Kelly to join them, and Emma goes to Paris despite her boyfriend Owen's marriage proposal.
The trip quickly proves to be a disappointment as the girls discover they were ripped off, with a cramped hotel room and a tour that moves too fast for anyone to appreciate anything properly. After missing the bus and being left behind by their tour guide at the Eiffel Tower, the three girls seek refuge from the rain in a posh hotel.
The hotel staff and paparazzi mistake Grace for the spoiled celebutante British heiress Cordelia Winthrop-Scott, Grace's double, who leaves rather than stay to attend an auction for a Romanian charity to which she is to donate a Bulgari necklace. Despite Meg's protests, the three girls spend the night in Cordelia's suite and fly to Monte Carlo with Cordelia's luggage the next day.
At the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the girls meet Theo Marchand, the son of the philanthropist hosting the charity. Theo is cold towards the three because he loathes Cordelia's spoiled nature. He escorts them to a ball, where Grace successfully fools Cordelia's aunt Alicia and Emma dances with Prince Domenico. Meg reunites with Riley, an Australian backpacker she briefly met in Paris. They find they have things in common and spend time together before he leaves for Italy. Meanwhile, Owen travels to Paris in search of Emma.
When Grace participates in a polo game, Alicia discovers the impersonation because of Grace's different riding style. After calling the real Cordelia confirming her suspicion, Alicia believes she is a lookalike that Cordelia hired to take her place while she parties.
Theo grows attracted to "Cordelia's" frank personality, while Domenico invites Emma to a party on a yacht. Emma dresses up for the party in the Bulgari necklace but meets Meg on the way, who takes the necklace for safekeeping, but later forgets about it, accidentally leaving it in Riley's backpack. At the party, Emma becomes disillusioned by Domenico's obnoxiousness, snideness, and arrogance toward the waitresses.
Cast
Selena Gomez as
Grace Bennett, a teenager from Texas
Cordelia Winthrop-Scott, a British heiress
Leighton Meester as Meg Kelly, Grace's older stepsister
Katie Cassidy as Emma Perkins, Grace's best friend
Cory Monteith as Owen Andrews, Emma's love interest
Andie MacDowell as Pamela Bennett, Grace's mother
Catherine Tate as Alicia Winthrop-Scott, Cordelia's aunt
Pierre Boulanger as Theo Marchand, Grace's love interest
Luke Bracey as Riley, Meg's love interest
Brett Cullen as Robert Kelly, Meg's father and Grace's stepfather
Christophe Malavoy as Bernard Marchand, Theo’s father
Valérie Lemercier as Madame Valerie
Giulio Berruti as Prince Domenico Da Silvano
Franck de Lapersonne as Grand Belle's Manager
Jeremiah Sullivan as Bartender 2
Matt Devere as Steward on Jet
Production
Monte Carlo is loosely based on the novel Headhunters by Jules Bass. The novel tells the story of four New Jersey women who pretend to be wealthy heiresses while searching for rich potential husbands in Monte Carlo. There, they meet four gigolos posing as wealthy playboys. Fox bought the film rights to the novel in 1999, three years prior to the novel's publication. In 2005, Hollywood trade magazine Variety announced that siblings Jez and John-Henry Butterworth would be writing the script. It was also reported that actress Nicole Kidman had signed on to play the lead, as well as to produce the film with Rick Schwartz.
The Butterworths were later fired and Tom Bezucha was hired to direct and co-write Monte Carlo. Bezucha and Maria Maggenti turned in a draft of the screenplay by July 2007; it starred Kidman as "one of three Midwestern schoolteachers who decide to ditch a disappointing no-frills holiday in Paris and pose as wealthy women vacationing in Monaco". However, in 2010, executives had the film rewritten again after deciding that the film should have a more youthful spin. The updated script was co-written by Bezucha and April Blair, and changed the three school teachers to two college students and a recent high-school graduate. Monte Carlo was shot in Budapest, Hungary; Dunakeszi, Hungary; Paris, France; Harghita, Romania; and Monte Carlo, Monaco. It began filming in Harghita on May 5, 2010, and wrapped on July 7, 2010. It is the first film to use the film studio Raleigh Studios Budapest.
In March 2010, it was announced that Selena Gomez had been cast as one of the film's leads following the script's rewrite. For the role, Gomez spent several weeks learning to play polo, and practicing how to fake an English accent. Leighton Meester also negotiated a deal to star as one of the leads that month and Katie Cassidy was cast as Emma in April. French actor Pierre Boulanger made his English-speaking feature debut in the film.
Soundtrack
The film's musical score was composed by Michael Giacchino, conducted by Tim Simonec and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. To coincide with the film's release, a soundtrack album was released by Varèse Sarabande on June 28, 2011.
Reception
Critical response
Monte Carlo received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 40% based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's consensus states, "Although it has its charming moments, Monte Carlo is mostly silly, predictable stuff that never pushes beyond the boundaries of formula." At Metacritic, the film received a score of 43 out of 100 based on reviews from 23 critics indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Logan Hill of Vulture wrote, "The film wallows in expensive clothes and locales but, like a puff-piece celebrity profile, wants you to have it both ways: to ogle the glamour and admire the righteous soul that’s purportedly beneath the surface but barely in evidence."
Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader wrote that "the movie hits a surprising range of emotional grace notes, including several moments of genuine regret, and concludes with an understated moral lesson about the value of self-respect over social status." Sandie Chen of Common Sense Media said the film was "silly, but sweet".
Home media
Fox Home Entertainment released Monte Carlo on DVD and Blu-ray on October 18, 2011. The DVD extras include deleted scenes, a feature titled "Ding Dang Delicious: The Boys of Monte Carlo", a "Backstage Pass" and a theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray Disc features all the DVD features plus the addition of "Monte Carlo Couture", "Jet Setter's Dream", "Gossip with the Girls" and a digital copy of the film.
