To paraphrase a line from a song by the Gin Blossoms: If you don't expect too much from this movie you might not be let down.
I did like seeing some of my favorite childhood actresses in the film. Hey! It's the girl from Alex Mack! It is the redheaded girl from Alex Mack! It is the girl from She's All That! It is that mean girl from Full House! It's the girl from Snow Day! Speaking of which Schuyler Fisk is great in this movie. I liked Marla Sokoloff as the mean girl who is just mean for no reason. I love Larisa Oleynik.
I did enjoy the story about the girls setting up their own summer camp and all the obstacles they face. It reminded me of another movie that came out the year before: Camp Nowhere. I liked how in the end of the summer after all their work and trouble they barely made any profit and had just enough money for a pizza. I thought that was funny.
The whole plot about the 13 year old girl (Bre Blair) dating the 17 year old boy is completely inappopriate! I can't believe her parents are cool with it. Stacey's Mom seems more upset that Stacey is dodging his phone calls rather than the fact that He tried to take her unchaperoned to a club in New York City. I acknowledge this is a movie about teenage girls meant for teenage girls so I guess there's some element of "teen fantasy" involved.
What was really problematic for me in this movie though was the whole story of Kristy's Dad. Her biological father just waltzes into town, meets up with her, and tells her not to tell her family (i.e. Her mom and stepfather) or her friends that He's there. Uh, say what? An adult is asking his teenage girl to lie by omission? Why? Does the guy have a restraining order filed against him? Does He owe her Mom child support? Yeah, not cool. At the end of the movie the deadbeat stands Kristy up at an amusement park on her birthday in the pouring rain. Kristy's Mom is then all reassuring and saying "Well, you can't be that mad at your Dad. He's a dreamer and He just chases dreams. He loves you but He can't be tied down and you just have to love him despite that." WHAT?! What kind of malarkey is that? Why is She so calm? She should be as mad as hornets and calling the cops on him!
If they had just eliminated the whole deadbeat dad plot and the completely inappropriate relationship plot and just focused on the girls trying to run the summer camp by themselves plot I would have liked the movie more than I did.
I liked the scene between Mrs. Haberman (Ellen Burstyn) and Dawn (Larisa Oleynik). Mrs. Haberman plays Dawn's neighbor who's annoyed by the summer camp going on next door. Dawn visits to try to make peace with her. I like how they bond. As corny and trite as some of Dawn's lines are ("I think hummingbirds are magical") Larisa just sells it. She is just sweet and sincere enough to make it work. The ending where the girls decide to give her the greenhouse was really nice.
I never read the books so I don't know and frankly I don't care how it stacks up as an adaptation.
To repeat: To paraphrase a line from a song by the Gin Blossoms: If you don't expect too much from this movie you might not be let down.
BTW Dreams by the Cranberries and Good by Better Than Ezra did not appear in this movie at all which is weird since I remember both songs prominantly featured in the trailer.
I did like seeing some of my favorite childhood actresses in the film. Hey! It's the girl from Alex Mack! It is the redheaded girl from Alex Mack! It is the girl from She's All That! It is that mean girl from Full House! It's the girl from Snow Day! Speaking of which Schuyler Fisk is great in this movie. I liked Marla Sokoloff as the mean girl who is just mean for no reason. I love Larisa Oleynik.
I did enjoy the story about the girls setting up their own summer camp and all the obstacles they face. It reminded me of another movie that came out the year before: Camp Nowhere. I liked how in the end of the summer after all their work and trouble they barely made any profit and had just enough money for a pizza. I thought that was funny.
The whole plot about the 13 year old girl (Bre Blair) dating the 17 year old boy is completely inappopriate! I can't believe her parents are cool with it. Stacey's Mom seems more upset that Stacey is dodging his phone calls rather than the fact that He tried to take her unchaperoned to a club in New York City. I acknowledge this is a movie about teenage girls meant for teenage girls so I guess there's some element of "teen fantasy" involved.
What was really problematic for me in this movie though was the whole story of Kristy's Dad. Her biological father just waltzes into town, meets up with her, and tells her not to tell her family (i.e. Her mom and stepfather) or her friends that He's there. Uh, say what? An adult is asking his teenage girl to lie by omission? Why? Does the guy have a restraining order filed against him? Does He owe her Mom child support? Yeah, not cool. At the end of the movie the deadbeat stands Kristy up at an amusement park on her birthday in the pouring rain. Kristy's Mom is then all reassuring and saying "Well, you can't be that mad at your Dad. He's a dreamer and He just chases dreams. He loves you but He can't be tied down and you just have to love him despite that." WHAT?! What kind of malarkey is that? Why is She so calm? She should be as mad as hornets and calling the cops on him!
If they had just eliminated the whole deadbeat dad plot and the completely inappropriate relationship plot and just focused on the girls trying to run the summer camp by themselves plot I would have liked the movie more than I did.
I liked the scene between Mrs. Haberman (Ellen Burstyn) and Dawn (Larisa Oleynik). Mrs. Haberman plays Dawn's neighbor who's annoyed by the summer camp going on next door. Dawn visits to try to make peace with her. I like how they bond. As corny and trite as some of Dawn's lines are ("I think hummingbirds are magical") Larisa just sells it. She is just sweet and sincere enough to make it work. The ending where the girls decide to give her the greenhouse was really nice.
I never read the books so I don't know and frankly I don't care how it stacks up as an adaptation.
To repeat: To paraphrase a line from a song by the Gin Blossoms: If you don't expect too much from this movie you might not be let down.
BTW Dreams by the Cranberries and Good by Better Than Ezra did not appear in this movie at all which is weird since I remember both songs prominantly featured in the trailer.