Who needs magic pants when you can combine the great scenery of Texas, Paris, and Monte Carlo into one fun flick? This is a feature that allows its girls to have their cake, and eat it too, as Marie Antoinette might say. Selena Gomez follows in the footsteps of THE PRINCE & THE PAUPER, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, and most especially, THE PATTY DUKE SHOW from TV's Golden Age as two look-alike characters, the winning Texan Grace Bennett and the stuck-up Brit Cordelia Winthrop Scott. Fortunately, no one spends decades in a dungeon or gets their head lopped off in this story. Some temporarily missing jewelry threatens to throw a monkey wrench into the happy endings for the small-town America 18- to 21-year-old girl trio, but the tone set from the git-go by writer\director Thomas Bezucha forecasts the frowns will be turned upside down by the end credits. Leighton Meister as Grace's new older step-sister Meg and Katie Cassidy as Grace's older best friend and waitress coworker Emma acquit themselves well as the salt and pepper to Grace's sugar. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Grace's last name is Bennett, as Gomez should be old enough to tackle the next PRIDE & PREJUDICE remake.
Review of Monte Carlo
