Thanks for the memories!

Sadly Over-hyped

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

As a vehicle for the rising star that is Emma Roberts this film works well. Although the other youngsters do well in their roles, its Roberts who shines in every scene.She manages to be spoilt, funny, pretty and vulnerable all at the same time, and that's not easy to do in a script that doesn't seem to know whether its aiming for the teen or adult audience.There are some fun life lessons to be learnt here, and it certainly has its heart in the right place. It's not worth wasting time asking questions about the plot, or thinking about the very cringy not funny moments featuring Jason Watkins, because this film really is all about fun.It's not surprising that Emma Roberts went on to do bigger and better things after this, because she's fab here.

There is nothing particularly special about the story, very generic and predictable. A lot of dialogue was so utterly cringe worthy particularly from the protagonists 'British' friends, their performance was cardboard at lot of the time,I'm not sure what accent they are meant to have, I've never heard anyone anywhere in Britain sound anything like that, not even those from An upper class background, also the terminology they used is very peculiar, For example they used horridious when Horrendous would have fitted better, and not sure what hurrious is meant to mean as it does not appear to be a real word or slang. Despite these faults I presume Teenage girls probably not from Britain may enjoy this film As they may not recognize the faults.

Emma Roberts who as you may have known is Julia Roberts niece and she starred in another film that I own on DVD and liked called Aquamarine and Valentines Day. Here she plays a spoilt rich brat named Poppy Moore(donning a blonde wig before she ditches it for her natural look)who is sent off to boarding school in England as her father(played by Irish actor Aidan Quinn) is fed up of his daughters persona he decides to send her packing. Annoyed with it all she tries her best to get herself expelled from boarding school. But when she meets a couple of girls there and falls for a hunky guy(played by Alex Pettfyer from Beastly) she realizes that its the best thing her father has ever did and also she discovers something at the boarding school that will change her life forever.Overall this was a good movie as it also stars the late Natasha Richardson(The Parent Trap,Maid In Manhattan) who plays the head mistress in the film. Its sad to say that this was her final movie before she tragically died in March 2009 in a skiing accident but her legacy will live on forever. Emma Roberts played her part perfect as the ditsy spoilt brat who thinks her life is on cloud nine and some bitchy chick set her up as she was fancying her boyfriend (who happens to be the head mistresses son).If you like teen comedies or high school movies about boys and all that stuff that teens love so much then check it out. Im not the target audience for this film at all as im a 22 soon to be 23 year old chick,but I never saw it before so I got the bargain as it came in a 3 DVD pack that I got on Sunday in my local supermarket.So yeah check it out and unleash your wild child self for this British teen comedy.

I had to watch this with my young nieces, and honestly, it made me sick. Cliché-ridden doesn't even begin to describe this drivel. I had never seen anything with Emma Roberts before and after this certainly never will. OK, as a rule it's a hard act for Americans to compete with English actors, remember colourless Andie McDowell in „Four weddings". E. R. may be talented, well, I doubt it. She shows just one facial expression, to distract from which fact she is flashing about her skinny white legs and freakishly pointy knees. She looks totally bland and forgettable, especially in that horribly obvious blond wig in the first half, in no way prettier than her English counterparts. And since when is being a Californian particularly exotic? But the story's pretty boy falls for her almost at once, oh yeah. She doesn't even have to play hard to get, au contraire. Actually not even a better actress, say a young Jennifer Aniston, could have saved this horrible story. There is the obligatory dressing up scene – Roberts's aunt had a legendary one in "Pretty Woman", but whereas erstwhile prostitute Julia/Vivien emerged as an elegant lady, Emma/Poppy goes from spoilt brat in super-high heels to pole dancer-prostitute look-and-act-alike. I shudder when I think of the age group this is aimed at. Awful, awful, awful!