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Material Girls
- Directed by: Martha Coolidge
- Starring: Hilary Duff, Haylie Duff, Anjelica Huston
- Release Date: 2 March 2007
Two spoilt heiresses lose part of their fortune and go all Simple Life trying to get it back. But have they (or we) really learnt anything?
This riches to rags-to-riches-again story was written for the Olsen twins, but the script was presumably too crude even for the stars of How The West Was Fun. Starring roles instead went to Hilary and Haylie Duff, whose two default modes - simpering and whining - fail to strike a winning combination.
Heiresses to the Marchetta make-up empire, the impeccably-groomed, conscience-free gals Tanzie (Hilary) and Ava (Hayley), like, totally reassess their lives when their company is accused of malpractice, their car is nicked and their house burns down all on the same unlucky day. After glimpsing Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich, they decide to don push-up bras and do some investigating in order to save the family millions.
Needless to say, the jokes are poor ("homeless people love Dolce and Gabbana!") and the story's moral is confused at best. "I can remember living in this teeny tiny walk-up [apartment] and being really happy," Tanzie ponders. But she still gets the dosh, the beefcake and the shiny hair anyway. The sisters' new-found idealism extends as far as making their beauty products more affordable, because they met some hookers and fat lesbians in prison who did not exfoliate.
"You're all frosting and no cupcake," cute-lawyer-with-a-conscience
Rick tells a protesting Ava. Much the same could be said of Material
Girls. While it's not unusual for movies aimed at teenage girls to
lack substance, it's courteous to provide viewers with some snappy dialogue,
more attractive male eye candy, or at least an uplifting song-and-dance
sequence to make the 90 minutes pass a little quicker. Material Girls
has no such redeeming features, and it's disappointing to see Anjelica Huston
dirtying her hands by getting involved.
Jess Holland
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