Beauty and the Briefcase - ABC Family Movie starring Hilary Duff

MOVIE REVIEW

Beauty and the Briefcase

A.K.A. - The Business of Falling in Love

Network: ABC Family

Original Air Date: April 18, 2010

CAST:

Hilary Duff ... Lane
Jaime Pressly ... Editor
Matt Dallas ... Seth
Chris Carmack ... Liam
Michael McMillian ... Tom
Edrick Browne ... Junior Analyst Eddie
Jewel Grosch ... Kate's Assistant
Billy Slaughter ... Accountant
Kevin Kirkpatrick ... John
Lacey Minchew ... Whitney
Cedric N. Burton ... Stock Broker
Patricia French ... Fashion Editor
Lyle Brocato ... Waiter / Liam's Friend
Courtney J. Clark ... Margo
Dean J. West ... Accountant
Alexander Asefa ... Office worker
Anh Huu Nguyen ... Office Executive
Alix Angelis ... Aspiring Assistant

PLOT:

from ABC Family:

Lane Daniels (Hilary Duff) is a fashion journalist whose career and love life come together in a smashing way when she pitches the article "switching careers to find love" to Cosmo magazine. Cosmo editor Kate (Jaime Pressly) loves the idea and gives Lane a chance to write the featured cover story! She wants Lane to get a job in a traditional business world, and then meet and date as many men as she can.

While undercover in her new "job", Lane meets Liam, Seth, Tom and John. In the end, Lane has much more to write about than she ever expected – including a surprise discovery of love. Can a woman find true love, career fulfillment and a perfect pair of shoes while staying beautiful inside and out?

Movie Review:

Beware Families...

This movie reminded me of a mix of Legally Blonde (Reese Witherspoon) and Never Been Kissed (Drew Barrymore). The lead character, Lane Daniels (played by Hilary Duff) was more than obsessed with Fashion, Men, and Cosmo Magazine. First of all, she had a Golden Image that she called Cosmo on her wall and in the intro to the movie she and her friend kneel down in front of it. I didn't like that at all.

The first two Ten Commandments state -
1 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
2 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."

Immediately, into the movie Lane is walking down the busy New York Sidewalk and there's a narration of the thoughts running in her head- as she sees the men who she can't date...

"9 Million Guys in New York City, you'd think there would be one I could date - You'd be wrong... To start off, most of the good ones are taken (see couple kiss), then there's the criminal contingent (police grab nice looking guy), the guys with serious psychological issues (man shown with full grocery cart), the weirdos (man running in tight orange boxers), the B-----ds (in other words - the Player - man shown kissing one girl - then he turns around and kisses another), and then the guys in Fashion, which is my world (two guys are shown walking off together)- they do wonders for my wardrobe, but do nothing to help me find my Magic Man. Where is the one?"

Magic Man? I thought that was a very silly thing to say and I got so tired of their use of "Oh my G--" expressions, used in an almost Valley Girl kind of way. I often found their behavior to be offensive and immature. So many of the Ten Commandments were broken - I could hardly keep up.

The third Ten Commandment -
3 "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

Even for a movie about Fashion, I thought her (Hilary Duffs) wardrobe could have been much cuter, instead of just tight office skirts.

Lane Daniels, was on a selfish search... for herself to find a man, as well as land her dream job at Cosmo - not seeming to care about who got in the way - even lying her way into getting a position in banking, which she had no clue about... all while working undercover to write her article for Cosmo.

Her job was to date men- men in suits- until she found THE MAN... and she couldn't date any men not in suits- so of course she meets one - a music producer. In short, he was a player and she got played. No big deal though, she & her friend discovered he was a creep, threw their drinks in his face and were off. She had given him herself, but no matter - on to the next guy...

SPOILER:

I found myself counting the minutes until it would be over. The ending, too, was predictable... Lane eventually realizes that she is in love with her boss, Tom, and in spite, of him finding out that she lied to him repeatedly and that she's been dating every guy in the office - he loves her, too... Oh, true love.

For me, as a Christian, this movie was horrible. I like Hilary Duff and I thought she was bubbly and sweet - and with some story, dialogue, and wardrobe adjustments - this could have been a cute movie. Too bad it wasn't.



See or Skip:

Please Skip, Not family friendly.


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