Today I will discuss one of my all-time favorite movies – The Parent Trap. Parent Trap was released in 1998, starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, and Natasha Richardson. Lindsay Lohan plays both twins in the movie. It is also an adaptation of the 1961 film also entitled Parent Trap. The next part includes spoilers for those who haven’t seen the movie.  

The movie opens with two people getting married, Nick Parker and Elizabeth James and they have twins named Annie and Hallie. Soon after the twin’s birth, the couple gets a divorce and Nick takes Hallie and raises her in California, and Elizabeth takes Hallie and raised her in London. Nick owns his own vineyard and Elizabeth works as a wedding gown designer. 

Eleven years and nine months later the twins coincidentally crowd the same summer camp. They then become rivals and perform pranks on each other. Hallie and her friends perform a passionate prank on Annie and her cabinmates. They are caught by the camp counselors, and Hallie and Annie are sent to an isolation cabin where they find out they have a lot in common. They bond and realize they each have divorced parents and they show a picture of the parent who they don’t have and they realize they are twins who were separated at birth. They decide to pull a “Freaky Friday” and switch places so they can meet the parent they have lived without. They train each other how to act like them, and at the end of camp Hallie goes to London and Annie goes to California. 

In London, Hallie meets Elizabeth, her butler – Martin, and her grandfather. In California, Annie meets Dad and the family nanny, Chessy. She also learns that Nick has a girlfriend, Meredith, who is only interested in Nick’s money. Annie calls Hallie, tells her about Meredith, and tries to convince her to bring their mom to California and break up Nick and Meredith. Hallie refuses because she wants to spend more time with her mom. 

Chessy notices that “Hallie” has been asking differently and Annie reveals it’s her. They have an emotional reunion, and Chessy agrees to keep her identity a secret. Nick tells Annie that he is marrying Meredith. Annie tells Hallie about the wedding and is overheard by her grandfather who tells Hallie to tell her mother who 

she really is. Elizabeth and Hallie decide to travel to California to come to an agreement with Nick on joint custody of the twins.

Annie and Hallie arrange with Chessy and Martin, respectively, a meet-cute between Nick and Elizabeth. Nic

k is unaware that Elizabeth is coming. Elizabeth and Nick are reunited, and Nick finally realizes that he has been with Annie since camp. Elizabeth then meets Meredith and discovers that Nick and Meredith are getting married. Annie and Hallie create a dinner that resembles the night their parents met for Nick and Elizabeth. Nick and Elizabeth decide not to get back together but create a custody schedule, and Elizabeth and Annie leave for London the next day. 

When the twins find out they have to be separated again, they refuse to reveal which one is which unless they go on a camping trip together. Elizabeth switches with Meredith, and they go on the trip. Annie and Hallie play pranks on Meredith. The final prank is placing her mattress on the lake during the night when she is still sleeping on it. This angers Meredith, telling Nick that she must choose between her and the twins. Nick chooses his kids and leaves Meredith. 

When they come back from camping Nick and Meredith realize they are still in love, but decide to go their separate ways with their respective twin. Annie and Elizabeth get back to London and are surprised to find Nick and Hallie waiting for them. The two reunite and decide to get remarried. In the mid-credit scene, Chessy and Martin get engaged. 

I would rate this movie a ten out of ten. This movie has a great plot and funny moments throughout. I think this is a great movie to watch with your family.

Netflix releases a few movies; some are given high praise, while others are given not-so-favorable reviews. A movie that was widely loved by audiences is the 2018 film “Set it Up.” This film stars Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Taye Diggs, and Lucy Liu. The next part includes spoilers for those who haven’t seen the movie.

Harper (Deutch) is an assistant and aspiring writer to editor of a magazine, and former writer Kristen (Liu) and Charlie (Powell) is an assistant to capitalist, Rick (Diggs). Both assistants work in the same building, and they meet one night when getting a late-night dinner for their bosses. Harper orders food but doesn’t have cash to pay and Charlie, who couldn’t get his order in time, pays for the meal and takes it to his boss. Harper explains that she will be fired if she doesn’t bring the food to Kristen, so Charlie gives her one of the meals. 

The next day Harper pays Charlie back for the meal, and they begin to talk about their jobs. They both have similar aspirations in their respective fields, and their bosses have connections that could help them reach their goals. In addition t

o their similar jobs, they both discuss how they have no time for a personal life. They then conduct a plan that their bosses should date each other so they will have less time to overwork their assistants.

Their plan consists of having their bosses have a “meet cute” in which they get stuck in an elevator. This is never done in rom-coms. The meet-cute is halted when a delivery man who is claustrophobic also gets on the elevator! Charlie and Harper’s next plan is to arrange for them to sit together at a baseball game and get caught on the kiss cam. They then begin to date which leaves time for Charlie to spend time with his girlfriend, Suze, and Harper time to attempt to find a boyfriend.

Quickly, there are many problems in Kristen and Rick’s relationship, and Harper and Charlie have to work hard to keep them together. They do this by planning dates for them and buying them gifts that the recipient thinks are from their significant other. They even plan a weekend-long vacation for them! This brings Charlie and Harper close together, and Harper invites Charlie to her best friend’s engagement party.

When Rick and Kristen come back from their vacation, they announce their engagement. Charlie finds out that Rick only proposed to Kristen to make his ex-wife jealous and Rick is still seeing his ex-wife. Harper overhears Rick, finds out he is cheating on Kristen and confronts Charlie. Charlie still wants Kristen and Rick to get married which frustrates Harper. 

Harper confesses to Kristen that she and Charlie manipulated them into dating, and Rick is cheating on her. In disbelief, Kristen fires Harper and plans to go through with the wedding. Charlie realizes he doesn’t love his girlfriend and breaks up with her and rushes to the airport to tell Kristen the truth about Rick. Charlie quits his job, and Kristen realizes Harper was telling the truth and breaks up with Rick.

Harper goes to Kristen’s office to pick up her things, and Kristen offers Harper her job back. She declines in order to focus on her writing and Kristen offers to edit her article. As Harper leaves, she runs into Charlie, who Kristen called up, and they realize their feelings for each other. Harper then realizes that Kristen is attempting to set them up.

I would give this movie a 9.5/10 because it is funny and has an interesting plot. In the beginning and from the trailer the viewer believes that the bosses are the main couple of the movie, but as it goes on it turn out to be the assistants. I like how the movie doesn’t follow a typical cookie-cutter rom-com, but I would say it’s a “typical” Netflix movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants a movie night with their family!

   The first time I watched “Crazy Rich Asians” I was on a plane. I would say this is a perfect plane movie. I describe plane movies as movies that can keep your attention the whole way through, but not a movie where if you miss a little you would be super confused. “Crazy Rich Asians” which was released in 2018, stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh. The movie is based on the 2013 novel “Crazy Rich Asians” by Kevin Kwan. The film received a lot of praise for being the first film (since 1993) to have a majority of Chinese descent cast. The film did receive some backlash for playing into East and Southeast Asian stereotypes, but overall the film received praise. For those who haven’t seen the movie, the next part includes spoilers. 

   Rachel, an economics professor from New York, and her boyfriend Nick, who is from Singapore, travel to Singapore for Nick’s childhood best friend. The couple stays in a hotel instead of with Nick’s family because Nick’s mother does not want Rachel to stay with them, but that is unknown to Rachel. Rachel is immersed in the Singapore culture and meets Nick’s friends. The next day Rachel visits her college roommate, Peik Lin, and her wealthy family. Peik Lin’s family reveals to Rachel that Nick comes from ‘old money and is one of the richest families in Singapore (basically Singapore royalty). 

   Later that night, Rachel and Peik Lin attend a dinner party at Nick’s childhood home (which is very large and accurately reflects their wealth). Rachel is introduced to Nick’s family (his mother, cousins, and grandmother). Rachel can tell that Nick’s mother, Eleanor, does not like her, but Nick’s grandmother does. 

   The next day Rachel attends a bachelorette party for the bride of the wedding that is going on later that week. At the expensive bachelorette party, Rachel meets Nick’s ex-girlfriend who further worries Rachel that since she doesn’t come from money she may be rejected by Nick’s family. The other girls at the party claim Rachel is a gold digger and vandalize her room. Rachel is comforted by Astrid, Nick’s cousin. Simultaneously, Nick is at a bachelor party and confesses his plan to propose to Rachel. His friends point out that he is supposed to stay in Singapore and run the family’s corporation while Rachel plans to stay in New York. 

   Later, Nick apologizes to Rachel for not further explaining and takes Rachel to spend more time with his family. There, Eleanor makes numerous jabs at Rachel for her American upbringing and not being able to place family over self. Privately, Eleanor tells Rachel that she will never be enough for Nick or the family. Later, Peik Lin convinces Rachel to stand up to Eleanor. 

  On the day of the wedding, Rachel receives a makeover from Peik Lin and one of Nick’s cousins which leaves the audience stunned at her arrival. During the reception, Eleanor Eleanor reveals to Nick and Rachel (after using a private investigator) that Rachel was a product of an affair and her father is alive, and Nick must leave Rachel because their family could be linked to this scandal. This comes as a surprise to Rachel who thought her father was dead.

   Rachel goes to Peik Lin’s and stays depressed in bed. Rachel’s mother comes to Singapore and explains that her husband was abusive and she left Singapore out of fear that her husband would kill the baby (Rachel). Rachel’s mother reveals that Nick is the one who brought her to Singapore and she should talk to him. When they meet Nick apologizes and proposes to Rachel and explains he is willing to leave his family and wealth to be with her. 

   Rachel then meets with Eleanor and tells her that she declined Nick’s proposal and points out Eleanor placed them in an “unwinnable position”. Rachel demonstrated that she can place family over herself as she did not want to be the reason Nick is not with family and that you can take Nick out of Singapore but you can’t take Singapore out of Nick. 

   At the airport, Nick surprises Rachel and re-proposes to her with his mother’s ring showing how their conversation had an effect on them and she blesses the marriage. Rachel accepts the proposal and stays in Singapore for an engagement party with Nick’s family. 

   Overall I would rate this movie a nine out of ten because it was very interesting and funny to watch. I like how this movie has a lot of representation and shows some of the traditions throughout the film. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone on a long plane ride.

   The movie I will be reviewing today is “Life As We Know It” which was released in 2010. This is one of my all-time favorite movies. The film stars Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, and Josh Lucas. For those who haven’t seen the movie, the next part includes spoilers. 

   The movie begins with a small bakery owner, Holly, and a television sports director, Eric, going on a blind date. The two were set up by their respective best friends, Alison and Peter. The date goes poorly and results in the two hating each other. The two end up seeing each other more and more as Peter and Alison tie the knot, and have a baby, Sophie. Peter and Alison choose Holly and Eric to be Sophie’s godparents. A couple of weeks after Sophie’s first birthday party, Alison and Peter are killed in a car crash which leads Holly and Eric, who tolerate each other, to become Sophie’s temporary guardians. 

   After going through all the possible family members who could take care of Sophie they conclude they are the only ones fit to raise her and they move into Sophie’s house. They often argue about who has to watch Sophie, who gets to go to work, and who cleans around the house. Holly goes on a date with Sophie’s pediatrician, Sam. On their first date, Eric calls them, worried, because Sophie has a high fever, and they all rush to the hospital. It turns out Sophie is ok, but Eric sees Holly and Sam kiss which oddly upsets him.  

   As time moves on the two realize that they don’t have enough money to continue raising Sophie, so Holly chooses to not expand her business, and Eric responds by investing in her company. The two then go on a date and develop strong feelings for each other. Their Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworker tells them that they either must commit to a relationship or not because going back and forth is not good for Sophie. 

   At a neighborhood gathering, Holly finds out that Eric was offered his out-of-state dream job and didn’t tell her, which leads her to believe that he wants an out in raising Sophie. Holly tells Eric to take the job. 

   At Thanksgiving, Eric returns in hopes to mend his relationship with Holly but finds out Holly and Sam are together and raising Sophie. Eric finds out that Holly plans to sell the house which causes them to argue. Their argument leads Holly to accuse Eric of deserting her and Sophie. As a rebuttal, Eric calls Holly out for quickly replacing him. At the end of their fight, Eric confesses his love for Holly but leaves to return to his job. Sam then recognizes Holly’s feelings for Eric and they break up. That night, Sophie calls Holly “mama” for the first time.

   In a meeting with the CPS caseworker, Holly determines she can’t take care of Sophie without Eric and rushes to the airport. Upon getting there she finds out that Eric’s flight has departed and she returns to the house and finds him sitting inside. It was as though the storm has cleared and Holly and Eric decided to raise Sophie together as a couple and they establish their loving family.

   I would rate this movie a 10/10 because it is funny but also deals with deep concepts and the plot is interesting. I believe this movie is “underhyped” because not a lot of people have seen it but it is definitely worth the watch. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for a good movie on movie night.

   The movie I will be reviewing today is “Clueless” which stars Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, and Paul Rudd. This movie was released in 1995 and has since developed a cult following. It is also loosely based on Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” (1815). For those who haven’t seen the movie, the next part includes spoilers. 

   The movie starts by showcasing Cher’s, played by Alicia Silverstone, luxurious life and how her habits are funded by her rich lawyer father. Her best friend Dionne, Stacey Dash, also follows a wealthy lifestyle. Cher’s ex-step-brother Josh, her father who used to be married to his mother – so they are not related – is visiting 

for his break from college. They make fun of each other in a sibling-like way. Cher decides to play matchmaker between two teachers at her school after she received a bad grade and then negotiates her way into a better grade. Cher then takes, a new student, Tai under her wing. Dionne and Cher give Tai a makeover and try to set her up with one of their classmates. Cher’s attentions are on another new student, Christian. Josh is seen to be jealous of Christian and protective of Cher. After making advances on Christian she finds out that he is gay. Tai becomes very popular and confesses her feeling for Josh to Cher and Cher gets upset. Cher also fails her driving test which prompts the most well-known quote of the movie, “you’re a virgin who can’t drive” which is said by Tai in response to Cher being angry over her feelings for Josh. This causes Cher to feel clueless. Cher then recognizes her romantic feelings for Josh and finds out that he reciprocates them. The friendship between Cher and Tai is restored and Tai goes back to being her true self. At the end of the movie, they attend the wedding of the teachers that Cher set up.

   I would rate this movie a nine and a half out of ten. This movie is funny and it is clear to see why it has such a cult following. The only reason I took off half a point is that the writers seem to be clueless about the borderline incest of Josh and Cher. Their relationship is weird and incest-like because they used to be step-siblings. In addition, the movie never shows Cher’s dad’s reaction to their relationship which I think would have been interesting to see. It is also interesting how the movie is based on a Jane Austen – who is one of my favorite authors – novel. The movie has similarities between the movie characters and the novels. Personally, I think the book is less “insecty” because, in the book, the person Cher/Emma has feelings for is her sister’s husband’s brother. Overall I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys watching 90s movies and likes Paul Rudd.

   The next movie I will be reviewing for my passion blog is “Crazy, Stupid, Love”. This movie stars Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne More, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, and Kevin Bacon. For those who haven’t seen the movie, the next part includes spoilers. 

   “Crazy, Stupid, Love” is about a man, Cal – Steve Carell’s character-, who just found out his wife, Julianne Moore/Emily, wants to get a divorce because she had an affair. He finds himself at an expensive bar and a young bachelor, Ryan Gosling/Jacob, teaches him how to flirt with women. As the movie proceeds Cal gains confidence through Jacob’s teachings and sleeps with a woman named Kate. It turns out that Kate is Cal’s son, Robbie’s teacher, and at a parent-teacher conference Emily finds out how Cal has moved on and has become a womanizer. At the same time, Jacob starts spending time with a woman named Hannah and distances himself from Cal as he falls in love with Hannah. In addition, a teenager, Jessica, who babysits for Cal, and Emily discovers her feeling for Cal. Also, Robbie is in love with Jessica. Cal does self-evaluating and decides he wants to get back together with Emily. Jessica attempts to make a grand gesture for Cal but her parents end up finding out and are under the pretense that Cal is also participating in this relationship. As Cal is attempting to reunite with Emily, their older daughter comes home with her new boyfriend. The twist in the film is that Hannah is Emily and Cal’s daughter and Jacob is her boyfriend. Cal, knowing how Jacob acts, gets angry with Jacob and simultaneously, Jessica’s father comes to the house and is mad at Cal. As the three men fight another man appears; it is discovered that this is the man who Emily had an affair with. This causes the three fighting men to attack the new man. The cops end up breaking up the fight and everyone leaves disgruntled. The end of the movie is at Robbie’s eighth-grade graduation. Here most of the characters make up; Cal confesses he hopes to continue his marriage with Emily and gives his blessing to Hannah and Jacob, Jessica’s parents and Cal makeup as they realize the relationship was one-sided, and Robbie continues to be in love with Jessica despite recognizing their age gap. 

   I enjoyed this movie because it follows seemingly disconnected stories, but at the end of the film, they are shown to be intertwined. My synopsis might be confusing because there are a lot of characters but when watching the movie it is not as confusing. This movie stars a lot of recognizable actors so it makes the story easy to follow. In addition, the movie does a superb job of splitting up the stories which makes it easier to follow but shows how the characters connect, apart from the twist. I think including a twist in the movie is a part of what makes it excellent. 

   I would rate this movie a nine and a half out of ten because it was equal parts “rom” and “com”. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in watching a fun movie with some of their favorite actors.