Material Girls

For the Madonna song, see Material Girl. For other uses, see Material girl (disambiguation).
Material Girls

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Martha Coolidge
Produced by Milton Kim
Tim Wesley
Mark Morgan
Guy Oseary
Hilary Duff
Haylie Duff[1]
Susan Duff
Eva LaRue
David Faigenblum
Written by John Quaintance
Jessica O'Toole
Amy Rardin
Starring Hilary Duff
Haylie Duff
Anjelica Huston
Lukas Haas
Music by Jennie Muskett
Cinematography Johnny E. Jensen
Edited by Steven Cohen
Production
company
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • August 18, 2006
Running time
 97 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $15 million
Box office $16,907,725

Material Girls is a 2006 American teen comedy film starring Hilary and Haylie Duff. It is based on a script written by John Quaintance and is directed by Martha Coolidge. It also stars Anjelica Huston, Lukas Haas, and Brent Spiner. The plot was conceived from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. It is co-produced by Patriot Pictures and Maverick Films.

Plot

Tanzania "Tanzie" (Hilary Duff) and Ava (Haylie Duff), two rich, spoiled Hollywood socialites who enjoy material things such as shopping and dating, rather than caring about their late father's cosmetics company. When a major media scandal involving their father's night cream causing extreme skin conditions breaks out on the news, the press soon mob the girls, causing them to stay inside. The girls find their assets frozen and must adjust to life without their fortune.

Soon a fire starts in their mansion, as Ava quickly grabs her engagement party dress and some miscellaneous objects. Tanzie, on the other hand, takes her father's TiVo which had a recording of her father talking about his cosmetics on the news and doesn't grab any clothes. They leave for a hotel and soon learn all their credit cards have been shut down, so they go and stay with their maid and close family friend in her small apartment. They are tempted to listen to their advisors and sell the company to their biggest competitor Fabiella (Anjelica Huston), for over $60 million each. Although this means that they could return to the extravagant lifestyle they were accustomed to, they decide to honor their father's memory by trying to turn it around themselves. Finding inspiration in Erin Brockovich, the girls decide to get to the root of the scandal. They use their good looks and charming personalities to win the case and prove their father's innocence.

In the end, the girls successfully manage to clear the Marchetta name and reclaim the company. Nearly six months after the scandal began, the girls are seen leading the company, with Ava as the CEO and Tanzie working as a chemist, with them both finding their true loves - for Tanzie, lab technician and fellow chemist Rick and for Ava, legal clinic lawyer Henry.

Cast

Production

The film began production on April 18, 2005, in Los Angeles, California. For the film's soundtrack, Hilary Duff recorded two new songs: "Happy" (which features the same music as "Play with Fire", her single released in August 2006) and a Timbaland-produced cover version of Madonna's song "Material Girl",[2] which was the inspiration for the film's story and is featured at the beginning of the film.

Release

On March 31, 2006, the entertainment site AndPop.com reported that Lukas Haas had said he did not expect the film to be released. These statements were confirmed on April 5, in an article in The Ryersonian. Haas expressed his unhappiness with the film, and said they had been trying to sell the film for a long time with little success.[3] On April 6, the website Box Office Mojo reported that MGM had picked up the rights to Material Girls and would be releasing it on August 25 (this was later changed to August 18). On May 2, the official website for Martha Coolidge reported that it would be released on around 2,000 screens.[4]

Material Girls was released in 1,500 theaters in the U.S. and debuted at #9 on the weekend box office chart, grossing only US$4.62 million in its first three days of release.[5] The DVD for Material Girls was released on December 12, 2006 in the U.S by 20th Century Fox under the MGM Home Entertainment label. It is a double-sided DVD with special features including the music video for Hilary Duff's single "Play with Fire". In the UK the film was released on March 2, 2007 to coincide with the release of Duff's single "With Love", her album Dignity, and the UK release of her scent With Love... Hilary Duff. It was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. The film has garnered a total of $16,847,695 worldwide.[6]

Reception

The film received extremely negative reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes ranking Material Girls 46th in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, with a rating of 4%,[7] and 17% by Metacritic.[8] Hilary and Haylie Duff's performance was panned by critics and earned Hilary and Haylie Duff Razzie Award nominations for both Worst Actress and Worst Screen Couple.

References

  1. ↑ "Material Girls Official website". December 30, 2007.
  2. ↑ Mike Bell (2006-01-10). "CANOE - JAM! Music - Artists - Duff, Hilary: Exclusive interview with Hilary Duff". Jam.canoe.ca. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ MarthaCoolidge.com
  5. ↑ "Box Office Estimates Report for August 18-20, 2006". Box Office Prophets. 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  6. ↑ Box Office Mojo. "Material Girls". Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  7. ↑ "Material Girls Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  8. ↑ "Material Girls (2006): Reviews". Metacritic.com. 2010-07-17. Retrieved 2012-12-04.

External links

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