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"MATERIAL GIRLS" (2006) (Hilary Duff, Haylie Duff) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Minor Mild Moderate *Minor None Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild None None Minor Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate Mild Moderate Moderate Mild QUICK TAKE: Comedy: Two wealthy, Hiltonesque sisters briefly lose their fortune and learn to get along without their mansion, their Mercedes, and their wardrobe. PLOT: Tanzie (HILARY DUFF) and her sister Ava (HAYLIE DUFF) have everything: money, well-dressed hangers-on, and a hot red Mercedes convertible. Though they miss their father (dead two years when the film begins), they are living the fabulous life he made for them as an inventor of natural cosmetics and owner of a hugely successful company that targets 18 to 25-year-old consumers. When a local Los Angeles TV reporter claims the girls' father repressed evidence of cosmetics that caused skin irritations and diseases, the company is almost instantly devastated. Horrified and unable to deal with being "poor," the girls suffer a series of indignities, most caused by their apparent inability to manage daily tasks. They accidentally burn down their mansion, leave their car with thieves they mistake for valets, and discover that high heels are bad for walking. They also learn that their trustee and CEO, Tommy (BRENT SPINER), wants to sell out the company to their rival Fabiella (ANJELICA HUSTON). Determined to restore their dad's good name and incidentally, recover their fortune and reputations, they initiate an investigation, based on their viewing of Erin Brockovich. Having been dumped by her TV-soap star fiancé Mic (BRANDON BEEMER), Ava meets and develops a crush on a free clinic lawyer, Henry (LUKAS HAAS). At the same time, because the girls do everything as a pair, Tanzie falls for a Marchetta Cosmetics lab tech, Rick (MARCUS COLOMA), who shares her interest in chemistry. The sisters' life lessons include generosity and loyalty, as practiced by their longtime maid, Inez (MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO), who invites them to live in her apartment when they lose their home. At last, they find the villain, romances, and corporate success. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Yes, if they are Hilary Duff fans (though she only sings a couple of background tracks here, not part of the plot), if they like her sister Haylie, or if they like lighthearted, simple-minded, girl-oriented romantic comedies. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For language and rude humor. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: HILARY DUFF plays Tanzie Marchetta, orphaned cosmetics heiress used to getting what she wants when she wants it. She's also a smart chemistry student and is applying to UCLA, and when her father's research is challenged and the company is in trouble, she investigates. HAYLIE DUFF plays Tanzie's sister Ava, more interested in socializing than school, until she meets an earnest young lawyer. MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO plays Inez, Colombian-born maid for the Marchettas, who takes the sisters into her small apartment when their house burns down. BRENT SPINER plays Tommy, former boxing promoter and the Marchetta sisters' father's business partner -- he's obviously shady from frame one. ANJELICA HUSTON plays Fabiella, owner of a rival cosmetics company who wants to buy out the Marchettas. She's a ruthless businesswoman, but fair. LUKAS HAAS plays Henry, a lawyer who works at a free law clinic and takes on the girls' case when they suspect foul play. He becomes the object of Ava's affection when her fiancé abandons her. MARCUS COLOMBA plays Rick, a lab technician at Marchetta Cosmetics who likes Tanzie and helps the girls solve the case. OBBA BATATUNDE plays Craig, the usually distracted accountant at Marchetta Cosmetics who talks on his cell phone constantly. BRANDON BEEMER plays Mic, Ava's fiancé, who stars in a soap on TV and dumps her, through his agent. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick look at the content found in this teen comedy that was rated PG. Profanity consists of at least 1 "s" word, while a few other expletives and some colorful phrases are uttered. Non-explicit, but sexually related dialogue is present, there's brief kissing, and some cleavage is present (including from some prostitutes seen in jail). Brief drinking occurs and a prescription drug comment is made, some characters smoke, there are brief shots of diseased, pussy skin, and some characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. There's some tense family material, while some slapstick style material (including that resulting in a broken nose) is also present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Characters drink liquor at a nightclub. A girl in a club tells Tanzie, "I'm gonna have to give you one of my Prozacs unless you chill." At a party in memory of the girls' dead father, background guests drink champagne. BLOOD/GORE A TV documentary called "The Evils of Epidermis" features Victor's declaration of his desire to help people with "natural" skin care, and we see several shots of diseased skin on a woman's face that show pussy, gross sores. This image is cut-and-pasted into a TV story about Victor's cheating, so we see it three or four times. Tanzie worries that "people pee on the seats" in city busses. Ava says, "I gotta pee," to get out of a meeting. Inez tells the sisters, "While I'm cleaning up after bulimics in Bel Air, I would appreciate a little bit of help around here," to get them to clean the apartment. The girls clean toilets to get access to files in the office (we only see their backs, standing in stalls). At the office, assistant Jaden (Reagan Dale Neis) has recently had a nose job, resulting in a big bandage and black eyes. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE The girls are repeatedly ignorant and arrogant concerning "poor people" or "regular people." Tommy calls the sisters and Fabiella a "powwow of squaws." Ava calls a desk clerk a "nasty little hotel tool." The girls disguise themselves to sneak into an office and steal files. Rick jokes that he was a "gang banger," then says no, but he had his "juvie moments," in order to explain how he's able to pick a lock to get the girls into the file room. Tanzie worries, from off-screen, that the tattoo her cellmate "Butch Brenda" gave her is not henna, as she was told. Tommy tries to cheat the sisters and ruin their father's good name, in order to sell the company. FRIGHTENING SCENES A rat in an alley by Inez's apartment scares the girls (not so much scary as comic, but they jump, comically). While they've snuck into the office at night to steal files that will exonerate their father, the girls and Rick run into guard dogs, who bark and chase them, never getting very close. Rick and Tanzie jump off a fire escape into a trash bin to escape the dogs, but Ava falls, with a thud (on top of bags of paper, so she's unhurt). GUNS/WEAPONS None IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Nasty little hotel tool," "Screwed up," "Dang," "I feel so last year!", "I'm God's personal joke!", "I wrote the freakin' list," "We're being totally dissed," "This thing is screwier than Courtney Love," "You must be a stone moron," "You smell like Satan's armpit!" "Powwow of squaws," "My life sucks" "Jeez" and "Everything's gone to hell." To escape detection at the office, the girls and Rick jump into the trash from the fire escape. After seeing Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich," Tanzie dons a short skirt, push-up bra, and tight, cleavage-revealing t-shirt to convince an archivist at a TV station to let her see some files. JUMP SCENES None MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) None. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) Lyrics in one song: "My life sucks" and "Everything's gone to hell." PROFANITY At least 1 "s" word, 2 damns, 1 hell, and 1 use of "For God's sakes." SEX/NUDITY Ava and Tanzie wear tight, short skirts and clingy tops throughout the film. They are high fashion celebrities, like Paris Hilton, with less visible cleavage. At the nightclub, Mic and Ava kiss on the dance floor when they first see each other. At the nightclub, Mic offers to sign a fan's "abs," and makes Ava jealous. In the office, Craig (Obba Batunde) says into his cell phone, "I prefer very hard pressure," then says he's talking about his shiatsu massage, but it sounds like an inappropriate sexual comment. At a party, Fabiella tells the sisters she sees one of her ex-husbands across the room. The camera cuts to show a young man flirting with a young woman at the bar, and then she warns the sisters, "Never go younger." When the house burns, the sisters run outside in their slips, with tea tree oil masks still on their faces. This makes for a tabloid photo the next day, suggesting they are afflicted by the bad makeup, as well as dressed in their slips. Bored by Tanzie's flirting with Rick, Ava says, "While I can appreciate the exchange of sexual banter here, there are dogs outside that want to rip our faces off." Fabiella has her masseuse, Tran, massage Ava's temples and feet -- not sexual exactly, but seductive. On a soap opera (mostly off screen), a female character says, "I'm so sorry I slept with your father, I deserve to die!", then admits that her suicide attempt was taking three months' worth of birth control pills. After seeing Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich," Tanzie dons a short skirt, push-up bra, and tight, cleavage-revealing t-shirt to convince an archivist at a TV station to let her see some files (she leans over the counter, just like Roberts, to show cleavage). The guy's point of view shows her bent over figure and bare back (no butt crack visible). In a jail cell, Tanzie befriends three very tough-looking prostitutes (wearing standard movie prostitute outfits -- tight skirts, low cut tops), and instructs them in the art of naturally clear skin. Tanzie tells Ava and Henry, "Just kiss and get it over with." At the end of the film, Ava and Henry kiss in the hallway, while Tanzie and Rick kiss in the lab. SMOKING Ava smokes once, Etienne smokes cigarettes a couple of times (with cigarette holder), and several miscellaneous characters smoke in various scenes. TENSE FAMILY SCENES The sisters cry over their dead father. Ava tells Tanzie to "give it a rest" (watching her father's video tape), so Ava can make room on the TiVo for Mic's show. The sisters argue over their lost fortune, and Tanzie grabs cigarette out of Ava's mouth. When Fabiella tries to win over the sisters (even offering them the use of one of her staff psychiatrists, insinuating the girls are unstable), Tanzie gets mad at Ava for "falling for" the ploy. Ava tells Henry that her mother is living in Europe with an Egyptian prince, has changed her name, calls her daughters her "cousins," and sends emails every couple of years. In the car, Ava tells Tanzie to "grow up." Ava and Inez argue when Inez worries that the girls were out late. She explains that she feels like their "mother," and that's "what mothers do." Girls are upset to learn that their old family friend, Tommy, has tried to cheat them and besmirch their father's good name, in order to sell the company. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Victor's belief that "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Living without credit cards. Cheating in business. Lying to find out information, for a "good cause." Sisters' intimacy and loyalty, even when facing hardships. VIOLENCE Frightened guests at a testimonial run out the door in a panic, after they believe the makeup they've put on will damage their skin. An angry crowd outside the Marchettas' house throws eggs and yell. After they've snuck into the office at night to steal files that will exonerate their father, the girls and Rick run into guard dogs, who bark and chase them, never getting very close. Rick and Tanzie jump off a fire escape into a trash bin to escape the dogs, but Ava falls, with a thud (on top of bags of paper, so she's unhurt). Jaden, her nose healed, is so angry with Tommy (who has been found out as the culprit) that she slams him with her clipboard and breaks his nose. Reviewed August 18, 2006 / Posted August 19, 2006

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