Slap Her, She's French!

She Gets What She Wants, also known as "Slap Her, She's French," this little movie is about a solipsistic Texas high-school cheerleader named Starla (Jane McGregor), whose family takes in a foreign exchange student from France named Genevieve (Piper Perabo). The plot then devolves into a less subtle version of Mean Girls (2004) with the Genevieve becoming popular at school, stealing the affections of the family and taking Starla's place on the cheer- leading squad. Will young Starla be able to take her social life back or will the conniving Genevieve successfully ruin her future.

This movie was released overseas mere months before the invasion of Iraq and wasn't given a TV release in the United States until 2005. By that time freedom-fries were all the rage and Franco-hatred was on the rise. The creators probably felt there was finally a market for this unfairly shelved movie. Thing is this movie is less about Americans hating on France's stance on Iraq than it is a sardonic and satiric look at American culture told from an outsider's perspective. Starla, our protagonist is so insulated to the trappings of American life that she doesn't realize there's something very off about Genevieve. The final reveal at the end of the film only reinforces that idea that our culture as a whole conditions us to be self-centered, confrontational and petty. Even if that comes at the cost of our reputation. Now, in 2015 we've stopped eating freedom-fries but there's not a chance in hell we're eating humble pie.

OK, I'll go out on the limb here by stating that I really liked this movie, and was pleasantly surprised by it. This flick simply does what it says on the cover: a comedy that is actually funny, rather than gross or grotesque. There is a real story, real development, a real turn-around, real acting; the plot is funny, as are the quotes and dialogues ("Our love dried up like a three day-old croissant!") and the running gags (such as the students adopting "Ouais!" as their interjection-du-jour in an attempt to emulate Geneviève, or Starla's alcoholic mum's fixation on her "special" ice tea); in fact, and especially considering the movie's provenience and target audience, the humour is often astoundingly dark. This is all the more laudable as both cast and production are sort of B-listish (by fame, not performance).

My only brickbat would be that I thought that Starla's magic conversion from teenage queen-bee to "real person" with concomitant change of boyfriend was predictable, moralistic, unnecessary and naff.

Just finished watching the film, this movie sucked almost as bad as the title, but a thought suddenly struck me, what would have happened if they had called the film "Slap Her, She's black"? or "Slap Her, She's Muslim"? or "Slap Her, She's Not American" (heaven forbid). Now I am not black, or Muslim, definately not French. I am a white Englishman, a Yorkshireman, religion-less (if that is a word) but perhaps that's just me. Avoid.

Like most people I groaned when I saw the trailer and, ahem, the title for this movie. But I rented the DVD on a whim and hey, turns out this is pretty darn funny after all.

It's not subtle, but it is good fun, which is more than can be said for other teen comedies from 2002. The two leading ladies are genuine stars of the future (McGregor is that rare breed of beautiful actress who isn't afraid to humiliate herself for the sake of comedy) and some of the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny.

If you liked Drop Dead Gorgeous or The New Guy, you'll love this.

I saw this movie back in 2002 when it came out, luckily I went to the cheap theater. Imagine my surprise when I saw a preview on ABC for a new movie, the "Premiere," they were saying. I watched the preview and the more times I saw it the more I insisted to family and friends that I had seen this film. They pointed out it was an "ABC Family Original," and this was the premiere, no way could I have seen it. Raunchy cheerleader moves, flippy hair, French student, girly cat fight, lots of posturing in front of mirrors, yeah I've seen this movie. However, ABC decided to get a little more PC (guess we're on better terms with France,) and they changed the title to "She Gets What She Wants."