Where do I begin? This movie won a People's Choice nomination in 2010 for BEST FAMILY MOVIE!?! Say what? I am the last person in the world to want movies that reflect some artificial moral code - but this is misleading to parents who do feel that way. Lane, our heroine, lies, cheats, betrays her friend, has sex with someone she hardly knows repeatedly - and is really turned on by make-up sex. Personally, I think that's cool - but just a very odd heroine for a family movie.
That said, to me the movie itself played a lot like Sex and the City for the 20-something set. There is good girlfriend chemistry between the photographer, model, and Lane as they play cards with male torsos, etc., and joke about their guilty pleasures. As a movie, I found this sporadically amusing with a few of the photographer bits and one office bit very funny. I thought the friends did an excellent job doing their things. The film was well-paced, and there was some funny dialog. The acting in most of the supporting roles is fine - especially the affable Tom who must've had to work hard to say his lines with a straight face and still pull them all. Jaime Presley who plays Cosmo Editor Kate does likewise.
Obviously, as others have pointed out, the plot contrivances themselves regarding how she gets the Cosmo Story Assignment and how she gets the investment banking job are ridiculous - but what else is new in most comedies. You suspend your disbelief to accept the premise. That's OK with me.
So, Executive Producer Hilary Duff did a better-than-average job in putting together a Sex and the City for the 20-something set but not a family movie. Lead actress Duff is an abomination. Even given her character's moral wavering and hypocrisy, her dialog was still written well enough, she could've been a 20-something Carrie Bradshaw (narration, shoes, and all). Carrie has certainly had such lapses and we cheer when she looks in the mirror, learns, and leaps forward.
Not here, unfortunately. Duff was engaging child actress but she if this is representative work, she is gosh-awful as an adult. Her comic timing is off; her dialog reads project more than the hammiest emoters I have ever seen on stage; and her expressions do not connect with the interaction of her fellow actors.
Still, I was in a good mood and the plastic-wrap scene itself was funny enough so I gave it a 5. Ms. Duff should stick to producing and find another leading lady. Perhaps she can do a cameo.
