Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Troy Beyer

Writers (WGA):

Michael Swerdlick (screenplay)
Troy Beyer (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 December 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

Love Don't Co$t A Thing but it pays to be yourself

Plot:

Highschool loser (Cannon) pays a cheerleader (Milian) to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool. Remake of 1987' Can't Buy Me Love, starring Patrick Dempsey. |

Plot Keywords:

Love | Cheerleader | Remake | High School Basketball | Teenage Boy

Awards:

6 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 10	8:00 PM	OXYGEN
Tue. Nov. 10	10:00 PM	OXYGEN

Cast

Nick Cannon	...	Alvin Johnson
Jordan Burg	...	Little Boy
Jackie Benoit	...	Old Lady
George Cedar	...	Old Man
Gay Thomas-Wilson	...	Judy Morgan (as Gay Thomas Wilson)
Al Thompson	...	Ted
Sam Sarpong	...	Kadeem
Nichole Mercedes Robinson	...	Yvonne Freeman (as Nichole Robinson)
Melissa Schuman	...	Zoe Parks
Imani Parks	...	Mia
Ian Chidlaw	...	Eddie
J.B. Ghuman Jr.	...	JB (as JB Guhman)
Christina Milian	...	Paris Morgan
Russell Howard	...	Anthony
Elimu Nelson	...	Dru Hilton

Also Known As:

Can't Buy Me Love (USA) (working title)
If You Were My Girl (USA) (working title)
Love Don't Co$t a Thing (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content/humor. (edited version)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Germany:6 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (edited for re-rating) (certificate #40254) | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Long Beach Polytechnic High School - 1600 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Alcon Entertainment

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Walter walks into the locker and falls down, you can see the mat on the floor.

Quotes:

Paris Morgan: Look, Al, I think you're starting to feel yourself way to much.
Alvin Johnson: I do not! Who told you that, Walter? My mother said you'll go blind!
Paris Morgan: Look, whatever!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Love Don't Cost a Thing' (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Tired of Being Alone

It may not cost a thing, but you'd have to *pay* me to re-watch a mere second of this

I have not had any exposure to the original, though there is no doubt in my mind that it is superior, simply because the opposite would not seem possible. Beyond all else, I feel a great deal of sympathy for everyone who had anything to do with this, and anyone who has tried to fix their eyes upon a screen that was showing it. I don't know where this went wrong. Maybe it was a bad idea to hire some actress to write and helm a flick. I honestly don't know if Milian can act, since no one in this appear to have even a smidgen of a hint of talent in the craft, and it may, at least partially, be related to the direction. Heck, not everything in this is awful. It's just that the potency of the "suck" overpowers what relatively little of this that doesn't blow. This is a predictable, tasteless, embarrassing excuse for a romantic teen sex romp. Nobody gets through with their dignity intact. The barrier between the popular kids and the ones not considered "cool" is ridiculously excessive in this, and you find yourself not believing that much of anything that occurs in this could happen in any conceivable universe. This never made me laugh. The "humor" is forced and tries way too hard. Stooping to the lowest common denominator seldom looks *quite* this ugly. The plot slowly unfolds between this cast of caricatures, with nigh a single surprise along the way. There's some eye-candy in this. A bit of the music is OK. I recommend this solely to people who watch all they can get near of this genre of… *sigh*… movie. 1/10