Cinema Connoisseur: Double your dose of Duff, consumerism, in Material Girls

Material Girls (2006)

Can you simply not get enough Duff? Well, you are in for quite a treat then. This week's selection features not only one Duff. Not only two Duffs…oh no wait, it does only feature two Duffs. The dynamic sisterly duo of Hilary and Hailey Duff light up the silver screen in Material Girls.

In this light-hearted, fish out of water, journey of self-discovery film, the Duff girls portray the heirs to a multi-million dollar cosmetics company. Hilary stars as Tanzie Marchetta, and Hailey plays her older sister Ava. After the death of their father, the girls are poised to take over the leadership of the Marchetta cosmetics company.


They spend their days getting facials, partying with the young and famous and partaking in shopping sprees…while on the subject of shopping sprees, be sure to head over to www.fsu.on.ca, and enter the “Win Big Event”, where you have the chance to win a $500 White Oaks Mall shopping spree, courtesy of the FSU.

The characters are clearly modeled after famous young socialites such as the Olsen twins, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Thankfully the vomiting scenes were left on the cutting room floor, at least in the version that I saw.

The Marchetta girls go from the penthouse to the outhouse when an investigative news report accuses their father of having ignored test results that caused his cosmetic products to horribly scar some of his customers.

After losing their home, their friends and their credit cards, the girls go on mission — to clear their father's name, and to save the company from a takeover by their biggest rival, Fabiella, portrayed by Oscar winning actress Angelica Houston.

Along the way the girls learn a great deal about whom their true friends are, and also learn a lot about themselves. They also take some time out to play tonsil hockey with some young men — and if you are into hockey of the ice, not tonsil variety, then enter the “Win Big Event” at www.fsu.on.ca to win a pair of tickets to a Toronto Maple Leafs-Edmonton Oilers game at the Air Canada Centre.

Hilary Duff is already a huge star after appearing in such films as Raise Your Voice and The Lizzie Maguire Movie, topping the pop charts, and putting out a successful line of clothing. She is clearly a woman of many talents…and speaking of talent, you can win a pair of Billy Talent tickets by entering the FSU's “Win Big Event” at www.fsu.on.ca. If I were a real journalist, I would have just lost all of my journalistic integrity.


And Hailey…well, who could ever forget her appearance in that one episode of “That's So Raven” back in 2004? I also think she may have been in an oatmeal commercial, but I cannot confirm that. She may not be as famous or as gifted as her sister, but Hailey clearly has a lot to offer. Hailey joins the likes of Frank Stallone, Brent Gretzky and Leon Christ as inferior siblings who have still contributed greatly to society.

Unfortunately, this film did not find an audience during its theatrical release. Or perhaps the audience did not find it. Really, the blame is equally shared — fifty percent for the movie theatres, and fifty percent for you. Well, thanks to the magic of home video, you have a chance to right a horrible wrong. We are living in a material world, so go out and buy Material Girls.