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Sisters Tanzie and Ava (Hilary and Haylie Duff) have it all: designer clothes to wear, hunky guys to date, and millions of dollars to spend. Their life has been a big party since inheriting their dad’s cosmetics company . . . but the party ends when a product scandal leaves the “celebutantes” without a penny to their name and a fierce rival ready to buy them out. With fickle friends dropping them like flies, the girls are left to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to investigate the dubious scandal, and to defend their honor, fortune and, of course, their image.

Material Girls tries really hard to be a solid movie, but the girls seem to know they are on camera every second. The storyline is honestly reasonable with a good pace and varying situations, even if we feel like we’ve seen this all before. The spoiled-kid(s)-having-the-rug-pulled-out-from-under-them is not as fresh a theme as the Duff ladies may imagine. But perhaps Hilary and Haylie wouldn’t have it any other way.

Throughout the film, both girls are dripping with loads of makeup, chic clothing, and salon hair. Huge, flattering pictures of them are posted all over the company. Interviewed in the supplements, both actresses toss the glamour off as “hilarious.” Admittedly there are a few scenes with the girls in mud masks, dressed up as maids, and falling into a garbage pit. But while watching the movie, almost every second of their behavior comes across with self- indulgence and an attitude of “look how pretty I am.” The excuse is that they are playing these “over-the- top” characters, even saying in the supplements, “we’re not really like that.” Perhaps they aren’t, but it’s a weak defense. Do you think these young women would do any film that wouldn’t allow them to look their most beautiful on screen most of the time?

It’s true that both are good looking young women who look great running in high heels and short, tight skirts. But really, the only thing that saves the actresses vanity is that they are fairly uninhibited and quite sincere delivering their lines and expressing feelings. They are not talking statues. It also seemed that sometimes each of the actresses would adlib a little after a line, which actually gives scenes a little more flare. Haylie Duff is notably more dynamic and frankly more interesting with her bits of happiness, fury, discovery, and sadness. Hilary pulls her own, but it’s difficult to be impressed with her.

I have to say, however, that they have a pleasing camaraderie that works better than I expected onscreen (far better than the Olsen twins). Given a better, less vain project, I think they could make something more interesting. But would they lose their core market of young girls? I guess with a title like Material Girls, I can’t expect to see these two young ladies stretch their acting skills in some brutal action movie. I was just hoping that the film would be fresher. Drippier-than-ever Lukas Haas (give the guy some coffee!) as a love interest but lacks any chemistry with Haylie; a credible Angelica Houston as the competitive viper tries to help the proceedings.

Director Martha Coolidge, who brought us the acclaimed Rambling Rose in 1991 and a generally well-received comedy Out to Sea in 1997, offers some flat direction at the beginning and end of the film. Some occasional panning helps. Otherwise, things look fairly well composed. The secret insidious villain is more than obvious during that particular actor’s first few scenes. Considering the nature of the material, more surprising is Coolidge’s choice of a 2.35:1 widescreen ratio; this movie looks self-consciously wide, around 20:18, for example.

Most published reviews throw darts at this film. Material Girls manages to have a coherent plot despite yawn-inducing clichés and the girls seem committed and sincere, but it doesn’t sacrifice any moment that would be considered less than cute. I suppose the film might appeal to young girls and Duffs fans.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. The saturation of colors is very nice. I was impressed with the richness of primary colors (33:01), and the warm variation of all other colors. Also impressive is how immaculately clean the transfer is. I was hard pressed to find artifacts or anomalies. Contrast is very nicely managed with rich blacks that blend into the windowbox bars and whites that are very clean and defining. Sharpness is another story. Small object details are lacking; the transfer’s slightly soft. Finely grained textures during the girls’ many close ups do reveal quite a bit of detail, but it would have been more revealing with less softness. Compression problems never arose, and I didn’t have any problems with edge halos. While this transfer isn’t perfect, its quality is much more impressive than the movie.

The flip side of the disc is in pan & scan full screen.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The disc includes a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. It quickly becomes obvious that the music eclipses the rest of the film’s audio dynamics. The score displays some clean highs and the bass will kick the woofer awake. Everything else is generic. There is some average stereo imagining among the front speakers, and dialogue is clean and fairly natural. However, there are a few times that the boom microphone must have been too far away, making audible the room acoustics as the girls are walking and talking (10:55). ADR and Foley could have helped. The surrounds are mushy and the application bland, mostly a bit of bleed from the front. They become more vibrant during musical interludes. I don’t recall any discrete sound effects coming from them. The track is decent, just don’t expect too much.

Audio tracks in for Spanish and French are included, both in Dolby Surround 2.0. English Closed Captions and subtitles in English and Spanish are also available.
 
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The audio commentary by director Martha Coolidge is a good one. She talks much about the script’s intent, casting, the Duff’s involvement, and Hollywood locations.  Coolidge takes the film seriously including much of the discussion of lighting and authentic Hollywood culture. Unfortunately, she also explains the action onscreen, but usually she elaborates. While some filmmakers become flippant about their films that were hammered by the press, it’s admirable that Coolidge reveres the filmmaking craft and delivers a good commentary.

Next up is a featurette (9:42) Getting to Know Hilary and Haley as the Marchette Sisters. This is a blend of 1.33:1 video and widescreen clips from the film. The girls are more down to earth in their interactions. But despite the fact that they say the girls they play are over-the-top, it’s obvious they liked the glamour.

After that is another featurette (9:57) Cast of Characters: The Making of Material Girls. This has interviews with the principals, some supporting characters, director Martha Coolidge, a young producer, and the two young, rewriting screenwriters Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin (both writing the upcoming Blond Ambition).

Another featurette (2:24) Material Girls Music Montage is just a collection of bubbly scenes from the film and behind-the-scenes vignettes, all set to a revamped song by Hilary and Haylie heard during the film’s opening credits of Madonna’s 1985 hit Material Girl. It’s notable that Madonna’s production company Maverick Films was involved in the film.

Finally we have a music video (3:12) from Hilary Duff “Playing with Fire” and the film’s theatrical trailer.

This 98-minute film is composed of 24 chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.