LOVEWRECKED
US, 2006, 83 minutes, Colour.
Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack, Jonathan Bennett, Jamie- Lynn Di Scala, Fred Willard.
Directed by Randall Kleiser.
For the first five minutes of Lovewrecked, our heroine Jenny (Amanda Bynes) screams and screams (she is a mad rock fan of Jason Masters (Chris Carmack). I was tempted to say that when she stops screaming, we the audience start!
This is a teen movie – well, a teeny teens movie, probably most effectively seen with a group of giggling girls who have identified with Jenny and her romantic fantasies about Jason. She and her best friend, the devoted Ryan (Jonathan Bennett) work at a Caribbean resort for the summer. When Jason overnights there and goes on a cruise, becomes seasick and falls overboard, Jenny dives in to rescue him. They are shipwrecked on a deserted beach and Jenny looks after him, lovewrecked. The only trouble is that soon she finds she is on the other side of the island resort, doesn’t tell Jason and…
PG style for teens with a cast that are well-known from TV shows (the ability of Amanda Bynes’ girlish behaviour as absorbingly attractive for Jason and Ryan eludes me) and, of all things, directed by Randall Kleiser who made Grease almost thirty years ago.
1.The intended audience? Teenage girls? Parents? Successful? The appeal?
2.The Boston settings, the city, the rock concert? The transition to the Caribbean, the island, the resort, the sea? Musical score – and rock songs?
3.The title, the play on ‘shipwrecked’? The irony that Jenny and Jason were on the resort island?
4.Jenny, a fan of Jason, her age, screaming? Her love for Jason? Friendship with Ryan? Her parents, their free thinking? She and Ryan going to the resort, their work, the style at the resort, Jenny as a lifeguard, the fat boy and his advances? Jason’s arriving, her falling on the floor, talking with him? Going on the cruise, his falling overboard, throwing the life raft, jumping in? Paddling, the island? Trying to be resourceful – and failing? Her keeping him there, talking, his kind words to her? Her discovering the truth, buying the food, buying the medicines? Her double life? The idyllic life? Alexis and her discovering the truth, following Ryan? Her reaction to Alexis’s arriving, masquerade? The rivalry? The fight? The discovery – and Jason’s reaction? Ryan and his declarations, her not hearing them? The deal, the press conference, her telling the truth? Her lying about Alexis? The hurricane, the rescue by Ryan, the happy ending?
5.Jason, the rock concert, full of himself, his entourage, on the island, the encounter with Jenny? Sick, overboard, on the island, injured, Jenny looking after him, his response, talking with her? The arrival of Alexis, her masquerade? His response? The rescue, his entourage, the press conference, the deal – and the irony of his concert and marrying Alexis?
6.Alexis, the femme fatale style, at the concert, pushing Jenny out of the way? Work at the resort? On the island, her pretending to be French? Her trying to ingratiate herself with Jason? The fight, the happy ending – and the wedding? For how long?
7.Ryan, silent, something of a nerd, his friendship with Jenny, accompanying her to the concert, his lack of interest? On the island, his work, all the different jobs, the massage of the fat lady, dancing? Discovering the truth, helping Jenny? His hurricane, his saving her? The happy ending?
8.The sketch of Jenny’s parents and Fred Willard’s comedy?
9.The people at the resort, the man in charge, his dislike of the entourage? Chase and jive?
10.The satire at the expense of rock stars, their followers, agents? Twisting the truth?
11.The response of teenage girls? Others?
