Celeste in the City

Anytime I see a movie about a small town girl moving to New York, I have got to check it out. I just finished watching Celeste in the City and was disturbed by irritating stereotypes about the gay community AND women. First of all, why is it assumed that the "gay" friend knows ALL of the fashion/trends and "snap to it, girl" dialogs? The stereotype is disgusting and needs to stop! Also, the only way she can get ahead in NYC is to get a makeover?! I definitely beg to differ! I mean, what does that say about women that we are immediately about something as soon as we show some cleavage and have a short skirt! Ridiculous. I could see what the movie was trying to do, by trying to make it "cutsey" with a small town girl fall in love and make in the big city, but we really need to cool it with the stereotypes and assumptions that are hurting diversity -be it the gay community, race/ethnicity and women!

I don't know if I can think of a worse movie - from, literally, every angle (writing, plot, acting, music, cinematography). Waste of 120 minutes.

Imagine Carrie Bradshaw before she met the gals and learned to walk in her manolos. Well thats probably what this movie set out to do. Since it is ABC Family you can expect to see nothing more than Grade C fluff. Yet another case of the pretty, ugly girl ala Majandra Delfino in glasses. Did we learn nothing from the genre spoof "Not Another Teen Movie"? The biggest problem with this movie is the blatant stereotypical gay "CHARACTERS". Just what the world needs to see is some more gay CLOWNS on TV. I look forward to a time when gay characters will be given a little more depth than to simply yell "You Go Girl" every now and then. I say shame on ABC Family--next time they should try and get some input from real living, breathing homosexuals before they put on a gay minstrel show.

This movie is wonderful. The cast put in some great performances. Nick Brendons performance as Dana is a particular favourite. The lines are funny and witty and the stereotypes, while exaggerated to the hilt, are obviously done very tongue in cheek. Celeste is wonderful, though I did find the transformation to be a little over the top (Turn her into a mirror image of her sister and suddenly she's hot?). Dana's friend's are particularly amusing, very three stooges. And of course there's Celestes neighbor who for a while could be seen to fit the stereotype of a gay man but the message of the film is clear, don't judge a book by it's cover.

Simple small town girl Celeste Blodgett (Majandra Delfino) moves from Banger, Maine to New York City. She's a recent college graduate with a job at the New York Examiner. Her only local contact is gay cousin Harrison Blodgett (Nicholas Brendon) who uses new name Dana. She believes her interior designer neighbor Kyle Halley (Ethan Embry) is gay due to her hometown friend's opinions about all interior designers being gay. Her entry level fact checker job sucks. Her hero is reporter Lauren Rawley-Simms who has an on-and-off relationship with magazine editor Mitch Tanzer. Dana and his glam squad give her a makeover while Kyle gives her apartment a different makeover.

This is cheap. It's doing the Toronto for New York thing. It's fake 90's New York. The story is formulaic. The title suggests a take on Sex in the City. Majandra does the ugly duckling thing with glasses and transitions into the swan easily. There are no surprises. The humor isn't that funny. Debbie Gibson does have a small role as one of Dana's friends.