Madeline
Paradise Hills was just as bad of a movie as all the reviews make it out to be. I should have listened to all the warning signs of the low reviews, but it looked like it could have been great and so I went ahead and watched this movie. It did have so much promise! It could have been a great movie! But it fell flat in so many ways. How could so many talented people create a movie that is this horrible?
Premise of Paradise Hills
It all starts with Uma, played with one of my favorites and also star of The Holidate, Emma Roberts. She is well behaved and likeable at her wedding to a noble and rich man who she cannot wait to spend her wedding night with. Rewind two months, and Uma wakes up in a room with no windows or doors. It turns out she is in a retreat, ran by Milla Jovovich, to give her treatments to turn her into the simple and well behaved lady that her mother has promised her fiance she would be.
She is joined in her treatments by three other girls. A Chinese peasant trying to fit in with her affluent Aunt and Uncle, played by one of my other favorites, Awkwafina. A fat southern bell who is to transition into a beauty queen like her sisters. And a pop star that decided to go rogue by making her own music rather than make the music that makes her production team money.
Why This Movie Was Bad And The Opportunity It Had?
Just in writing the premise I am finding more issues with this movie. Let’s start with the potential. The movie takes place in the future, but there was little that was done to make this a necessary part of the plot. Next, they are on an island, why the “Hills” part of the title? The treatments are glazed over and not explained what they do. Finally, the characters, specifically that character who Awkwafina (generally a hilarious and meaningful actress) plays, all fall flat. The characters are explained as mischievous, but other than the occasional cigarette, they are not as vibrant as the storyline suggests nor am I made to care if they escape Paradise Hills.
The esthetic of the movie was fantastic. There were unique costumes and sets that popped and made this movie appealing from the beginning. The cast was fantastic with star after star, amazing actress after amazing actress. The plot of turning vibrant girls into simple well behaved ladies was fantastic. Not a unique plot line, but had enough substance to it to make it interesting. But the execution and writing was horrible. Someone needs to attempt to make this movie again and then, perhaps then, Paradise Hills would be a great movie.
Final Thoughts
Can we rewind the clocks to when the first discussions of making Paradise Hills started? Can we rewrite the script and change a number of other horrible decisions that were made? Then this could actually be an amazing movie that it could have been. Oh what could have been?
