The Hottie and the Nottie
Encyclopedia
The Hottie And The Nottie is a 2008 romantic comedy film starring Paris Hilton
, Joel Moore
, Christine Lakin
, and Greg Wilson
. It was written by Heidi Ferrer (Dawson's Creek
). The film started shooting in January 2007 and was released February 8, 2008. Its first-day earnings were $9,000, and it went on to earn $27,696 on its opening weekend, each theater averaging $249. The film was a critical failure and Hilton won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, making it her second Golden Raspberry Award.
and meets up with his geeky best friend Arno, whose mother has an unnatural amount of information about Cristabel, and perhaps an unusual relationship with her son.
Cristabel jogs on the beach every day with many suitors trying to catch her eye, including an albino stalker
. But she's still single, and there is a reason: Cristabel is still best friends with the same short, unattractive brunette girl whom Nate also knew in elementary school, June Phigg.
Nate reintroduces himself to Cristabel and they hit it off. However, Cristabel refuses to go on a date with Nate unless June has a date as well. Nate sets out to find a boyfriend for June, but guys recoil at the sight of her. One day at the Santa Monica
Pier, Johann Wulrich, an attractive dentist
who works as a part-time model, appears in their lives. He seems to want to do a makeover on June when he apparently sees her inner beauty. With June dating Johann, Cristabel finally begins dating Nate, per his original plan.
Over the next few months, as Nate and June become friends and she emerges from her cocoon, with her face and appearance slowly transforming into that of an attractive woman whose beauty begins to compare with Cristabel, Nate slowly realizes that June may be the girl of his dreams.
reported that 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 61 reviews, concluding that "The Hottie and the Nottie is a crass, predictable, and ineptly staged gross-out comedy that serves little purpose beyond existing as another monument to Paris Hilton's vanity." Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 7 out of 100, based on 18 reviews — indicating "extreme dislike or disgust." It scored zero percent among notable critics on Rotten Tomatoes, seven percent among Rotten Tomatoes "cream of the crop" and a 1.7 among metacritics users. IGN
gave it a 0-star review, noting that the film "presents a problem because there are just no words to adequately express how clumsy, trite and deeply offensive it is from start to finish." Rolling Stone
film critic Peter Travers gave the film a half-star rating, saying that the half-star was because "it takes guts (or gross dim-wittedness) [for Hilton] to appear on screen again after House of Wax
." Nathan Lee of The Village Voice
called it "crass, shrill, disingenuous, tawdry, mean-spirited, vulgar, idiotic, boring, slapdash, half-assed, and very, very unfunny." Online film critic James Berardinelli
described the film's comedy as "about as funny as the anal rape
scene in The War Zone
". Richard Roeper
called the film "excruciatingly, painfully, horribly, terribly awful," and argued that "nobody in this movie really should have a career in movies". BBC
reviewer Mark Kermode
called it "a fascist eugenic
tract...it's disgusting".
John Anderson of Newsday
, while panning the film, was one of a handful of critics to see merit in it. He gave the film two out of four stars and concluded that "The Hottie and the Nottie is no worse in many ways than a lot of teen-centric comedies, which generally appeal to their audience through cruelty and vulgarity."
The film featured on several worst of 2008 lists, including that of The Times
, New York Post
,
The Star-Ledger
, The Tart
, and Metromix
.
The film was awarded Golden Raspberry Awards
for Worst Actress (Paris Hilton) and Worst Screen Couple (Paris Hilton and "either Christine Lakin
or Joel David Moore") and was nominated in three additional categories (Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay).
, the movie has grossed $1,596,232 worldwide as of June 17, 2008.
For its release in the United Kingdom
, the film was advertised as "The Number One Film", with small print
revealing its being number 1 on the IMDb Bottom 100. The film opened at 32 and grossed $34,231 in 28 theaters in the UK.
on May 6, 2008. Bonus features include:
The film has been aired on Bravo! several times.
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
, Joel Moore
Joel Moore
Joel David Moore is an American actor who has appeared in television commercials, feature films, and television series. He is best known for his roles as Owen Dittman in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Dr. Norm Spellman in Avatar, Colin Fisher in Bones and J.P...
, Christine Lakin
Christine Lakin
Christine Helen Lakin is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/CBS situation comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc in Showtime's Reefer Madness...
, and Greg Wilson
Greg Wilson
Greg Wilson is a DJ and producer associated with both the early 80’s electro scene in Manchester, and the current disco / re-edit scene, for which he’s acquired a global following...
. It was written by Heidi Ferrer (Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
). The film started shooting in January 2007 and was released February 8, 2008. Its first-day earnings were $9,000, and it went on to earn $27,696 on its opening weekend, each theater averaging $249. The film was a critical failure and Hilton won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, making it her second Golden Raspberry Award.
Plot
Nate Cooper just cannot get it together with women. But he also cannot forget his first crush, the tall, attractive, blonde Cristabel Abbott, from their time in elementary school. Nate sets out for the beaches of CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and meets up with his geeky best friend Arno, whose mother has an unnatural amount of information about Cristabel, and perhaps an unusual relationship with her son.
Cristabel jogs on the beach every day with many suitors trying to catch her eye, including an albino stalker
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
. But she's still single, and there is a reason: Cristabel is still best friends with the same short, unattractive brunette girl whom Nate also knew in elementary school, June Phigg.
Nate reintroduces himself to Cristabel and they hit it off. However, Cristabel refuses to go on a date with Nate unless June has a date as well. Nate sets out to find a boyfriend for June, but guys recoil at the sight of her. One day at the Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
Pier, Johann Wulrich, an attractive dentist
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
who works as a part-time model, appears in their lives. He seems to want to do a makeover on June when he apparently sees her inner beauty. With June dating Johann, Cristabel finally begins dating Nate, per his original plan.
Over the next few months, as Nate and June become friends and she emerges from her cocoon, with her face and appearance slowly transforming into that of an attractive woman whose beauty begins to compare with Cristabel, Nate slowly realizes that June may be the girl of his dreams.
Cast
- Paris HiltonParis HiltonParis Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
- Cristabel Abbott - Joel David MooreJoel MooreJoel David Moore is an American actor who has appeared in television commercials, feature films, and television series. He is best known for his roles as Owen Dittman in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Dr. Norm Spellman in Avatar, Colin Fisher in Bones and J.P...
- Nate Cooper - Christine LakinChristine LakinChristine Helen Lakin is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/CBS situation comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc in Showtime's Reefer Madness...
- June Phigg - Greg WilsonGreg WilsonGreg Wilson is a DJ and producer associated with both the early 80’s electro scene in Manchester, and the current disco / re-edit scene, for which he’s acquired a global following...
- Arno Blount (credited as "The Greg Wilson") - Marianne MuellerleileMarianne Muellerleile-Life and career:Muellerleile was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Margaret and Cecil E. Muellerleile, an oil company executive....
- Mrs. Blount - Johann UrbJohann UrbJohann Urb is an Estonian-American actor and former model.-Biography:Johann was born in Tallinn as a son of a musician Tarmo Urb. At the age of ten Johann moved to live in Finland with his mother and her new Finnish husband. Mostly they stayed in Tampere. When Johann turned 17, he moved to the ...
- Johann Wulrich - Scott Prendergast - Randy ("Creepy Albino Stalker")
- Karley Scott Collins - Young Cristabel Abbott
- Caleb Guss - Young Nate Cooper
- Kurt Doss - Young Arno Blount
- Alessandra Daniele - Young June Phigg
Critical reception
The film received extremely negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 61 reviews, concluding that "The Hottie and the Nottie is a crass, predictable, and ineptly staged gross-out comedy that serves little purpose beyond existing as another monument to Paris Hilton's vanity." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 7 out of 100, based on 18 reviews — indicating "extreme dislike or disgust." It scored zero percent among notable critics on Rotten Tomatoes, seven percent among Rotten Tomatoes "cream of the crop" and a 1.7 among metacritics users. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave it a 0-star review, noting that the film "presents a problem because there are just no words to adequately express how clumsy, trite and deeply offensive it is from start to finish." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
film critic Peter Travers gave the film a half-star rating, saying that the half-star was because "it takes guts (or gross dim-wittedness) [for Hilton] to appear on screen again after House of Wax
House of Wax (2005 film)
House of Wax is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It shares the name of a 1953 horror film, which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum. It was released in theaters on May 6, 2005 to negative reviews, but a financial success...
." Nathan Lee of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
called it "crass, shrill, disingenuous, tawdry, mean-spirited, vulgar, idiotic, boring, slapdash, half-assed, and very, very unfunny." Online film critic James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
described the film's comedy as "about as funny as the anal rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
scene in The War Zone
The War Zone
The War Zone is a 1999 drama film written by Alexander Stuart, based on his novel, and directed by Tim Roth. The film takes a blunt look at incest and sexual violence in an English family.Upon its release, the movie won nine awards and 10 nominations....
". Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
called the film "excruciatingly, painfully, horribly, terribly awful," and argued that "nobody in this movie really should have a career in movies". BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reviewer Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
called it "a fascist eugenic
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
tract...it's disgusting".
John Anderson of Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, while panning the film, was one of a handful of critics to see merit in it. He gave the film two out of four stars and concluded that "The Hottie and the Nottie is no worse in many ways than a lot of teen-centric comedies, which generally appeal to their audience through cruelty and vulgarity."
The film featured on several worst of 2008 lists, including that of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
,
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
, The Tart
The Tart
-History:The precursor of The Tart was a Bristol University newspaper edited by Tobes Kelly in the first six months of 2007. The Tart was set up as a response to a perceived lack of variety in the student newspaper market, and Kelly's desire to revive student satire through enabling and encouraging...
, and Metromix
Metromix
Metromix is a network of local entertainment websites backed by a joint venture between media companies Gannett and Tribune Co. A guide to local restaurants, bars and clubs, events, concerts and movies, Metromix is currently available in over 60 markets. In late 2009, the company launched 27 new...
.
The film was awarded Golden Raspberry Awards
29th Golden Raspberry Awards
The 29th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony was held by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation to "honor" the worst films of 2008 on February 21, 2009 at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood, California. Nominations were announced on January 21, 2009; The Love Guru was the most nominated film...
for Worst Actress (Paris Hilton) and Worst Screen Couple (Paris Hilton and "either Christine Lakin
Christine Lakin
Christine Helen Lakin is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/CBS situation comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc in Showtime's Reefer Madness...
or Joel David Moore") and was nominated in three additional categories (Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay).
Box office performance
The film was a major box office disaster. In its opening weekend the film grossed $27,696 in 111 theaters in the United States, averaging $249 per theater. The Houston Chronicle determined that, based on average ticket prices, this represented an average of 35 people seeing the movie per theatre on its opening weekend, or an average of five per showing. The movie's budget had been over $8,000,000. According to Box Office MojoBox Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
, the movie has grossed $1,596,232 worldwide as of June 17, 2008.
For its release in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the film was advertised as "The Number One Film", with small print
Small Print
Small Print is the debut album by English singer Sam Wedgwood, released in 2006. The album was mastered at Little Tardis Studios and clearly illustrates Sam’s varied, extensive musical tastes and influences, combining a modern acoustic vibe with some funky jazz beats, some dance numbers and real...
revealing its being number 1 on the IMDb Bottom 100. The film opened at 32 and grossed $34,231 in 28 theaters in the UK.
Home release
The Hottie and the Nottie was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on May 6, 2008. Bonus features include:
- Production Commentary
- Actors' Commentary
- 2 featurettes:
- Making a Video Dating Personal Ad
- Paris puts make-up on Joel David Moore.
The film has been aired on Bravo! several times.
External links
- The Hottie and the Nottie at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...