Someone Call the Fashion Police

Sometimes a girl just needs to relax. She needs to paint her toenails, eat some chocolate, and turn the thinking side of her brain down a couple notches. Yours truly finds that a good non-thinker chick flick usually does the trick. The chick-flick usually involves your average girl next door in her journey to finding herself and Mr. Right. There are the requisite best friends, Mr. Wrong, and (and this is the most important part) extended montages involving shopping, makeup/hair styling, dancing, and/or trying on clothes.

Now, not all chick flicks are bubblegum and high-heeled shoes. Some fall towards the weepy category. Others star Meg Ryan. There are exceptions, of course, and I do have a few selections from the genre on my shelf. But lately the chick flick has felt more and more formulaic.  But hey! I said I was turning down the thinking side of my noggin. And you should too, because if you don’t, a small but mean headache will occur. You’ve been warned. This week’s movie is: Crimes of Fashion.

Crimes of Fashion was one of those Family Channel (Fox Family Channel? ABC Family?) movies. I’ll tell you what. That channel cranks out movie after movie of mediocre plots and yet I find myself watching them all the time. Christmas is a terrible time to tune in as they must churn out about ten new movies a year just for that one season. It’s like they have a little movie sweatshop in operation.

Okay, back to Crimes of Fashion.  The premise of this gem is that a girl named Brooke (Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco) attends the prestigious Fashion University (I do not make this up) and learns that she’s inherited a mafia family after the death of her long-lost grandfather. Yep….that’s it. I half wonder if someone thought up the title first and then came up with the plot.

Brooke doesn’t look like your average fashion school chick. While most of the students are walking around in crazy outfits,Brooke wears sweats and looks like she might have worn them the day before as well. Brooke’s fashion sense is promising, but she lacks the confidence that we all know is there somewhere.

Megan Fox’s character, Candace, is your run of the mill mega-bitch. She dates the popular guy, and takes every chance to one-up or insult Brooke. She wears her own designs every day. There really isn’t much work for Fox to do in this movie other than sneer and look evil.

Anyways, while on her way to Wedding Dress class, Brooke meets some older man who explains that he worked for her grandfather (of whom she didn’t know existed). She’s understandably upset, and a little freaked out when the old guy (named George) tells her that her grandfather wanted her to go in to the family business. *snort*

George explains that her grandfather wanted to take the business straight, but that he wasn’t able to finish the job. This is where Brooke comes in. Yeah….ok. As crazy as it sounds, Brooke takes him up on the offer. She still goes to class, but she also goes to the mob boss HQ (which I guess is hers?) and meets the boys.

George takes Brooke through a series of confidence training in showing who is in charge and such. Brooke, in turn, gives makeovers to the mob boys. There’s even a fun shopping/makeover montage. Yay!!!

But wait, there’s more! Since the death of Brooke’s grandpappy, the FBI has been on the lookout. They aren’t sure who will take over the business, and there’s also a rival family in town who is looking to take over.

A young FBI agent (named Jack) is assigned to keep an eye on Brooke since she’s the newest player in the criminal underworld. This means that Jack has to enroll at FU (hahahaha). Hilarity ensues since Jack is the worst fed ever. He’s very much like Barney Fife. In one scene he’s holding a giant magnifying glass and is struggling to thread a needle. It’s hopeless.

There are some funny things here at Fashion U. In one class, the professor is explaining pinning material and she’s doing this with like 100 pins in her mouth. She’s about at articulate as Charlie Brown’s teacher. Jack stumbles into class and he and Brooke hit it off right away. They supposed to be fitting partners, but Brooke’s crush (who wears a different colored page-boy hat every day–I call him Pretty Boy Fashion Star) calls her his honeysuckle and asks her to partner up. I think he does it cause she’s smart and not because he likes her. He’s very vapid. There’s one thing about the ABC Family movies—the characters are very one-dimensional, and so you don’t have to use too many brain cells with these. Nice.

My favorite thing is that the whole Fashion University acts like it’s a regular university. There’s a mascot who runs around looking like a spool of thread with a needle in it. He’s in almost every scene at the school.  There’s also an annual Sewing Rally in which students showcase their designs and compete in the Tri-State Sew-Off. Seriously, that’s what it says on the banner. Professors are dressed like refs and one lady says “you call that a pleat?!!” Tee hee.

So word gets out that Brooke might have family connections, and it’s insane. Candace tries to get her expelled (and fails), the press follow Brooke everywhere, and the professors are all flustered. One professor who was criticizing Brooke’s sweatsuit ensemble stumbles all over himself for fear of getting whacked. It kind of reminded me of a scene from The Freshman only  not.

Anyhoo, so there are lots of goings ons in this other than Brooke being a mob boss. Brooke and Jack get very sweet as one would predict since he’s the only other guy in the movie besides Pretty Boy Fashion Star. Evil Candace might be using someone else’s designs as her own. The dean of FU might be embezzling funds. Sal, the other mob boss in town might be after Brooke’s territory. And the future of Fashion University might be in peril!!!! So what does a newly made mafia queen do to save her school? She puts on a fashion show, of course!

It’s fashion night!  Brooke is showcasing her designs. Very nice, but at the same time, wouldn’t it be nice to let the other students pitch in and submit their designs too? No? Okay.  The show is gangster themed. How appropriate! Actually, some of the ladies’ suits are really nice. I’d wear them. I don’t know where I’d wear them, but I would totally do so should such an occasion present itself.

And finally, after all the loose ends are tied up, our movie abruptly ends. Not the scene I described above, but it might as well have been. There are like several scenes after that and then a rush cut to the credits. No fade out, no pull back from the shot, no nothing. Just the lights turned back on and everyone is asked to leave the theater. What’s that about?

So, as I’ve demonstrated, Crimes of Fashion is top-notch on the no-brainer scale of chick flicks (and movies in general). The plot is predictable, the characters are easy to figure out, and the good guys always come out on top. It was a fun movie, actually.  As per usual with any chick flick, the movie can get a little bit heartwarming. Somewhere deep, deep down below where the Balrog sleeps, I might have shed a tear. Whatever. I now have cute, pink toenails and a tummy full of chocolate. I also feel the urge to go shopping. Hmm….