Does Sleepover hold up?

Let’s find out: 

So we start off with Julie Corky (was Julie Snorky not available?) (Alexa Vega/Alexa PenaVega) having a sleepover with Hannah Carlson (Mika Boorem), Farrah James (Scout Taylor-Compton), and Yancy Williams (Kallie Flynn Childress). Regina George wannabe Staci Blake (Sara Paxton) challenges the girls to a scavenger hunt. The prize is not having to eat near dumpsters at school lunch time, and…

Roger Ebert already commented on this; so, I’m not going to. 

Anyway, the scavenger hunt includes:

1. A date in a nightclub 

2. A pair of Steve Phillips (Sean Faris)’ boxers

3. Re-dressing an Old Navy mannequin (hello, product placement; but, wouldn’t real-life Old Navy stores hate this kind of behavior in real life?)

Ren/Kylo Ren (Julie’s brother) (Sam Huntington) covers for her. Julie’s parents are Gabby (Jane Lynch) and Jay (Jeff Garlin). 

There is a running gag where Steve Carell continually disrupts the girls.

Julie’s nightclub date turns out to be her teacher, and…

This is getting uncomfortable.

…and the teacher does not discourage Julie from being in the nightclub, he buys a non-alcoholic drink for Julie and, if memory serves, he takes a picture with Julie, and…

I am not a teacher (nor do I play one on TV); but, wouldn’t this be super fire-able behavior?

Sidebar/Salad Bar: A teacher meeting one of his students in a nightclub because of the internet. Tween movie or start of a Lifetime movie?

Anyway, Steve sees Julie skateboard. He digs this behavior, and…

Did they make this movie during the 1990s?

We then get a kind of racy scene where Julie gets Steve’s boxers and she sees Steve undress, and…

Trying not to be a prude here; but, this does feel kind of racy for a PG-rated “take the whole family to it” type of movie.

Tie time! The sleepover list is amended to include the homecoming king or queen crown. Staci actually gets some character development as she bonds with Russell “Spongebob” Hayes/Quicksilver (Evan Peters). 

Steve becomes homecoming king, he has a moment with Julie and he gives Julie his crown. Steve and Julie are about to kiss when Julie gets notified that her mom is coming home. Julie and the girls rush home and they pull the sleeping act. Julie’s mom implies that she knows what happened last night (that came out wrong) and she implies that she is proud of Julie for re-dressing Old Navy mannequins, going into nightclubs, being a Peeping Tom on boys and giving Steve Carell a hard time, and…

Most unrealistic part of the movie to me. If I pulled what Julie did, my parents would’ve talked to me (at least).

Anyway, Julie and Steve kiss. We end with Staci screaming about trash like she is auditioning for the Janet Leigh part in Psycho. 

Sleepover is tween fluff. It came out the same summer that Mean Girls did and it feels like a knock-off of that movie. It did have some character development for Staci and that is rare for this type of movie; however, the movie kind of abandoned her character development. Plus, I had a hard time buying Sara Paxton as a mean girl. There is stuff that you might want to talk about/preview if you watch it with your kids (the tween character setting up an online date in a nightclub and not winding up in a Lifetime movie, etc.).

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