So Undercover (2012) Reviews

• bad mix

  SnoopyStyle2015-01-24

  Molly Morris (Miley Cyrus) is a private investigator working with her dad ex-Dallas cop Sam (Mike O'Malley). FBI Agent Armon Ranford (Jeremy Piven) is working a case against the Georgian mafia and he needs her to watch over college girl Alex Patrone (Lauren McKnight). Alex is the daughter of an important witness and she may be holding some evidence. Sam continues to gamble and Molly needs money to pay off the debt. The grimy Molly has to infiltrate a sorority. This starts off as somewhat serious. That could actually work but it goes kind of silly. The girls are either Bs or really stupid. This feels like there are two movies trying to come out on top. It's not silly enough to be Disney teen frivolity. It's definitely not serious but the camera sometimes use shaky hand held style. The styles are all wrong and conflict with each other. It's like somebody thought that Hannah Montana needs to be filmed by Paul Greengrass. If they wanted to do a realistic movie, that would be interesting to see. It would be like Veronica Mars goes to college. Also the name of the movie is horrible and somebody should be fired for it.

• looks really familiar

  cra29892012-12-06

  From the clothes, to the make-over, to the speech at the end of the trailer, where all you have to do is replace "pearl-white Bentley" with "world peace," this movie looks like a very poor knock-off of 'Miss Congeniality.' They didn't even attempt to use a different agency investigating into whatever the actual problem was--in both movies, it was the FBI. Hairdresser and a make-up artist that insult her while she's getting a makeover for her FBI assignment? Hmm, seems familiar. A little bit. Handcuffs in her hand on the cover while she's dressed up (and for the character, that IS dressed up)also seems vaguely reminiscent of a certain Sandra Bullock movie.

• This is not a good movie

  thenekassyni2013-01-16

  I think this would be OK for the very young kids that still like Miley Cyrus but for anyone older I think this is a waste of time. Miley Cyrus is not a good actress, plain and simple. She can get away with Hannah Montana but continuing to act like so is not going to work in her favor. It was hard to sit through the movie for me and I highly advise anyone to steer clear as well. It's a very cheesy movie, not like a good B movie or a good comedy movie...not even a teen movie like in the 80's. I'm not sure how to classify this as it doesn't live up to expectations for any of the categories.

• A lame vehicle for Miley Cyrus - nothing more than Miss Congeniality/Kindergarten Cop for undiscerning teenaged girls.

  barnabyrudge2012-12-14

  In her latest attempt to graduate from kids TV starlet to serious Hollywood actress, Miley Cyrus takes on the unlikely role of an all-action private investigator. The film is a strictly formulaic Miss Congeniality/Kindergarten Cop clone, in which the young sleuth is recruited by the FBI for an undercover job in a posh 'n' bitchy sorority house in New Orleans. One presumes that the target audience is teenaged girls who don't care much for high quality cinema… they will probably find something to enjoy in the film. Meanwhile, for the rest of us the film is a long slog which manages to make 94 minutes feel more like 194 minutes. Private eye Molly Morris (Miley Cyrus) specialises in photographing philandering husbands cheating on their wives in the Dallas area, helped by her dad Sam (Mike O'Malley), an ex-cop who now dabbles in surveillance work. FBI agent Armon (Jeremy Piven) approaches Molly with a new assignment… he needs someone to track down some ledgers that are crucial to an upcoming court case. Apparently, there's a strong possibility that the ledgers are being hidden by a college student named Alex (Lauren McKnight) who is resident in a sorority house in New Orleans. Worse still, Armon is convinced that someone in the house is not who they claim to be and plans on harming Alex if the ledgers don't materialise soon. Initially unwilling to accept the job, Molly is forced to change her mind when her father's gambling spirals out of control, resulting in sizable debts. She switches her identity to 'Brook Stonebridge' and goes undercover as a college student on transfer from Hawaii. The rest of the film deals with Molly/Brook's escapades in the sorority house, where she tries to fit in with her weird, wacky and often downright air-headed sorority sisters. On the one hand, she must find the ledgers and uncover the 'mole' in the house. On the other, she has her own blossoming romance with college biker Nicholas (Joshua Bowman) to contend with, as well as a new-found interest in her college studies. There's little to say about So Undercover – it knows its target audience and gives them what want and expect of a film of this kind. Beyond that, it has no wider aspirations as a piece of cinema. The story is by-the-numbers in the extreme, with obvious red herrings and lots of lame dialogue. The attempts to give Cyrus an action-woman makeover are embarrassing to say the least, although once the action moves to her undercover assignment in the sorority house she does at least look more slightly more suited to the role. The film was pencilled in for an autumn 2012 release at American cinemas but was later shelved and sent direct-to-DVD… it did manage a brief tenure at UK cinemas, but disappeared extremely quickly. Films bomb for a reason… and upon watching So Undercover you won't need to be much of a detective to figure out that this one simply isn't very good.

• You don't need a wrecking ball to notice that So Undercover is a mess of a movie. This movie is so underdeveloped.

  ironhorse_iv2015-10-03

  OMFG, This campus comedy direct-to-video movie needs to be school on, how to make a successful comedy. It's because this movie is pretty mediocre. Directed by Tom Vaughan, So Undercover tells the story of Molly Morris (Miley Cyrus), a successful private investigator who specializes in adultery cases. Gaining the respect of the FBI; Molly starts working with them under Agent Armon Ranford (Jeremy Piven)'s control. Ranford recruits her, to pose as a transferring sorority sister under the name, Brooke Stonebridge at a New Orleans college in order to cozy up to Alex Patrone (Lauren McKnight), a potential witness in an important Russian mafia investigation. Can Brooke AKA Molly protect Alex from those who are seeking to hurt her, or will the criminals get, what they want for her? Watch the movie to find out, if you really want to! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, Miley Cyrus's acting skills are so limited and green here. Cyrus's only previous successful work before this; was playing a young singer that has a double life in the 2006-2011's TV show 'Hanna Montana'. Seeing, how much that role mirror her real-life, it's not much, of a stretch in the acting field. She looks so uncomfortable, with her role, here, as if she didn't want to do it, but had to. Miley Cyrus barely had any chemistry with anybody else on screen. Her character's relationship with Nicolas Dexter (Josh Bowman) felt a bit forced. I really didn't see them, falling in love, at all. The only redeeming aspect of the movie is the tender and close relationship between Molly and her father, Sam (Mike O'Malley), but it's far too short. Worst of all, She really look like a fish out of water, big time, when she's acting with the much, much superior actor in Jeremy Piven. Who, by the way, gives a hell of a performance, here! I really surprised, how much work, he really put in, into his role and not phone it, in. He really outshine his co-star, Cyrus. Miley Cyrus in the other hand, is way too young for this role. Cyrus was 19 years old at the time, playing somebody that should had been in their mid-20s. Even, if she's playing a character that supposed to a bit older, it doesn't explain, how her character is so successful. It's clear, that her character never went to college or had any other police/military training, so where did, all her investigating skills came from? Another thing, where did she get all that equipment in the beginning? Her father, Sam? I doubt, it with his gambling troubles. Another problem with her playing Molly, is her look. Her body is such a small frame, and her face, child-like. It's a bit jarring for me, to watch her, act as if she was a badass. I never saw much Jiu Jitsu skills that she bragged about in the beginning. The whole motorcycle scenes really didn't fit, with her character. It was a bit unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, small frame actresses with a 'southern twang' had played pretty convincing FBI agents in the past; like Jodi Foster in 1991's Silent of the Lambs. So it can be done, but sadly Miley Cyrus can't pull it, off. Have you ever heard the whiny noise a cat makes after you've accidentally stepped on it? That's exactly how Miley Cyrus sounds. The rest of the female supporting cast wasn't all better. Most of them, were playing one-dimensional dumb posh blonde stereotypes. They were all somewhat likable, but a bit annoying at times. Megan Park as Cotton Roberts was funny, but her performance was so over-the-top, I couldn't say, it's good. Kelly Osbourne as Becky Slotsky was meh. It's a bit weird for her, to try to do, a Texan accent at first, and then abandoning it, throughout the film, for her normal British voice. She really got annoying, toward the end, with her b*tchy tone. Last, worth noticing is Eloise Mumford as Sasha Stolezinsky/ Suzy Walters who pretty much channeling her best queen bee, Regina George from 2004's Mean Girls, impression. She was a bit too mean-spirited to be a real character. It's not only the acting that's the only weak link, here. The whole movie has problems, like the very predictable and clichés plot. I really didn't like, how the movie like to flashbacks on things, that happen a minute, ago, as if we were too dumb to notice, the minor twists. Anybody with eyes can see it, from a mile, ago. Even the "big twist" can be deciphered halfway through the movie. Despite, not making no sense, afterwards. The action scenes in this film are limited, and not fun to watch. The humor in this movie really falls flat and wasn't funny. The only reason why, anybody would watch this, now is to see what Miley Cyrus look like, before she went overboard with not wanting to be known as Hannah Montana. So Undercover is one of the last film, Miley Cyrus did, before ditching her squeaking clean Disney image. She then, went forward in trading her country-grass singing roots for the over the top, over-sexuality, pixel hair Madonna rip-off pop star delusion persona. It's nice to see her, try to act like a normal person, here, before she gave up, and commits to being a loud, boisterous hypocrite that sleeps with anybody for attention. Overall: This movie is epitome of the recycled garbage produced by the entertainment industry. It's has little to no different, between other teen noirs film & television programs like 2007's Veronica Mars, 2007's Nancy Drew, and last, 2010's Uncovered Princesses. It's so sad, that many teen are still sucked into the hype that this is something new. It isn't. This movie isn't a party in the U.S.A. It was bad. Miley Cyrus's fans might love it, regards what I say, but for me, I don't think, I will rewatch this movie. It's not worth the climb.