Bad Hair Day is a Disney Channel Original Movie. It is directed by Erik Canuel, produced by Muse Entertainment and written by Eric M. Gardner, Steven H. Wilson, and Billy & Matt Eddy. The film was executive produced by Leigh-Allyn Baker, Joel Rice, Denise Carlson, Dawn Wolfrom, and Michael Prupas. The film was filmed in Montreal, Canada. It premiered on February 13, 2015.
Plot[]
Set in Boston, Massachusetts, Monica Reeves (Laura Marano), a high school senior and tech wiz, is determined to become prom queen and is planning to go to MIT or a state university. She prepares herself the day before prom so she can save time when it comes, and thinks nothing will go wrong. On the big day, however, she wakes up with a mysterious bad hair day, and everything that can go wrong does: Her prom dress is destroyed, and her shoes break.
Monica answers the door to a woman claiming to be an FBI agent. The woman, Liz Morgan, seeks a necklace that Monica purchased at an antique shop, wanting to recover it and get her job back. In verifying Liz's credentials, Monica discovers that Liz is not actually an FBI agent but a private investigator. Monica smartly deduces Liz's claim, and she coaxes Liz into giving her a ride around town to fix her hair, replace her outfit, and take her to get driving lessons in exchange for the necklace.
Prom day goes from bad to worse as the pair is pursued by Pierce Peters, an intelligent British jewel thief who is also pursuing the diamond to give it to a buyer. Meanwhile, Monica finds that she cannot get an appointment to fix her hair or replace her dress and shoes. Furthermore, her supposed boyfriend Kyle has been cheating on her with her school rival, Ashley, who is also running for prom queen. It was soon revealed Monica's hair was messed up by overusing the conditioners she used to style her hair with, and never bothered to read the warning labels.
After Liz tries to retaliate by scaring Monica's boyfriend with an arrest on trumped-up charges, Liz gets arrested and Monica learns that Liz is a suspended police officer who has been scolded by the police chief from her department who is also her mother after her previous failures in catching Pierce. While Liz is being scolded, Monica meets her former partner, Ed.
Afterward, Liz confesses that the necklace had a priceless diamond that was on display at a museum that was stolen by Peters, a crime she felt guilty for allowing to take place, as she believed that she could handle it without calling for backup. The diamond was on the verge of being sold to a shady buyer wearing "the safari look," but was passed along to someone else by mistake with a similar look and subsequently lost in various exchanges.
When the time comes to take her driving lesson, Monica talks the instructor and Liz into letting them use her car, named Brando, when suddenly they encounter Pierce and are taken on a wild ride throughout the city. After Monica fails her driving lesson and Liz gets her car towed away, they argue over their predicament, splitting the two of them up. Pierce makes a phone call to Monica, informing her that he kidnapped her father. Monica and Liz work together to get the car back.
Arriving at Pierce's hideout, Liz states that she can't transfer to another police station to get away from the police chief because the police chief is her mother. Monica and Liz are lured into a trap by Pierce, but they outsmart him. After being tasered by Liz, Pierce is arrested by the police. Liz calls for backup.
In the end, Liz is reinstated on the force by her mother. Liz then sorts out Monica's hair and clothes. Monica and Liz go to the prom (with a full police procession), where Monica is told that she has been voted prom queen after her ex-boyfriend's infidelity went viral. Monica tells the crowd that being perfect is overrated, and all enjoy the night. She also decides to go to MIT.
Cast[]
- Laura Marano as Monica Reeves, a high school tech whiz who prefers to choose things based on other people's opinions.
- Leigh-Allyn Baker as Liz Morgan, a "down-on-her-luck cop" who is tracking down a diamond necklace Monica purchased at a pawn shop.
- Christian Campbell as Pierce Peters, a "dogged jewel thief" who is trying to steal Monica's diamond necklace.
- Kiana Madeira as Sierra, Monica's best friend.
- Christian Paul as Ed, Liz's former partner.
- Alain Goulem as Monica's dad who works as a nurse.
- Jake Manley as Kyle Timmons, Monica's former boyfriend.
- Zoe De Grande Maison as Ashley Mendlebach, Monica's competition and arch enemy.
Production[]
Filming commenced in the beginning of July 2014 and ended in August.
In an interview with Variety, Baker said, "I wanted to executive produce because I wanted to see what it was like to build and fulfill a vision from the ground up, and since this was Disney Channel’s first movie with an adult lead, I wanted that role to be protected and I wanted the movie to have my creative stamp on it." She also liked that she got to work on the Disney movie because it taps into her family unit fanbase. Marano also mentioned that it was her first DCOM. Filming took place in Montreal. Marano noted that in contrast to Austin & Ally which had four cameras and shot about ten scenes a day, the film shot with fewer cameras and fewer scenes, one of which took the entire day.
Marano said that she likes that her character embodies two normally contrasting high school cliches - a prom queen nominee who likes beauty and fashion and is popular, and a computer whiz who has a nerdy tech obsession and codes. She also likes that she relates with her character when deciding whether to go to the state college or MIT.
Broadcast[]
The film was first released on February 6, 2015 on WATCH Disney Channel, and had its premiere broadcast in the US on February 13. It is scheduled to premiere in Canada on the Family Channel on March 20, 2015. It was also one of the first Disney Channel Original Movies to exclusively premiere on CGI basic cable and computer-generated satellite television via the WATCH Disney Channel App.
Reception[]
Bad Hair Day delivered 3.97 million viewers for its television premiere and has had 435,000 views on the WATCH Disney Channel app since it was released on February 6. Amy Amatangelo of The Hollywood Reporter found the duo of Baker and Marano "played well off each other", and that Marano's character was "refreshingly age-appropriate". She found the movie to be goofy but not slapsticky, and that it was "like a junior version of Thelma and Louise albeit with a much, much happier ending."
Trivia[]
- This is the final Disney Channel movie to have opening credits until Invisible Sister.
- This is also the second DCOM to take place over the course of one whole day, after Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension.
Video[]
