So Undercover
So Undercover | |
---|---|
Directed by | Tom Vaughan |
Written by | Allan Loeb Steven Pearl |
Produced by | Steven Pearl Allan Loeb Tish Cyrus Nigel Sinclair Tobin Armbrust |
Starring | Miley Cyrus Jeremy Piven Mike O'Malley Josh Bowman Kelly Osbourne Megan Park |
Cinematography | Denis Lenoir |
Edited by | Michael Berenbaum Wendy Greene Bricmont |
Music by | Stephen Trask |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Millennium Entertainment |
Release date | February 5, 2013 |
Running time | 94 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $15 million[2] |
Box office | $3 million[3] |
So Undercover is a 2012 American action-comedy film directed by Tom Vaughan and written by Allan Loeb and Steven Pearl. Starring Miley Cyrus, Jeremy Piven, and Mike O'Malley, the film was released for the first time in the UK on December 7, 2012,[4] and released direct-to-video in the United States on February 5, 2013.[5] The film has been released in theatres of only 13 countries worldwide. The film was held back without a release date from 2011 until 2013.
Plot
Molly Morris, a private investigator based in Dallas, takes photos of cheating men. During one of her investigations, FBI Agent Armon Ranford offers her a job with the FBI, to watch over Alex Patrone, the daughter of a Senator, who was involved in an organized-crime case. Molly is reluctant at first but ultimately decides to accept Ranford's offer. She goes undercover as a sorority student named Brooke Stonebridge and receives help from her father.
She meets Sasha Stolezinsky, the head of the sorority, and other members, including Becky, Cotton, Hunter, and Alex, whom she has been hired to protect. At first, she thinks that Sasha may be a suspect, but as it turns out, she only changed her identity from Suzy Walters so she could start a new life rather than continue to be an outcast. Molly also meets her love interest, Nicholas Dexter, another student at the college. Molly begins to suspect one of her professors, Professor Galloway, when she discovers that Alex secretly goes off to his home on a lake. She continuously reports back to Ranford, who at one point tells Molly that Nicholas Dexter, her love interest, is not his real name.
She does not believe him and soon figures out that Ranford is not who he says he is. One night, she follows Alex to Talloway's home, only to discover that her professor is actually a federal agent. She encounters a gunman, from whom she escapes. She figures out that Ranford is actually behind the mask, who drives off with a kidnapped Alex, and soon finds Talloway injured from a gunshot wound outside his home. When she returns to the sorority house, she encounters two federal agents working on the case. They are hesitant to believe her at first, but Morris convinces them to help solve the case with the help of her sorority sisters. They execute the plan, rescue Alex, and corner Ranford, who is arrested. Alex hands over an SD card, with the evidence in her father's case, to Molly, who hands it over to the FBI.
The FBI is pleased with Molly's work, and she is offered to continue working for them. She declines and instead wants to continue going to college. Two months pass, and she is taking photos of a guy Cotton is dating. Nicholas comes up to her, revealing they are dating and they kiss as the film ends.
Cast
- Miley Cyrus as Molly Morris/Brooke Stonebridge
- Jeremy Piven as Armon Ranford
- Mike O'Malley as Sam Morris
- Lauren McKnight as Alex Patrone
- Josh Bowman as Nicholas Dexter
- Kelly Osbourne as Becky Slotsky
- Eloise Mumford as Sasha Stolezinsky
- Megan Park as Cotton Roberts
- Morgan Calhoun as Hunter Crawford
- Alexis Knapp as Taylor Jaffe
- Autumn Reeser as Bizzy
- Matthew Settle as Professor Talloway
- Brittney Lisette Babin as Summer
Production
Casting
In 2010, Miley Cyrus was announced as portraying Molly Morris, Mike O'Malley would portray Molly's father, Jeremy Piven would portray Armon, Kelly Osbourne would portray Becky, and Josh Bowman would portray Nicholas; Eloise Mumford, Lauren McKnight, and Matthew Settle, among others were announced to be in the cast.
Filming
Principal photography began in December 13, 2010, in Mobile, Alabama,[6] and at Tulane University. The filming finished in January 2011. On August 15, 2011, new scenes were filmed at University of California in Los Angeles and finished days after. Filming was supposed to be held in Sydney, Australia,[7] but this was cancelled for undisclosed reasons.
Release
In March 2011, Exclusive Media Group, the film's studio, announced that the Weinstein Company acquired the U.S. distribution rights for the film, and said, "the film will be released in October 2011 when schools are back in session."[8] The film was not released in October 2011, though, but instead in September 2011. In October 2012, the U.K. theatrical trailer was released, which announced a release date of December 7, 2012. Later, distributor Millennium Films announced they had acquired the U.S. distribution rights for the film, and said that the film would have a direct-to-video release in the United States on February 5, 2013. The film has been released in theatres of nine countries worldwide; six European markets and three Asian ones. So Undercover was released in Australia on April 10 as a direct-to-video release as it was in the U.S.[9] The film was set to be released in 2011, but it was released in 2012.
Critical reception
The film has received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with a "Rotten" rating of 6% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews.[10]
References
- ^ "SO UNDERCOVER (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. October 16, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
- ^ "Fastlane NextGen: Initial Certification Search" (Type "So Undercover" in the search box). Louisiana Economic Development. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
- ^ https://m.the-numbers.com/movie/So-Undercover#tab=summary
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/nov/08/so-undercover-miley-cyrus-trailer
- ^ So Undercover at IMDb
- ^ Bord, Christine (December 12, 2010). "Miley Cyrus begins filming 'So Undercover' in New Orleans". On Location Vacations. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
- ^ Tabone, Bernard (August 11, 2011). "Gallery Updates Filming at the UCLA Campus". Miley Cyrus BZ. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
- ^ "The Weinstein Company Goes "So Undercover" for Miley Cyrus Vehicle". Indiewire. March 2, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2013.
- ^ "So Undercover (Blu-ray/ Digital Copy)". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
- ^ "So Undercover (2012)". Retrieved June 7, 2020 – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
External links
- 2012 films
- 2010s action comedy films
- American independent films
- American action comedy films
- American films
- English-language films
- Exclusive Media films
- Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Films directed by Tom Vaughan (director)
- Films shot in New Orleans
- Films about fraternities and sororities
- Direct-to-video action comedy films
- 2012 independent films
- Films scored by Stephen Trask
- 2012 comedy films