DVD: Picture this (12)

Tossing aside her economics textbook and swapping her high-necked T-shirt for a low-necked one, Mandie (Ashley Tisdale, the blonde from High School Musical) becomes the high-school princess of her dreams.

By falling into a swimming pool, she gets the attention of Drew, the hottest guy in the school and – oh, my god – he wants to hang out with her. The best bits of this film are the stretches of goofy girl-power lite where Mandie's two sidekicks help her achieve her dreams by going to the mall, buying a dress and then pretending to be Spanish laundry women to get into a party. But This Picture lacks the dances and the perfectly confected, candy-sweet naivety of High School Musical, and gives us a more ramshackle coming-of-age plot whose characters are more cardboard than candyfloss. This Picture also features the most heavy-handed product placement ever. As so many plot twists hinge on mobile-phone video clips, the whole thing comes to resemble a long instruction video for teenagers on the different social uses of video phones – primarily, videoing your rivals vomiting. Watch to remind yourself what a horrible combination technology and obnoxious teenagers make.