Pretty Outrageous

This low-budget musical comedy could use a few more laughs and general tightening up, but it's acceptable fare for young kids. Pretty Outrageous is very much in the style of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon movies: It's clean and generally conflict-free. The girls seem nice enough, though their individual personalities aren't clearly defined. Among the young cast members, Adler is an Olivier nominee and Georgia Marie Hair (playing an older, sullen teen) has a lovely singing voice. The movie's laughs come from Richardson -- who's also a Brit, but who pulls off a flawless Southern California accent. His deceptively slow-burning takes are genuinely funny and sometimes unexpected.

This is a family affair: Director/co-writer Elizabeth Blake-Thomas cast her daughter, Isabella, as a lead (she writes two of the songs) and two other of her children in small roles. Some truly puzzling things happen in the end, but this is the kind of movie that's not intended for rigorous analysis. If it were, we'd all be wondering what all these English girls are doing in the Santa Monica/Marina Del Rey area in the first place -- and why two of them barely react when they find out their grandfather might be about to die.