''Love Don't Cost a Thing'' (stylized as ''Love Don't Co$t a Thing'') is a 2003 American

teen Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by

Troy Beyer Troy Byer (born November 7, 1964) is an American psychologist, author, director, screenwriter, and actress. Early life and education Born in New York City to an African Americans, African-American mother and white father, Byer spent the firs ...

and starring

Nick Cannon Nicholas Scott Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American television host, actor, rapper, and comedian. In television, Cannon began as a teenager on ''All That'' before going on to host ''The Nick Cannon Show'', ''Wild 'n Out'', ''America's G ...

and

Christina Milian Christine Marie Flores (born September 26, 1981), better known as Christina Milian (), is an American actress and singer. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but raised in Maryland, she signed a contract with Murder Inc. Records at the age of 19. ...

. It also stars

Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American television host, producer, actor, and comedian. He hosts ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', ''Family Feud'', '' Celebrity Family Feud,'' the Miss U ...

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also th ...

, and

Kal Penn Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, academic lecturer, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor, he is known for his role portrayin ...

. The film is a remake of the 1987 film ''

Can't Buy Me Love "Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was included o ...

'' and takes its title from the

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

song of the same name.

Plot

Alvin Johnson is an extremely intelligent

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...

skilled in designing car engines. He has also taken up a job as a pool cleaner, to raise money to buy a

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...

, a part needed to build an engine for a scholarship project that will ensure him a full ride to the school of his choice. Alvin has always dreamed of hanging out with the popular kids, especially Paris Morgan, a beautiful, popular cheerleader dating

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

star Dru Hilton. When Paris crashes her mother's

Escalade {{Unreferenced, date=May 2007 Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare, ...

during an argument with Dru, Alvin agrees to repair the car using the money he had earned for his project, jeopardizing his scholarship opportunity, after a few missteps, Paris eventually pays him back by giving him a $1,500 makeover and agreeing to pretend for two weeks that she's dating Alvin. Alvin then begins to ingratiate himself with the popular crowd. He and Paris grow closer as she shares with him her secret love of music and he shares with her that he knows how to build car engines. Paris begins to develop feelings for Alvin and at the end of their two-week dating period, she tries to hint that she would like to kiss him. However, Alvin misinterprets her and goes along with their original plan of a public break up at school. Even after the break up, Alvin continues to grow in popularity, alienating his former nerdy friends and flirting with Paris's friends. Paris is unhappy to realize how shallow and vapid her friends are, and by extension, Alvin. Tired of him constantly ditching them in favor of the popular kids, Alvin's friends confront him on the matter, during which Alvin's sister Aretha overhears. She comes to realize that Alvin paid Paris to date her seeing how he has nothing of value after his big makeover. She tells their parents, who attempt to talk to Alvin, but he blows them off. At the end of the year on Senior Ditch Day, Paris asks Alvin to hang out as real friends, but a newly egotistical Alvin insults her. They argue and storm off from each other. Dru is also at the party to meet up with Paris but breaks up with her when he finds out she had been "dating" Alvin. In an attempt to win Dru back, Paris reveals the truth about her and Alvin to the whole school, and Alvin is immediately ostracized. Now back to being unpopular, Alvin finally realizes he does not have the camshaft for his project. Alvin's father Clarence pays for the camshaft, telling Alvin that they will work out a plan later to pay him back while also explaining to Alvin that he'd supported his sudden transformation because he wanted Alvin to have the same experiences he did while he was in high school, seeing as he was one of the most popular guys at his school. He also admits that he didn't have Alvin's brains or potential but he's always been proud of his son. With this confidence restored, Alvin builds an engine with the part his dad bought. Alvin's friends push the broken car they had been working on into the garage. They congratulate him on a job well done on completing the engine but are still angry with him for blowing them off. Alvin sees that their car needs a new engine so he installs the one he just built to restore their car, telling them to let him have it sometime within that next week so he can present it to the scholarship committee. Alvin's friends forgive him. Together, they all attend a school basketball game where Alvin stands up for his nerd friends against the basketball players. Alvin finally redeems himself in front of everyone and his friends become friendly with the popular crowd. Alvin leaves the gymnasium, and as Paris follows him out, she is stopped by Dru. Paris blows him off and chases after Alvin. They finally kiss and agree to start a real relationship.

Cast

as Alvin "Al" Johnson *

as Paris Morgan *

as Clarence Johnson *

Vanessa Bell Calloway Vanessa Bell Calloway ( Bell; born March 20, 1957) is an American actress. Beginning her career as a dancer, Bell Calloway became known for her film roles as Princess Imani Izzi in the 1988 comedy ''Coming to America'', as well as for her roles ...

as Vivian Johnson * Ashley Monique Clark as Aretha Johnson * Elimu Nelson as Dru Hilton * Al Thompson as Ted *

Sam Sarpong Samuel Osei Sarpong Jr. (19 December 1974 – 26 October 2015) was a British actor, supermodel, and musician. He performed in over sixty feature films and fifty-five television shows, including such films as ''Carmen The Hip Hopera'', '' Love D ...

as Kadeem * Russell W. Howard as Anthony *

as Walter *

as Kenneth Warman * Kevin Christy as Chuck Mattock *

Melissa Schuman Melissa Amber Schuman (born August 21, 1984) is an American singer and actress best known for her role in the all-girl teen band Dream and their platinum hit "He Loves U Not". Schuman has gained some success in acting with appearances in movie ...

as Zoe Parks * Nichole Galicia as Yvonne Freeman *

Reagan Gomez-Preston Reagan Amyre Gomez-Preston (born April 24, 1980) is an American television, film and voice actress. She is known for her roles as Zaria Peterson on The WB sitcom ''The Parent 'Hood'' (1995–1999) and Roberta Tubbs on the FOX animated comedy ...

as Olivia *

Nicole Scherzinger Nicole Scherzinger (; born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente, June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and television personality. She is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, one of the best-selling g ...

as Champagne Girl *

Stuart Scott Stuart Orlando Scott (July 19, 1965 – January 4, 2015) was an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and anchor on ESPN, most notably on ''SportsCenter''. Well known for his hip-hop style and use of catchphrases, Scott was also a regular ...

as Himself * Peter Siragusa as Ben * Imani Parks as Mia * Shani Pride as Jasmine * Gay Thomas Wilson as Judy Morgan *

Dante Basco Dante R. Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's ''Hook'', and Julian Lee in '' Fakin' da Funk'', and for his many vo ...

as Spoken Word Artist * J.B. Guhman Jr. as JB * Ian Chidlaw as Eddie

Production

The school scenes were filmed at

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on December 9, 2003 by

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...

. It peaked at 22 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

and 14 on the

Top Soundtracks The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

. ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' rated this soundtrack three stars out of five. # "Shorty (Put It on the Floor)"- 4:09 (

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), known professionally as Chingy, is an American rapper. Chingy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and began rapping in his late teens. He toured as an opening act with Nelly in the summer of 2002 and then ...

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

and

) # "Luv Me Baby"- 4:27 (

Murphy Lee Torhi Harper (born December 18 1979), better known by his stage name Murphy Lee, is an American rapper, best known as a member of the hip hop group St. Lunatics. His debut album, '' Murphy's Law'', peaked at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 m ...

featuring

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, (born April 15, 1974), professionally known as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Sho'nuff Records, to wh ...

and

Sleepy Brown Patrick Leroy "Sleepy" Brown (born January 24, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Savannah, Georgia. He is one-third of the successful Atlanta-based production team of Organized Noize, which has created hits for act ...

) # "

Ignition (Remix) "Ignition (Remix)" is a song written and produced by American R&B singer R. Kelly. It was released in 2002 as the lead single from his sixth studio album ''Chocolate Factory'' (2003). It is viewed as one of his most well-known songs and was a maj ...

- 3:08 (

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

) # "Are You Ready"- 4:13 (

Mr. Cheeks Terrance Kelly (born March 28, 1971), known professionally as Mr. Cheeks, is an American rapper best known for his work with the musical group Lost Boyz, and as a solo artist with the single "Lights, Camera, Action!". Biography 1991–2019: L ...

) # "Got What It Takes"- 3:00 (Jeannie Ortega) # "

Pass the Courvoisier, Part II Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland *Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass (strait), Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower plac ...

"- 4:11 (Busta Rhymes featuring

P. Diddy Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

) # "Exgirlfriend"- 4:02 (

Nivea Nivea (, stylized as NIVEA) is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG. The company was founded on 28 March 1882, by Paul Carl Beiersdorf. In 1890, it w ...

) # "How Far Will You Go"- 3:45 (

Ginuwine Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (born October 15, 1970), better known by his stage name Ginuwine, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. He began his career as a member of Swing Mob in the early 1990s. Signing to Epic R ...

) # "Comes to Light (Everything)"- 4:48 ( Jill Scott) # "Always"- 4:21 (

) # "Baby Girl"- 4:06 (

Joe Budden Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American media personality and former rapper. He first gained recognition as a rapper with his 2003 top 40 single " Pump It Up" and as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse. In ...

) # "I Wanna Kiss You"- 4:30 (

Nicole Wray Nicole Monique Wray (born May 2, 1979), also known as Lady Wray, is an American singer and songwriter. Her 1998 debut single "Make It Hot" was certified gold. Early life Nicole Monique Wray was born on May 2, 1979, in Salinas, California, to ...

) # "We Rise"- 4:04 (Rama Duke) # "Hate 2 Luv U"- 3:29 (

3LW 3LW (initialism of "3 Lil Women") was an American girl group formed in 1999 by Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Naturi Naughton. Jessica Benson later replaced Naughton after she left the group in 2002. 3LW was signed to the label Epic Recor ...

) # "She Is"- 3:33 ( Hous'ton) # "Spit da Flow"- 3:32 (Cash Take & B. Griffin)

Box office

The film opened at #4 at the U.S. Box office raking in $6,315,311

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

in its first opening weekend behind '' Stuck on You'', ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 epic period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Ken Watanabe in the t ...

'', and '' Something's Gotta Give''.

Critical response

The film has received mostly negative reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 13% based on reviews from 72 critics. The site's consensus: "A stale, unnecessary remake of ''

''." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a score of 37% based on reviews from 23 critics.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

, film critic of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', gave the film a positive three-star rating after giving the original, ''Can't Buy Me Love'', only half a star. Ebert describes the remake as wiser and less cynical than the original and suggests that it might have some insight into the insecurities of high school.

Awards and nominations

; 2004 BET Comedy Awards * Outstanding Directing for a Box Office Movie —

(nominated) ; 2004 Teen Choice Awards * Choice Breakout Movie Star, Female —

(nominated) * Choice Movie, Date Movie (nominated) * Choice Movie Chemistry — Christina Milian,

(nominated) * Choice Movie Liar — Nick Cannon (nominated) * Choice Movie Liplock — Christina Milian, Nick Cannon (nominated)

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 2003 films 2003 comedy films 2000s hip hop films 2000s teen sex comedy films 2000s teen romance films African-American comedy films Alcon Entertainment films Remakes of American films American teen comedy films Films directed by Troy Beyer Films scored by Richard Gibbs Films shot in California Warner Bros. films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films