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

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by Troy Beyer and starring

Nick Cannon Nicholas Scott Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American comedian, television presenter, actor, and rapper. In television, he began his career as a teenager on Nickelodeon's '' All That'' before going on to host '' The Nick Cannon Show'', '' ...

and

Christina Milian Christina Milian ( , Flores; born September 26, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Following a number of minor television and film roles in the late nineties, Milian made her recording debut on American rapper Ja Rule's 20 ...

. It also stars

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

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since Saturday Night Live season 29, 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the ...

, and

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

. 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 and B-side, A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The s ...

'' and takes on its title from the

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

song of the same name. The remake was not produced by

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

(which the original was).

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 t ...

who is 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 syst ...

, a part needed to build an engine for a scholarship project that will ensure him a full ride to the school of his choice. When Alvin is not working he spends his time hanging out with his friends rebuilding a car. Realizing that he and his friends are on the verge of graduating high school, Alvin grows frustrated with the lack of memories he created for himself over the last four years, mad that he and his friends settled for less when the more popular kids including one Paris Morgan haven’t. Alvin has dreamed of dating Paris. When Paris crashes her mother's Escalade during an argument with Dru, her NBA Rookie boyfriend, 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 initial plan of a public break up at school. Even after the break up, Alvin continues to grow in popularity, estranging 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. While changing to not being popular, Alvin finally realizes he never had 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 nor potential, but he's always been proud of his son. With this confidence restored, Alvin builds an engine with the part his father 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 nerdy 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 begin a real relationship.

Cast

as Alvin "Al" Johnson *

as Paris Morgan *

as Clarence Johnson (father of Alvin) *

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'' and its sequel. Since the ...

as Vivian Johnson (mother of Alvin) * Ashley Monique Clark as Aretha Johnson (sister of Alvin) * Elimu Nelson as Dru Hilton * Al Thompson as Ted * Sam Sarpong as Kadeem * Russell W. Howard as Anthony *

as Walter *

as Kenneth Warman * Kevin Christy as Chuck Mattock * Melissa Schuman as Zoe Parks (Paris' best friend) * Nichole Galicia as Yvonne Freeman (Paris other best friend) * Reagan Gomez-Preston as Olivia *

Nicole Scherzinger Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Scherzinger ( ; ; born June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and television personality. She was a member of the girl group and dance ensemble the Pussycat Dolls between 2003 and 2010. With ...

as Champagne Girl *

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

as Himself * Peter Siragusa as Ben * Imani Parks as Mia * Shani Pride as Jasmine * Gay Thomas Wilson as Judy Morgan (mother of Paris) * Dante Basco 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 Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, California. The film was shot on October 9, 2002.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

music was released on December 9, 2003 by

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

. 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 Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and 14 on the Top Soundtracks. ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' 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 and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), better known by his stage name Chingy, is an American rapper. He toured as an opening act with fellow St. Louis rapper Nelly in 2002, and signed with Georgia-based rapper Ludacris' record label, D ...

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper. He began recording as a member of Hip-hop, hip hop group D.I.T.C., Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) in 1992, and pursued a sol ...

and

) # "Luv Me Baby"- 4:27 ( Murphy Lee featuring

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, known professionally as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, rapper, singer and songwriter. He founded the record label Sho'nuff Records in 1995, through which he signed R&B singer Ciara in 2003. He produced h ...

and

Sleepy Brown Patrick Leroy "Sleepy" Brown (born January 24, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is one-third of the Atlanta-based production team of Organized Noize, which has created hits for acts such as Outkast, Goodie Mob an ...

) # " Ignition (Remix)- 3:08 ( R. Kelly) # "Are You Ready"- 4:13 ( Mr. Cheeks) # "Got What It Takes"- 3:00 (

Jeannie Ortega Jeannette "Jeannie" Ortega (born November 19, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, writer, and journalist. She made her recording debut in 2006 with the album ''No Place Like BKLYN'' at the age of 19. The album featured the single "C ...

) # " Pass the Courvoisier, Part II"- 4:11 (Busta Rhymes featuring P. Diddy and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

) # "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, who also makes the Eucerin brand. ''Nivea'' comes from the Latin adjective ''ni ...

) # "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 R&B singer. He began his career as a member of the musical collective Swing Mob in the early 1990s. As a solo act, he signed with Epic R ...

) # "Comes to Light (Everything)"- 4:48 ( Jill Scott) # "Always"- 4:21 ( Melissa Schuman) # "Baby Girl"- 4:06 (

Joe Budden Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American broadcaster and former rapper. He first gained recognition with his 2003 single " Pump It Up", which peaked in the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and preceded the release of h ...

) # "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. In the 2010s, she began pursuing a more traditional soul sound, first as part of the d ...

) # "We Rise"- 4:04 (Rama Duke) # "Hate 2 Luv U"- 3:29 ( 3LW) # "She Is"- 3:33 ( Hous'ton) # "Spit da Flow"- 3:32 (Cash Take & B. Griffin)

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #4 at the American box office raking in $6,315,311

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

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

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and 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 Tom Cruise, ...

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

Critical response

The film has received mostly negative reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

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 criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

, film critic of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'', 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 — Troy Beyer (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 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s hip-hop films 2000s teen romance films 2000s teen sex comedy films 2003 comedy films 2003 films African-American comedy films Alcon Entertainment films American teen comedy films Films directed by Troy Beyer Films scored by Richard Gibbs Films shot in California Remakes of American films Warner Bros. films English-language sex comedy films English-language romance films English-language musical films 2003 musical films