By Shana Vieau O’Brien

I’m not going to lie. When I was first contacted about attending the press screening of Ramona and Beezus in my area, I had mixed feelings. Feelings like, woot! free movie and press? me? and Ramona? really? is there not a Johnny Depp flick that needs reviewing? But if you know me, you know that woot! free movie won and, hello, I have an 11-year-old daughter, so of course we would be first in line to see a Selena Gomez movie.

Also, until the movie began, I was not certain I could tell the difference between Selena Gomez, Demi Lavato or Mirando Cosgrove. Frankly, still not sure. But I digress…

Carlie and her friend Hannah and I headed off to the *free* movie, wherein *free* = we did not pay for tickets, but we spent $32 at the concession stand. Free? Heh.

I’m not going to lie. The filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing when they cast this film. Selena Gomez? The two 11-year-old girls with me could not have been more thrilled. But mommas, fear not. Your needs were not overlooked in this movie.

SIDE NOTE: Have I ever told you about the time I wept openly while watching Sex in the City because my beloved DJ Chris from Northern Exposure had made a grand comeback as Carrie’s boyfriend Aidan? True Story.

Not gonna lie. Had to stop and process the fact that one of the men from my Top 10 Hotties of all time list is now playing the dad character. Way to make a gal feel ancient. But any movie casting John Corbett in a leading role is going to, at the very least, get my attention.

It was somewhat less traumatizing to have Leo from All My Children play the hot-and-reformed bad boy next door. OMG, do you remember the Leo & Greenlee love story? Swoon.

As for the movie. The girls loved it. And I am willing to drop my hardcore rock-n-roll-mom persona (bwahaha) long enough to admit that I enjoyed it to. Both of my girls cried at the sad part. And then they both cried at the happy part. And then I said oh, holy hell, preteen hormones, someone save me.

As far as finding a movie suitable for the preteen girls that I had with me, this movie was the perfect mix of goofy little sister, pretty/cool teen sister, cute boy/innocent crush and family. It was definitely more Junior Chick Flick than kiddy movie. Which suited my girls just fine.

Between the three of us we give it six resounding thumbs up (as opposed to the last movie I saw with Carlie, which she gave two thumbs down and one finger up the nose. It was that bad.)

Ramona and Beezus opens nationwide July 23.

You can read more of Shana’s writing on her blog – So Not Zen.

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