Diamond in the Rough movie storyline. After the death of her parents, Ariana Alvarez (Samantha Boscarino) is lost and can’t hold down a 9-5 job no matter how hard she tries, which isn’t that hard…. To help her navigate post-college life, her doting Tío Jorge (Carlos Lacámara) gets her a seasonal membership at his swanky country club and challenges her to make some friends… complete with a hopelessly hot caddy (Griffin Johnson).
But Ariana soon learns that life among the wealthy and golf-obsessed is a lot like being back in high school: cliques abound, mean girls everywhere, and only the richest kids get to call the shots. Will the country club change Ariana–or will it be the other way around?
Diamond in the Rough is an American comedy film directed by Jeannette Godoy and starring Natasha Behnam, Samantha Boscarino, Caitlin Carver, Andy Cohen, Charlie Farrell, Charlie Farrell, Gabi Feingold, Pat Finn, Eve Torres Gracie, Carolyn Hennesy, Griffin Johnson and Peter Karas. The screenplay was written by Grace Church, Crystal Ferreiro and James Sommers.
Film Review for Dimmond in the Rough
From its faux female-empowerment storyline to its you-go-girl ethos, so much of Jeannette Godoy’s romantic comedy feels planted firmly in 2010s millennial culture. Given a membership by her millionaire uncle to his exclusive country club, our scrappy protagonist Ariana (Samantha Boscarino) spends the whole movie girlbossing her way to the top. She even manages to find love on the way.
Centring its comedy around the clash between Ariana’s rebellious nature and the snobbery of the private club – which manifests in the terrifying form of posh queen bee Skyler (Caitlin Carver) – Diamond in the Rough attempts to update the mean-girl trope with a painfully superficial dose of class consciousness.
The positioning of Ariana as an underdog is quite ludicrous, considering how her family connections land her a personal interview with a media mogul. For a self-proclaimed Gen Z with a social justice conscience, it is bizarre that Ariana’s response to the hierarchical, old-fashioned exclusivity of the club is … to recruit hipper members. The film’s decision to frame her romance with Jason (Griffin Johnson), an employee at the club, as a badass act of defiance also rings hollow.
While cliches are a built-in feature of romcoms, the predictability of everything anyone says is so glaring that it becomes impossible to overlook the plot implausibilities. The flatness of cinematography doesn’t help: with all the charm of a nondescript commercial, you cannot help but long for the golden days where romance films tried to be visually appealing. It is a testament to Boscarino’s charisma and comic timing that she manages to deliver an entertaining performance, encumbered as she is by the surrounding lack of inspiration.
Diamond in the Rough (2022)
Directed by: Jeannette Godoy
Starring: Natasha Behnam, Samantha Boscarino, Caitlin Carver, Andy Cohen, Charlie Farrell, Charlie Farrell, Gabi Feingold, Pat Finn, Eve Torres Gracie, Carolyn Hennesy, Griffin Johnson, Peter Karas
Screenplay by: Grace Church, Crystal Ferreiro, James Sommers
Production Design by: Candi Guterres
Cinematography by: Megan Stacey
Film Editing by: Kristine McPherson
Costume Design by: Samantha Kuester
Set Decoration by: Ashley Medrano
Art Direction by: Rose Westerman
Music by: Lauren Culjak
MPAA Rating: R for language and sexual references.
Distributed by: CreatorPlus
Release Date: June 24, 2022
Views: 62
