| Director | Dennie Gordon |
|---|---|
| Genre | comedy film, teen film |
| Runtime | 91 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $21.3 million |
Seventeen-year-old twin sisters Jane, an uptight overachiever, and Roxy Ryan, a rebellious, aspiring rock star, are polar opposites who have not seen eye to eye since their mother's death.
The twins live with their widower father in Syosset on Long Island. The two journey into NYC so Jane can deliver a speech for a prestigious college scholarship for Oxford and Roxy can hand her band's demo tape to Simple Plan, who are in town shooting a music video.
Jane and Roxy board the train into the city but are thrown off after Roxy is found without a ticket. Jane flirts with Jim, and a chip device is mistakenly planted in Roxy's bag. Bennie Bang, the man behind the device, offers Roxy a limousine ride, and she accepts, dragging Jane along. He locks them inside, but they escape through the sunroof into the subway. Meanwhile, overzealous truant officer Max Lomax, is on the hunt for Roxy.
Jane realizes she has left her day planner in the limo, which has money and the prompt cards for her speech. She and Roxy break into an upscale hotel room to freshen up, where they receive a phone call from Bennie who offers to exchange the chip for the day planner. They meet Trey, the son of a powerful senator staying at the hotel, and his mother's dog Reinaldo, who swallows the chip.
Roxy heads to the Simple Plan video shoot, Max on her tail, while Jane meets Bennie for the exchange. When he learns the dog has swallowed the chip, he tries to attack Jane and kidnaps Trey, while Jane escapes to find Roxy. Jane, Roxy, and Reinaldo end up in the underground sewer, with Jane's speech due to begin in less than two hours.
The girls make their way to a Harlem beauty salon, where they receive makeovers, although Max hunts them down and they escape in a cab and later argue. Jane feels that Roxy has never been there for her and never takes life seriously, leaving Jane in charge after their mother's death. Conversely, Roxy believes Jane does not need to take control of everything and feels she is being pushed away.
Jane goes to meet Bennie, who takes her to his mother's, the head of a DVD and CD pirating operation. Roxy finds Bennie's limo, retrieves Jane's day planner, and frees Trey, who is locked in the trunk. They both rush to the building where Jane is to give her speech. When they arrive, Roxy poses as Jane to give the speech, but drops the prompt cards so has to improvise.
Jane turns up and explains why she was not there. Suddenly, Max and Bennie arrive, Bennie's illegal doings are exposed, and he is arrested by Max. As Jane leaves with Roxy, one of the judges catches up to Jane after finding her prompt cards and gives her a college scholarship to Oxford, because she "didn't just want to win, she absolutely refused to fail."
Months later, Roxy is in the studio recording with the band, watched by Jane, Trey, Jim, and even Max (now an official police officer) as they celebrate all together.