The Slumber Party (2024)

The Slumber Party is a Disney Original Movie, based on the teen novel, The Sleepover by Jen Malone.^[1] It premiered on July 27, 2023 on Disney Channel and July 28, 2023 on Disney+.^[2]

Synopsis[]

The movie depicts the hilarious aftermath of a sleepover birthday party hypnotism gone wrong as best friends Megan (Darby Camp) and Paige (Emmy Liu-Wang), along with soon-to-be step-sister Veronica (Alex Cooper Cohen), wake up with absolutely no memory of the night before. Now they must retrace their steps to find missing birthday girl Anna Maria (Valentina Herrera) … and explain why there’s a flock of baby ducks in the bathtub, what happened to Megan’s left eyebrow, and why she’s wearing unattainable hottie Jake Ramirez’s (Ramon Rodriguez) signature black hoodie.

Plot[]

Megan is a 14-year-old girl who is afraid of trying new things. She hangs out with her confident friend Paige and birthday girl Anna Maria, the latter of whom is going through family troubles involving her divorced parents and soon-to-be step-siblings including Veronica, a goofy and overconfident girl. The four girls decide to have a sleepover at Anna Maria's house to celebrate the day before her birthday, which just so happens to also be the day of her father's wedding, something that irritates her, especially when he insists on taking her hiking. Anna Maria's younger sister Penny wants to join the others, but they kick her out. For the night, Veronica invites Mesmer, a hypnotist, who in actuality is a desperate actor. With nothing better to do, the girls agree to have him hypnotize them.

The next morning, Megan wakes up to discover that her left eyebrow has been shaved off and she is wearing the hoodie that belongs to her crush Jake Ramirez, whose house has been TPd. There are baby ducks in the bathtub, Veronica's clothes are on backwards and she is wearing long fingernails, and Paige has literal blood on her hands. Anna Maria is missing and Penny appears to be somewhat ignorant as to what happened as well. Not wanting to let Anna Maria's mother know that they cannot find her, they decide to go looking themselves. Believing that the ducks came from school, the girls hire Paige's older brother Mikey to help sneak them in. Upon returning the ducks, save for one, they find Anna Maria's shoe. The group escape the Principal and drive out to discover that the shoe has paint on it matching the school colors of their rival Hillside.

Mikey drops the girls off at Hillside where they are confronted by the marching band who demand the return of their mascot float Hedgie, showing them video footage of the girls stealing it. They promise to give them back something of theirs if they return it. The girls cannot remember where the float is, but Veronica figures out that Mesmer is working at the Onion Festival. The girls sneak in to try and see him, but end up in the middle of an onion eating contest with Veronica winning, and lose Mesmer. With no other option, the girls go to see Jake who reveals that he has Hedgie in his garage. The girls and Jake ride the float down the street and deliver it to the marching band who reveal that they simply had Megan's outdated phone.

Jake reveals that Penny was the one who filmed their escapades and Paige and Veronica go and torture her dolls to get the truth, while Megan and Jake admit their feelings for each other. Penny admits that Anna Maria left a note for them, but she took it out of spite. The note reveals that Anna Maria went hiking on her own without her dad and the girls find her asleep on a bench with tampons up her bloody nose. Anna Maria admits that she is afraid of change and her expanding family, but the girls comfort her and get her ready for the wedding. Anna Maria makes peace with her family, as Veronica reveals that she is seeing Mikey, much to Paige's chagrin. As the girls privately celebrate Anna Maria's birthday, they run into Mesmer again who gives them trigger word to reawaken their memories, "Freshman". The girls suddenly remember everything that happened last night.

The credits reveal that Paige accidentally hit Anna Maria in the nose, explaining the blood, and that Jake was present when his house was TPd, bonding with Megan right away.

Cast[]

• Darby Camp as Megan Bernadette Brookman^[3]
• Emmy Liu-Wang as Paige
• Valentina Herrera as Anna Maria Guerrero
• Alex Cooper Cohen as Veronica
• Ramon Jose Rodriguez as Jake Ramirez
• Dallas Liu as Mikey
• Caroline Valencia as Penny Guerrero
• Tituss Burgess as Mesmer
• Paula Pell as Principal Petersen
• J.R. Adduci as Mr. Guerrero

Production[]

Filming began on September 27, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia and wrapped on November 12, 2022.^[1][4][5][6]

On June 7, 2023, Tituss Burgess and Paula Pell joined the cast as Mesmer and Principal Petersen, respectively.^[7]

On June 23, 2023, it was announced that the film would premiere on July 27, 2023.^[2]

Trivia[]

• Emmy-Liu Wang is the fourth Raven's Home star to be in a Disney Channel Original Movie after Raven-Symoné (Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, The Cheetah Girls, Zenon: Z3, Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama, and The Cheetah Girls 2), Jason Maybaum (Freaky Friday), and Issac Ryan Brown (Kim Possible).
• This is the second Disney Channel Original Movie to be filmed and set in Atlanta, Georgia after Let It Shine.
• This is the fifth Disney Channel Original Movie to feature LGBTQ+ representation after Under Wraps, Christmas...Again?!, Under Wraps 2, and Prom Pact.
  • Megan has two dads.
• The premise, as well as the book it is based on, is noted to essentially be a kid-friendly version of The Hangover films.
• Like Prom Pact, this film has its Disney Channel premiere on a Thursday and the Disney+ premiere the following day.
• In the Onion Munch challenge, Veronica competed under the name "Esther Chen", which is the same name as a character from The Ghost and Molly McGee.
• Mikey's truck is a late-1970's Dodge D-Series crew cab pickup.
• Mesmer's van is a 1970's-built Volkswagen Campmobile with a customized raised roof.
• Darby Camp, who played Katherine in The Christmas Chronicles Netflix films, gets her first Disney role in this movie.
• Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off", which was the first #1 on American Top 40 from her "1989" album, is brought up by Paige, where she and Megan literally do what the title says in order to get rid of the co*ckroach from Jake's hoodie.
• A VHS tape of Oliver & Company can be seen in the basem*nt.

Gallery[]

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