★★★★⯪

It’s my last summer at Camp Tamarack, and I’m feeling all kinds of emotional about it. I’ve been here since I was six, and now I’m twelve (well, almost thirteen, which is basically a grown-up, if you ask me). I’ve basically grown up at this place; I learned to swim, shot arrows, made my first real friends, and even cried into my pillow a few times because my cabin-mates were being annoying or I missed my dog. Anyway, one of the best part of camp every year is movie night, where we all sit in the lodge with popcorn and fuzzy blankets that smell like the cabin, and this year, we watched The Parent Trap (the 1998 one, not the old one my counselor keeps talking about 🙄).

Let me say…OMG. I. LOVED IT. I know I watched it like a dozen times before, but it feels different when you’re sitting around on the hardwood floors with your best friends laughing your butts off. This one has fencing matches, pranks, and even a golden retriever named Sammy. I mean, what’s not to love? It’s got EVERYTHING: long-lost sisters, pranks, British accents, fancy weddings, a cool butler, and even a secret handshake I’ve already started learning with my bunk-mate Emily.

So the movie starts at this super posh summer camp (like, way fancier than ours, but I love the comfort of Camp Tamarack). Two girls show up, Annie from London and Hallie from Napa Valley. At first, they hate each other (like me and Emily back when she “accidentally” took my last bag of Twizzlers). They start this whole prank war, which leads to them having to bunk together in the isolation cabin. The cabin looks better than the ones we have here, no offense to this camp. I just wish this place would have had something remotely close to the cabins in the movie. A couple of realizations later, and they find out they’re twins! Legit twins! And they’re both played by Lindsay Lohan, which is kind of bananas because she’s just ONE person, but she plays TWO and you honestly forget that because she’s SO good at it. To have to play two characters in your first movie is insane. Like she switches between a British accent and an American accent, like it’s no big deal.

Anyways, back to the movie. They come up with the most genius plan ever: switch places! Annie goes to California to meet their dad and Hallie goes to London to meet their mom. It’s a masterclass in tween mischief and I love it! What’s so awesome is how they start bonding with their other parents. Like Hallie gets all mushy over seeing her mom for the first time and Annie low-key starts getting on her dad’s fiancée’s nerves. Speaking of fiancée, Meredith is evil. She wants to marry Hallie’s dad for his money, and she HATES kids. She tries to act nice, but she’s totally fake, and the twins know it.

I want to have a quick shoutout to Chessy, the housekeeper. She’s literally the MVP of the whole movie. She figures out the switch before the parents do. The way she gets emotional when she figures it out gets me every time. We all need a Chessy in our lives. Same with Martin and the grandfather. They even have their own parts in the act. I think it’s genius.

So the twins cook up this next-level plan to get their parents back together. And let me tell you, I thought my plan to sneak ice cream out of the mess hall freezer was smart, but this? This was 4D chess. With the help of her grandfather, Hallie tells her mom that she’s actually Annie, and that they need to meet up in the States to switch back. They get the whole family to meet up in San Francisco and do this hilarious thing where neither parent can tell which twin is which. The funnier part is that Nick didn’t know they were even coming. It was a surprise. Eventually, Nick and Elizabeth have this super romantic dinner on a yacht, because of course they do. I think the twins wanted to remind the parents of their wedding night on The Queen Elizabeth 2.

But Nick messes it up. Like big time. He chickens out and says something dumb, and Elizabeth leaves all heartbroken, and even the twins are like, “Dude, you HAD ONE JOB.” But the twins don’t give up. They pull their final move: they refuse to tell their parents who’s who unless they go on this camping trip together. All four of them.

That camping trip is one of my favorite parts. Somehow, the mom convinces Meredith to go instead, and the twins go full prank mode, and it is WONDERFUL. Like, we’re talking lizard-on-water-bottle, air mattress floating down the lake, and waking up with sticks in your hair levels of chaos. And when she finally snaps, revealing her evilness to Nick, he picks the kids. And just like that—DISMISSED. Like, why would you pick your fiancée over your own kids? Who does that?

The movie ends with the parents realizing they’re still in love, the twins deciding to live happily ever after, and my whole cabin group sobbing and hugging each other like we weren’t just arguing about who ate the last Twizzler ten minutes earlier.

I think the reason why The Parent Trap felt so different when watching it this year is because it’s about change. It’s about growing up and finding your people, even if it’s through wild pranks and accidental identity swaps. I’m turning 13 soon. I’m going to a new school. I’m leaving camp. Everything’s changing. But watching Annie and Hallie figure it all out reminded me that change can also kind of be amazing.

Some stuff I loved:

• Lindsay Lohan being a total queen
• The camp setting.
• The pranks. Absolute gold.
• The family feels without being too mushy
• The soundtrack!

Stuff I’d change:

• Maybe a little more time with the girls actually hanging out after they find out they’re sisters? They kind of rush to the parent-trap plan, and I just want more twin bonding!
• Justice for Chessy and Martin. They’re hilarious and sweet, and deserved a spin-off or something.
• Spin off to show which country they’d be living in. Kind of a missed opportunity.
• Explanation on why they decided not to tell the kids they were twins. Seems kind of like bad parenting. I’d want to know if I was a twin.

So yeah, The Parent Trap isn’t just a cute movie from the ’90s. It’s a full-blown emotional roller-coaster with twin magic, camp chaos, evil stepmom energy, and the most satisfying reunion ever. If you haven’t seen it, fix your life. And if you have? Watch it again with s’mores in your lap and your best camp friends around you.