Not to be confused with the 2019 film starring Elle Fanning.
This movie provides examples of:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Lisa comes down with a bad case of this, thanks to Amber.
- Alpha Bitch: Amber. She gets a bit of a rude awakening after dying when she finds out just how many people hated her.Amber: You have to help me with this. If you don't, they'll send me to Hell and I don't want to go.
Lisa:Why not? You'll meet so many people like you.- Carlita takes her place after she dies. Lisa also quickly becomes this as she tries to become Prom Queen.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: No one has anything good to say about Amber at her memorial service.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The people Amber meets on the bus to hell are much worse than her and one of them scoffs at her being there simply because she says she was "a mean girl"
- The Atoner: In death Amber begins to see the error of her ways and after she has "failed" in her task, accepts her fate to Hell graciously.
- Bittersweet Ending: It's all good and well that Amber doesn't get to go the Hell, and that Lisa finally becomes as content with life as can be by finding the happy middle-ground between unpopular and popular... but the fact that Amber actually stays dead even though she did a Heel–Face Turn and became a sympathetic person is somewhat sad. And the movie even ends with another death even though that one was more of an Asshole Victim.
- Book Ends: The events of the film started with Amber dying after being electrocuted when she is almost crowned prom queen. Then the ends with Carlita, angered she wasn’t crowned queen at the makeup prom getting electrocuted after she tries to stop the music.
- Brutal Honesty: The Celestial Bureaucrat on Amber's life."Well, you were a nasty piece of business, weren't you?
- Celestial Bureaucracy: We have one represented by a snarky old man. They require Amber to make Lisa prom queen or go to Hell.
- Character Development: Amber's experience helping Lisa become prom queen makes her a less shallow and selfish person, as intended by the celestial bureaucracy.
- The Corrupter: Amber is an accidental example to Lisa, turning her into another shallow, selfish, Alpha Bitch by making her popular. She isn't happy about it, to the point where she initially refuses to go to heaven.
- Cute Ghost Girl: Amber is a ghost who only Lisa can see, but she is just as attractive as she was in life.
- Deadpan Snarker: Lisa's friend Colin.Popular girl: I'm sorry, I thought the virginity club met at lunch to polish their purity rings.
Colin: Oh golly, that was hilarious. I'm going to process that and laugh at it later. - Dueling Movies: Shares some similarities with another ABC Family film released months earlier named Christmas Cupid. While this one is a take on Pygmalion that one is a take on A Christmas Carol though both feature a shallow dead girl trying to redeem herself by helping someone in the living
- Eviler than Thou: The murderers and criminals being sent to Hell mock the comparatively minimal nature of Amber's transgressions.
- Face–Heel Turn: Amber turns Lisa into an Alpha Bitch thanks to her machinations at making her popular. She gets better.
- Heel–Face Turn: Amber's one is a big driving point of the movie, with the celestial bureaucracy trying to show her the shallowness of her lifestyle by making her help Lisa become prom queen. It doesn't become complete until Amber realizes she's accidentally made Lisa a far worse person and refuses to go to heaven. Lisa also makes one, once she realizes the error of her Face–Heel Turn and abandoning the cruelty that Amber taught her.
- Jerkass God: Heaven must have a pretty messed up deity running the place if the reward for making a Heroic Sacrifice to save someone else is eternal damnation.
- Lemony Narrator: Either Zigzagged or subverted. The movie starts out with one, but a few minutes into the movie, he decides the movie will be better without him, and decides to shut up. He appears to be acting on a whim like any Lemony Narrator is prone to do, but sticks to his decision and doesn't come back for the rest of the movie.
- Loophole Abuse: Apparently, having the least popular student become Prom King technically meets the requirements of Amber's mission.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Amber develops into this throughout the film.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Lisa near the end. Triggered by her realization that none of her new popular friends could be bothered to come help her, while the friends she ditched were more than happy to.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We don't actually see Hell, just the prison bus that takes people there. All that is known is that people have to relinquish their hair and teeth before entering. The fact that we don't know anything else makes it an even more menacing threat for Amber.
- Parental Neglect: Amber's mother is emotionally neglectful to both of her daughters. After Amber dies, her mother has a Heel Realization....but starts to neglect her other daughter because
she's too distraught over Amber's death. Eventually she realizes her error however. - Party Scheduling Gambit: Amber gets Lisa to send an e-mail making everyone at school think that Carlita's party is scheduled a day earlier than it actually is, causing people to be disappointed when they show up and there's no party. She then proceeds to invite everyone to her party instead.
- This Cannot Be!: Lisa's initial reaction to seeing Amber's ghost:Amber: You...you can see me.
Lisa: No...no, no I can't.
