More cast changes from the original movies to the TV series to the first TV movie to this, and it's more frustrating than "Peyton Place". In fact, this TV movie is more of a soap opera pilot rather than a sitcom pilot, and it ain't "Knot's Landing" with its cul de sac setting and big business based plotline. Monie Ellis, a name that will not live in mortality, has taken over the role of Frances Lawrence, aka Gidget, getting married to Moondoggie (Michael Burns, also a replacement) early in the film and moving to a private community in Florida run by the new company Burns gets a job with, all the same and all extremely stuffy.

There's a new dad for Gidget too, and it's MacDonald Carey (on a brief break from "Days of Our Lives"),closer to Don Porter than Robert Cummings from the 1969 TV movie. The only one who has returned from that is Paul Lynde, once again reprising his role as Louis B. Latimer, child star, seen dressed as little Lord Fauntleroy in his opening scene, and he's one of the few breaths of fresh air in the film. Don Ameche and Joan Bennett are reunited for this film as Burns' stuffy boss and his more easy going wife, and Elinor Donahue plays their neighbor who becomes Gidget's new best friend. Ameche's structuring of his corporate ladder are like something out of George Orwell, and that makes it sort of depressing.

The big problem with this film is that there's no chemistry with the two leads, so that leaves the quality of the film to the supporting players, and they don't get enough to do. Gidget's narration over the whole movie has just become a dated annoyance. Ellis, as cute as she is generally, just lacks screen presence and is rather generic, and Burns is a cold fish as the formerly fun (played by other actors) Moondoggie, so this feels like you're watching different characters then those from previous incarnations. This definitely put the lid on any future Gidget's, at least with this cast and format.

The only redeeming qualities are Paul Lynde and the suuuuuuper cringy wedding vows. Seriously the dumbest, cheesiest movie.

While the actors in the film try their best, the script is really terrible, and the film has fairly cheap and crummy production values. Oddly enough, there are only the slightest references to surfing and the beach lifestyle that "Gidget" represents-- for example, Gidget buys her husband a pair of surfboard cuff links, and they honeymoon at the beach. The story is a generic sitcom one about Gidget's struggles as a "young married"-- her husband works too hard for a demanding company, etc. that was already out of date by the time this film was made. For example, as soon as she marries, Gidget quits her job as a schoolteacher to become a full-time housewife, even though she doesn't have any children yet.