I re-watched The Parent Trap for the first time since the Nancy Meyers’ miniseries, and had way too many thoughts that I needed to share with movie nerds.

In particular I find Lisa Ann Walter’s character, Chessy odd. She housekeeper/ nanny for Denise Quaid's character, Nick, but she knew both twins when they were babies and loves the girls like the are family. The scene where she discovers Annie came back from camp not Hallie, Chessy breaks down reminiscing about Annie coming home from the hospital in a way that indicates that she was there, moreover she cites Annie’s birth weight and length like she intrinsically knows these numbers. Narratively this serves to show that Chessy isn’t just an employee but is really part of Nick and Hallie’s family. Moreover, there is an analogous scene with Elizabeth and her butler Martin when she asks him to go to America, but doesn’t stick out as much in my mind because this is played for a joke because Elizabeth says that Martin feels like a brother, who also waits on the family. This joke, maintains hierarchical relation of employer/employee between Elizabeth and Martin.

What feels particularly odd to me is a passing moment when Chessy meets Elizabeth. Chessy stars to introduce herself but Elizabeth stops her and says her name makes it clear she remembers Chessy. Chessy than says that she knew she liked Elizabeth.Given what we know about the relationship that Chessy had with the girls, going back to their birth, this interaction feels off to me. This might tell us something about assumptions Chessy makes about rich people (other than Nick) and the invisibility of servants. But if Chessy was around when the babies were born than she presumably got to know Elizabeth, I mean Elizabeth would have been involved in hiring her right? Sure it has been eleven years, but it feel like they should have been reasonably close before the break up.

All of this to say I think there is a simple retconn/headcanon that makes this clearer: Chessy is Nick’s sister/the twins aunt. This would explain why she was around when the twins were born and why she has a familial attachment to them- they are her family. However, It also explains the distance she has with Elizabeth- they met several times, but Chessy was out living her best life separate form the life Nick and Elizabeth were living. However when Nick and Elizabeth broke up Nick being a single father with a baby daughter and a busy career trying to be Robert Mondavi needed help so he asked his sister moved in and helped take of him and his daughter. Over time this arrangement worked for everyone involved, but since Chessy knew about Nick and Elizabeth’s bonkers Solomonesque custody arrangement and the knowledge of Annie but her physical absence weighed on Chessy. Thus when it was Annie not Hallie that came home from camp and this fact comes out, we get the reaction we see.

There are a couple of sense that might not work as well in my alternative version. The part where Meredith pulls out a bell and orders Chessy to bring Nick and Meredith Martinis. This is premised on Chessy being an employee, but think with a few extra lines this scene still works. Nick saying something about Chessy being his sister, not a servant to which Meredith replies that she lives in Nick’s home for free, the least she can do is help him out. I think this actually shows who these characters are.

The other issue is Chessy's romance with Martin. They are introduced by Martin being called Elizabeth’s butler while Chessy indicates she is Hallie’s butler. While there is some symmetry in the idea of the servants falling in love, I don’t think it is necessary. In fact, the scene I mentioned above where Elizabeth says Martin feels like family can gain more emotional meaning by him becoming family by being with Elizabeth’s sister-in-law.

Also separate question but both Nick and Elizabeth have family money separate from their careers right? When Nick and Elizabeth are in the wine cellar near the end of the movie Nick makes it sound like when they were married they were both just starting their careers, and it seems like they have both become extravagantly successful in 11 years (more in terms of wealth than notoriety). I mean that Vineyard is huge and beautiful (and Meredith makes it clear he has millions of dollars in the bank) meanwhile Elizabeth has a butler, a beautiful London townhouse, and while there is one scene where Elizabeth and Hallie use a black cab, most of the time they are in a chauffeured Rolls Royce.

Two other stray observations with 2024 eyes: Camp Walden is overwhelmingly white and I don’t love that all the lodges are named after American Indian tribes.

At the end of the Hotel section when Elizabeth and Annie are gong to go back to England without Annie going on the camping trip, Annie says that missing out on the camping trip makes it feel like she is getting [a slur for the Romani] which doesn’t feel great to me now.