Wish Upon a Star is a 1996 television film and a 1990s Disney Channel staple, starring a young Katherine Heigl and Danielle Harris.
Hayley and Alexia Wheaton don't get along well. While Hayley spends time focusing on good grades and studying, her bigger sister focuses more on being popular and hanging out with her jock boyfriend. One night, while studying the night sky for her science class, Hayley wishes on a shooting star (next to her sister, relaxing in the hot tub with her boyfriend) that she could switch places with her sister. The next morning, they both awaken to find themselves trapped in each other's body. They decide to sabotage each other, but after their parents take a "hands off" approach to parenting, they eventually have to learn how to love each other on their own.
Wish Upon a Star contains these tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: The girls' parents. They decide they will remove the rules of the household because the girls never follow them anyway. Lampshaded by Principal Mittermiller when she stages a parent teacher conference and brings up Alexia's dominatrix costume. When the parents basically admit it was a crazy wardrobe choice, she asks, "You saw that? And you let her out of the house?"
- All Love is Unrequited: For Alexia, at first. She tells Kyle she loves him and he hesitates.
- Alpha Bitch: Alexia.
- Big Eater: Alexia is on a diet. In her body. So when she switches to her curvier sister's body, she forgoes the diet and has a ball.
- Book Dumb: Alexia consistently gets bad grades. So much so that when she asks to use the bathroom, her teacher responds, "What difference does it make?"
- Bowdlerise: In the Disney version, Hayley's provocative lunchtime performance is cut short as soon as she turns on the music. Cut to Ms. Mittermiller turning off the boombox and giving her a stern look. The rest of the performance can be seen in the unedited version.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Kyle, at first. Understandable though, seeing as Alexia dumped Kyle due to her "three month max" outlook on dating. Too bad when he comes around, he's saying to Hayley and not Alexia.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Kyle, who basically gets dumped by Alexia twice.
- Drives Like Crazy: Alexia knows how to drive. Hayley doesn't. When the two switch bodies, guess what happens.
- Dominatrix: Hayley pulls this one out after the sisters decide to start sabotaging each others' lives. Complete with whip.
- Easily Forgiven: Alexia. Poor Kyle gets dumped by Alexia twice. Once when she decides their time is up and the second (albeit not her fault) when he sees her get kissed by Simon. At the end of the movie, all she says is "give me one more chance," and all is fine.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Between shallow sister Alexia and responsible sister Hayley.
- Girl Posse: Alexia's stuck-up, shallow friends.
- Informed Ability: Hayley isn't old to enough drive yet, which makes her dependent on Alexia.
- Lovable Jock: Alexia's boyfriend Kyle. He is surprisingly not a douchebag and is even nice to Hayley, who adores him.
- Male Gaze: The construction workers are in delight of Alexia's skimpy outfit. She's pleased with the results.
- No Dress Code: How did no one send Hayley home in that outfit? Also, Alexia's outfits. While they're not that bad per se, this is high school. Even her mom has a problem with her going to school wearing platform high heels and crop tops.
- Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: Averted. Hayley assumes her sister is sexually active until it is revealed that she isn't. Alexia is even appalled that her sister assumed this.
- Only Sane Woman: Principal Mittermiller. She sees right through Alexia's attempt in the beginning to get a recommendation since her grades are so bad. She's also the first to notice the strange behavior both the girls are displaying. And towards the end, when their parents sit down with her, she questions why they let Hayley out of the house in a dominatrix uniform.
- Personality Swap: Kyle actually starts to fall for Alexia while Hayley is in her body. Simon originally liked Hayley, but with Alexia in her body, not so much. And consider this: both guys essentially fell for Hayley in a hotter girl's body.
- Plot Twist: Turns out, Alexia wished to be Hayley at the exact same time Hayley made her wish!. She too, was jealous of the qualities her sister possessed.
- Popular is Dumb: Alexia.
- Rich People: That's a mighty big house they got there...
- Secret Diary: Alexia's diary is entertainment for Hayley and Caitlin. When Alexia stops writing in it for two weeks, Caitlin notices.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Alexia likes to wear very revealing outfits. In the beginning of the film she doesn’t mind some construction workers admiring her, even enjoys it a little. When she’s in Hayley's body, she dresses as dominatrix, and puts on a show in the cafeteria.
- Spooky Painting: Hayley has a crush on Kyle. When she looks at Alexia's picture of Kyle (in Alexia's body) and flirts with it, Kyle's original smile turns into a scared grimace, resulting in a
Funny Moment. - Stalker with a Crush: Simon could definitely qualify.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry
- The '90s: The knee high socks, the argyle, Hayley's grungy wardrobe, Alexia's bare midriff obsession, etc.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding: Simon decides he likes Alexia. So he kisses her. Kyle sees this. And this happens moments after he finally spits it out and is rejected.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Hayley and Alexia.
- Unkempt Beauty: Hayley as Alexia gets Kyle to fall for her this way. He admits to liking seeing her without makeup which hides her beauty.
- Why Would Anyone Take Her Back?: Oh, Kyle.
