Love Don't Cost a Thing (stylized as Love Don't Co$t a Thing) is a 2003 American teen comedy film written and directed by Troy Beyer and starring Nick Cannon and Christina Milian. It also stars Steve Harvey, Kenan Thompson, and Kal Penn. The film is a remake of the 1987 film Can't Buy Me Love and takes its title from the Jennifer Lopez song of the same name. Plot Alvin Johnson is an extremely intelligent nerd skilled in designing car engines. He has also taken up a job as a pool cleaner, to raise money to buy a camshaft, a part needed to build an engine for a scholarship project that will ensure him a full ride to the school of his choice. Alvin has always dreamed of hanging out with the popular kids, especially Paris Morgan, a beautiful, popular cheerleader dating NBA star Dru Hilton. When Paris crashes her mother's Escalade during an argument with Dru, Alvin agrees to repair the car using the money he had earned for his project, jeopardizing his scholarship opportunity, after a few missteps, Paris eventually pays him back by giving him a $1,500 makeover and agreeing to pretend for two weeks that she's dating Alvin. Alvin then begins to ingratiate himself with the popular crowd. He and Paris grow closer as she shares with him her secret love of music and he shares with her that he knows how to build car engines. Paris begins to develop feelings for Alvin and at the end of their two-week dating period, she tries to hint that she would like to kiss him. However, Alvin misinterprets her and goes along with their original plan of a public break up at school. Even after the break up, Alvin continues to grow in popularity, alienating his former nerdy friends and flirting with Paris's friends. Paris is unhappy to realize how shallow and vapid her friends are, and by extension, Alvin. Tired of him constantly ditching them in favor of the popular kids, Alvin's friends confront him on the matter, during which Alvin's sister Aretha overhears. She comes to realize that Alvin paid Paris to date her seeing how he has nothing of value after his big makeover. She tells their parents, who attempt to talk to Alvin, but he blows them off. At the end of the year on Senior Ditch Day, Paris asks Alvin to hang out