*quietly steps up* I saw it. *quietly steps down*

Grade: D-

I thought it was a very cute movie. Good performances from all of the cast. All in all, it's a harmless family film, and its really enjoyable.

B+

I saw it with my sister and her daughter a few days ago, on DVD.

It was really bad.

Get back to me when Hilary Duff is not annoying in anything (from The Lizzie McGuire Movie to Agent Cody Banks to Cheaper by the Dozen, I have yet to see her be anything more than competent).

I saw only the first 10-15 minutes of this. It didn't seem that bad.

F. Because I am racist against the Duff.

C

That's just it. It starts off pretty decently. But it falls into the same teen trap.

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Family

Runtime: 1 hr. 36 min.

Plot:

High school senior Sam Montgomery (Hilary Duff) lives at the beck and call of her self-obsessed step-mother Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge) and her sinfully wicked step-sisters, who treat her more like a servant than a member of the family. With her sights set on attending Princeton, Sam finds her less-than-sparkling social life wonderfully complicated when she meets her Prince Charming online. But when her anonymous cyber soul mate turns out to be her high school's über-popular quarterback Austin Ames (Chad Michael Murray), Sam makes a mad dash back to reality, leaving her cell phone behind just before the clock strikes midnight. Fearing rejection if her secret is revealed, Sam dodges Austin's efforts to discover the identity of his princess. Will Sam let fear hold her back, or will she find the courage to be herself and claim the life she's always wanted? Her chance at "happily ever after" depends on it.

MPAA Rating: PG for mild language and innuendo.

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Starring: Hilary Duff, Chad Michael Murray, Jennifer Coolidge, Julie Gonzalo, Regina King

Directed by: Mark Rosman, Susan Duff

Produced by: Dylan Sellers, Susan Duff, Clifford Werber, Ilyssa Goodman, Hunt Lowry


A CINDERELLA STORY (2004)

Despite the horrible reviews from professional critics, I found A Cinderella Story to be a highly enjoyable film. Yes, it’s cliché and predictable, but would you expect anything else from a movie like this? If you do then the problem isn’t the movie. I expected an unrealistic, “dreams can come true” girl-power flick, and that’s what I got, but it’s a very entertaining one. It’s a fairy tale; you have to suspend your disbelief.

There are some things I had a hard time buying though. For example, it’s very hard to believe that Sam (Hilary Duff) is one of the school’s biggest outsiders just because she works at a diner (and is even called “diner girl”). She looks good and dresses fine (she wears jeans and t-shirts though, not skirts like the popular girls), and doesn’t act dorky. She actually acts pretty cool and it’s highly unbelievable that everyone (other than her only friend, Carter, who is actually majorly geeky) would stay away from her and make fun of her. Unless she has some bad odor that we’re not told about, it’s a little hard to swallow. Even if she wasn’t one of the most popular, there’s no way she wouldn’t at least be close to it and have quite a few friends. But moving on, the thing I probably found most unbelievable of all and that probably bothered me the most was that Sam goes to the dance with a mask only covering her eyes, and yet NOBODY knows who she is, not even Austin (Chad Michael Murray), who was really close to her face for a long time and they even talked. There’s no way he wouldn’t have known it was her. You know her voice and what she looks like – wow, she has a mask covering her eyes and her hair is curled – that’s certainly not enough to make her unrecognizable. Quite the contrary – she’s still highly recognizable. The whole time I was thinking “Oh come on! How could you not know it’s her?” But again, you just have to try and overlook it. And one last little thing that bothered me was ***SPOILERS*** the thing with the will in the end. While I liked the outcome and that Sam got everything and her stepmother and stepsisters had everything taken away, it was just very implausible that this will is just now found after all of these years. Wouldn’t her father’s lawyer have had a copy of it? ***END SPOILERS*** But alas, it’s a fairy tale and you just have to try and ignore it. Besides, I did like the outcome and will admit I’d rather have it that way then not happen at all.

Hilary Duff doesn’t give that great of a performance here, but she really doesn’t have to. She’s only called on to look cute and be likable, and she does so very well. I enjoyed her here and this is her best movie to date. I never used to like Chad Michael Murray (TV’s Dawson’s Creek, Freaky Friday, TV’s One Tree Hill) that much and didn’t find him very attractive, but after watching the first season of Gilmore Girls and now this, I find him to be pretty cute and charming. Both him and Duff have a pretty nice chemistry here. Jennifer Coolidge (American Pie, Legally Blonde) was a blast as Fiona, the wicked stepmother. She gives such a fun and funny performance. We’re not supposed to like the character, and while I didn’t really, I liked Jennifer Coolidge a lot and found her very entertaining. Regina King (If These Walls Could Talk 2, Legally Blonde 2, Ray) was cool as Rhonda. Julie Gonzalo (Freaky Friday) was hot as Shelby. I didn’t really care for Dan Byrd as Carter. I didn’t think he was that funny, he was such a dork. Yes, his character was a good friend though. Although unless he’s gay and just hasn’t accepted it yet, there’s no way he doesn’t have feelings for Sam other than as a friend deep down. But that’s another story. Anyway, while a lot of people think he stole the show, he was personally one of my least favorite things about the movie. And last but not least, I thought Aimee Lynn Chadwick (Return of The Living Dead 4: Necropolis, Return of The Living Dead 5: Rave From The Grave) was a real cutie as the DJ girl.

A Cinderella Story is nothing new, but it’s really cute and I found it to be pretty irresistible. I plan on purchasing the DVD. It makes you wish fairy tales really could come true. But since they usually don’t, especially not as perfectly as everything comes together in this movie, it’s nice to have some movies where they do to live through.

On a side note, I wonder if I’m the only one who half expected “Come Clean" by Hilary Duff (The song that goes "let the rain fall down”) to start playing as soon as the first raindrop hit towards the end?

Grade: 7/10 ( B )

It was alot better than I expected, for an 00s teen movie it was excellent. Cheesy yes, but it all works to the advantage, as thats what its supposed to be. Its supposed to be a light entertaining Hilary Duff movie and when all is said and done when her career is over this one is the one from her that'll be referanced the most to her. Its not really all based on Cinderella fairy-tale, the whole thing with the dance and mask and such if I remember is somewhere in the first 40 minutes or so. After that it goes on its own. The supporting cast is perfectly fitting, the black boss girl, Coolidge, the dork guy etc. Micheal-Murray yes would in real life know its her, but it isn't real life and thats just how it goes. He doesn't show very much emotion in the flick but thats okay.

B/B+

cute...but cheesy as hell!

C-

Egad, I had to screen this movie when I used to work at the theatre. It wasn't a good experience. Put a paper bag over Hilary Duff's head and the movie will be half-decent.

Also, the movie had big editing/continuity problems. The major one I noticed is when Carter and The Duff are trying to outdrive the stepmom, at first, they were driving down Lankershim Boulevard (in North Hollywood). They make a right turn and suddenly, they're in Olive Avenue (in Burbank) which is outside Los Angeles city limits - as evidenced by the different-colored street signs. Did the car have the ability to teleport? Do they really think Valley residents are that stupid they won't notice glaring geographic errors? Hah.

The one funny line: "From Norweegiaaa!"

D

This was a fun film. It was harmless and entertaining and had an excellent comedic performance from Jennifer Coolidge, who was hilarious as the evil stepmother. I also liked Regina King a lot as well. It's not a great movie, but it is a decent teen film with good rewatch value.

7/10 ( B )

A pretty damn cheesy film, but still an ok watch

B-