Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageA Cinderella Story (2004)
Director: Mark Rosman
Movie review
From Time Out London
Hollywood has another stab at merging the fairytale with the teen-movie in this routine offering starring teenager Hilary Duff as Sam, a modern-day Cinders. Bereaved of her father, cash-strapped Sam works in the diner of her vain stepmom while her not-so-ugly stepsisters are lavished with expensive gifts. Sam’s only comforts are the prospect of college and a date with her mystery cyberpal. The latter comes at a costume ball, at which Prince Charming is revealed to be popular schoolmate Austin (Chad Michael Murray), a handsome but none-too-bright lad, if his failure to recognise Sam in a dress and an eye mask is anything to go by. Nor does he think to use the mobile phone she drops, fleeing at midnight, to identify her. While he’s scratching his head trying to work out what happened, Sam is keeping her head down, worrying that he won’t accept the class divide between them, while anyone above the age of 12 is wondering where the comedy in romantic comedy went.For despite drawing a few easy laughs from Jennifer Coolidge’s pink and pampered stepmother, this fails to use the comic potential inherent in a storyline that has kept panto audiences in stitches for decades. The ugly sisters are stupid and vain in the least amusing way imaginable, and Duff’s underdog character could use some sharper put-downs. Nevertheless, her scrubbed-up everygirl Sam is a likeable presence, and the machinations of her makeover are slick enough to please MTV-weaned tots dreaming of a Prince Charming straight out of ‘Dawson’s Creek’. The rest of us, however, might wish he’d stayed there.
Author: AS
Time Out London Issue 1774: August 18-25, 2004
User reviews of this film
-
- Chelsea said...
- Posted on Oct 16 2008 14:54 This film is great. Its just so great that a popular guy ends up with a girl who is not popular. Would never happen in real life, but honestly, most films wouldnt. Georgous Hillary Duff for the guys and Handsom Chad Micheal Murray for the gals. Brilliant soundtrack. 10 out of 10
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Mark Rosman
Cast: Hilary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge, Chad Michael Murray, Dan Byrd
Rated: PG
Duration: 95 mins
UK Release: Aug 20 2004
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now