Romancefest 2021: A Cinderella Story

Directed by Mark Rosman

Written by Leigh Dunlap

Starring Hilary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge, Chad Michael Murray and Regina King

USA, 2004

Here we have the familiar tale of CINDERELLA transposed to the (then-contemporary) San Fernando Valley! But... it's also complicated up with a bunch of confusing stuff. Like, we get back story of how our modern day Cinderella's Dad died in the Northridge earthquake, and then we're dropped head first into a plot involving our modern day Cinderella's online relationship with a mystery man who, unbeknownst to her (but knownst to us) is the high school football star.

See, he runs with the popular kids, so he'd NEVER like someone who looks like Hilary Duff, because she... works at a diner? Yeah, her stepmom, who inherited the dead dad's mansion and money (or did she? There's even more plot about a will...) makes her work at the diner while her "ugly" step sisters are free to work on their synchronized swimming routine. 

Upside of working at a diner: the colorful cast of minority characters led by Regina King who are there to fairy-godmother up Duff's life. Downside: entire school thinks you suck because you're a waitress.  

There's also a mistaken identity love plot between a popular girl and Duff's thespian sidekick, some worry about a drought that's going on, drama with the football star wanting to be a (gasp) writer and go to (gasp) Princeton instead of... taking over a car dealership. Can you imagine if your biggest problem in life is that you both want to go to Princeton and get into Princeton?

What I am trying to say is that for as simple of a plot as a Cinderella story should be, this flick has a LOT going on. Not in the TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY sense (a movie I still haven't figured out even after reading Wikipedia), which is what makes it frustrating. So much time and energy is put into all these plots in what should be a simple rom-com that it gets in the way of enjoying a fun, talented, likable cast and a classic story.

Also, the movie's sorta tone deaf, in a way only mass produced Hollywood stuff can be. Just as an example, one sign that Duff's character is a poor outcast is that she drives a classic Mustang. I did a double take -- were they honestly trying to show Duff's pre-ball Cinderella status by saddling her with a sweet sports car? Yes, but, it's supposed to be a joke. Like, hey, everyone else is so rich, that her classic Mustang isn't good enough. Get it? Whatever.

This is the kind of movie where a drought is established early on and pays off at the end when it miraculously rains. Except, halfway through the movie we get night scenes where the roadways have been dutifully wetted down by the teamsters to reflect lights. So it's a drought, but it always JUST rained a minute ago. Right.

There's a couple clever things here. I like how they try to show the step mother is "evil" partly because she's wasteful, doesn't respect he environment, etc. And, I like the parting line of the movie where Duff's narration nods towards the fact the relationship may not last since, even though they're going off to college together, they're still going off to college.

I wish the whole thing went that "smart" direction instead of wasting so much time on convoluted subplots that it makes 95 minutes seem like 950.