James Hitchcock
Recent years have seen a number of attempts to film traditional fairy tales in a "darker", more "adult" style, often influenced by fantasy epics like Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptations, examples being "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Maleficent", based upon the Sleeping Beauty legend. "A Cinderella Story", from just over a decade ago, is another fairy tale adaptation, but made in a very different style. The story is updated to the modern San Fernando Valley, California, the heroine is named Samantha, and the film is made as a traditional high school romantic comedy. That seems appropriate; American high school comedies are generally about as realistic as fairy tales- indeed, in some cases rather less so. (Samantha's surname is "Montgomery", possibly a reference to Elizabeth Montgomery who played a character named Samantha in the popular TV show "Bewitched"). One thing which always used to baffle me about the traditional legend of Cinderella is why her father did not intervene more decisively to prevent her from being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters. If paternal affection had not motivated him to do so, surely social pride would have done; if there is one thing no aristocrat- however financially embarrassed or mild-mannered he might be- could bear, it would be seeing his daughter treated like a skivvy. The makers of this film seem to have had similar thoughts because Sam's kindly father Hal, the owner of a diner, is killed off (in an earthquake) before the end of the opening credits. This leaves Sam to the less-than-tender mercies of her unpleasant stepmother Fiona and her ugly stepsisters Brianna and Gabriella. (The adjective "ugly" in this context refers less to the girls' looks than to their obnoxious personalities). Fiona not only forces Sam to work as her unpaid domestic servant but also makes her work in the diner.Sam's problems are not confined to the home. It is a standard cliché in all high school comedies that every American high school is dominated by a clique of upper-class girls (invariably cheerleaders) and their athletic boyfriends (invariably football players; it would seem that prowess in other sports such as basketball, soccer or track-and-field does not confer the same social prestige). The members of this clique are always described as "popular", even though they invariably possess personality traits- snobbishness, vanity, arrogance and bitchiness- which in real life would doubtless make them extremely unpopular. Sam falls foul of this clique, particularly their leader Shelby, who mercilessly mock her for her working-class origins.The film tells the story, parallelling the original tale of Cinderella, of Sam's romance with Shelby's ex-boyfriend Austin, the handsome, popular star player of the school football team, who is the Prince Charming of this story. Sam's Fairy Godmother-equivalent is Rhonda, the kind-hearted manager of the diner, and the buttons figure is Carter, the bespectacled class geek. The school dance is the equivalent of the Prince's ball and a mobile phone stands in for the glass slipper."A Cinderella Story" did well at the box-office, but was not a hit with the critics. Roger Ebert, for example, called it "a lame, stupid movie", and I can see where he was coming from. It doesn't score highly for originality; turning an old, old fairy tale into a high school movie doesn't require much in the way of artistic inspiration. The characters are all stereotypes, and the male lead Chad Michael Murray is more Prince Charmless than Prince Charming. At one point the film seems to be moving to an ending in which Sam ends up with Carter, who seems to be much more sincerely in love with her than the rather shallow Austin. That would have been much more original, but the film-makers dared not break one of the oldest rules of the cinema. (The one which states that boys who wear glasses can be a girl's platonic best friend but never her love interest). The decision to follow the Cinderella story so closely leads to some plot-holes; is it, for example, plausible that her flimsy cardboard mask would have prevented Austin, or any of her other classmates, from recognising Sam, especially as she never tries to disguise her voice? (I mean, she's a girl in his year at school, not a complete stranger). On the plus side, there is some occasionally witty dialogue, and Jennifer Coolidge is amusingly nasty as Fiona, as is Julie Gonzalo as Shelby. Hilary Duff, a rising Disney star at the time, makes a sweet and personable heroine. (Her popularity was probably the main reason for the film's box-office success). It helps that at seventeen Hilary was the same age as the character she was playing, a departure from the normal movie convention whereby high school students are often played by actors in their twenties or even thirties. Overall, however, this is little more than a high school movie that reminds you of every other high school movie you've ever seen. 5/10
Neil Welch
This is a satisfactory retelling of the Cinderella story in a California high school setting, brought to life by Jennifer Coolidge's funny modern wicked stepmother.You'll be left pleased at the end by a film which is suitable for family viewing, albeit you never get that involved that the satisfactory resolution brings a lump to the throat - it doesn't.Hilary Duff as Sam, the Cinderella character, is one of a number of young American actresses who I find absolutely indistinguishable. They do the job, and they do it perfectly adequately, but they don't bring anything to it which means that six months later I can say "Ah, that was Hilary Duff!"Subsequent addition: Eight months later, in August 2011, I can remember nothing about this film whatsoever. Utterly forgettable, obviously.
