“A Cinderella Story” wants to be a fairy tale for teenagers. It gets the formula right and the execution wrong. The 2004 film, directed by Mark Rosman from a script by Leigh Dunlap, follows Samantha Montgomery, a teenager who works at a diner to pay for college while enduring abuse from her stepmother and stepsisters. She meets her online pen pal Austin Ames at a Halloween dance, where she dresses as Cinderella and he dresses as Prince Charming. The premise is simple and appealing. The execution is not.
Trailer, via Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers.
Sam’s Situation
Sam, played by Hilary Duff, is a good girl trapped in a bad situation. Her stepmother, Fiona, is vain and cruel. Her stepsisters, Brianna and Gabriella, are shallow and cruel. Sam’s best friend, Carter Farrell, is played by Dan Byrd, and he offers comic relief. The popular crowd at school, led by head cheerleader Shelby Cummings, played by Julie Gonzalo, is cruel to Sam. Sam works at the diner to save money for Princeton. Her online pen pal, Nomad, is another student at her school who also wants to attend Princeton to become a writer. Unbeknownst to Sam, Nomad is Austin Ames, the popular quarterback and Shelby’s ex-boyfriend. His father, Andy, expects him to attend USC.
The setup works. The execution does not.
The Dance
At the Halloween dance, Sam wears a mask and a wedding dress. Austin dresses as Prince Charming. They dance together. He does not recognize her under her mask. She does not recognize him as the man she has been writing to for months. The moment is meant to be romantic. It is not. It is a missed opportunity.
The dance scene drags. The music is generic. The choreography is forgettable. The camera lingers on the couple for too long. The moment should have been a single shot. Instead, it is stretched into a sequence that feels padded. The film is 95 minutes long. It should have found a way to make the dance matter in five minutes, not fifteen.
What Happens Next
After the dance, Sam drops her cell phone. Austin finds it. The diner workers stall Fiona and her daughters, allowing Sam to sneak back into the building. The next day, Austin covers the school in flyers, looking for the mysterious Cinderella. Shelby is in denial that she and Austin have broken up. Fiona refuses to give Sam the night off to attend the dance. Rhonda, the longtime manager of the diner, intervenes. She gives Sam a mask and a saved wedding dress. Carter defends Shelby from the unwanted advances of Austin’s friend, and then makes out with her. He has to hurry Sam back to the diner before midnight.
The aftermath is where the film shows its weakness. The plot relies on coincidence. Sam dropping her phone is a convenient way for Austin to find her. The diner workers stalling Fiona is a convenient way for Sam to get back in. The whole story depends on things happening at the right moment. That is not storytelling. That is convenience.
The Characters
The characters are thin. Sam is a victim. Fiona is a villain. Austin is a hero. Carter is a comic sidekick. Shelby is a bully. None of them are developed beyond their functions. The film does not give them motivations. It does not give them histories. It does not give them depth. They are stereotypes dressed up as people.
Duff plays Sam with a wide-eyed innocence that is meant to be charming. It is not. It is flat. Murray plays Austin as handsome and brooding. He is handsome. He is not brooding. Coolidge plays Fiona as vain and cruel. She is. She is not given any nuance. King plays Rhonda as supportive. She is. She is not given any complexity. Gonzalo plays Shelby as a bully. She is. She is not given any humanity.
The film is a showcase for Duff and Murray. They are both young stars at the time. Neither of them is challenged by the material. Neither of them rises above it. The chemistry between them is weak. They do not connect. They do not build tension. They do not build intimacy. They stand across from each other and talk. That is it.
Reception and Legacy
The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 16, 2004. It was initially panned by critics. It grossed $70.1 million against its $19 million budget. It inspired multiple straight-to-video films. Over the years, it has developed into a cult classic.
The cult status is baffling. The film is not good. It is not clever. It is not funny. It is not romantic. It is not memorable. It is a product of its era. It is a teen romantic comedy from the early 2000s. It is forgettable.
The film is a relic. It is a relic of a time when teen romantic comedies were made without much thought. It is a relic of a time when Hilary Duff was a star. It is a relic of a time when audiences accepted bad movies because they had nothing better to watch.
Key Facts
- Title: A Cinderella Story
- Director: Mark Rosman
- Writer: Leigh Dunlap
- Runtime: 95 minutes
- Release date: July 16, 2004
- Budget: $19 million
- Box office: $70.1 million
- The setup is simple and appealing.
- The dance scene is stretched and dull.
- The aftermath relies on coincidence.
- The characters are stereotypes.
- The film is a failure.
The film is a failure.
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