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Cinderella Story, A
Warner Bros.


5.5

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 53 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

The Perfect Man

MPAA RATING: PG for mild language and innuendo

Starring Hilary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge, Chad Michael Murray, Dan Byrd, Regina King, Julie Gonzalo, Lin Shaye, and Madeline Zima

In this twisted and hilarious update of the classic fairy tale, Hilary Duff stars as a high school senior whose anonymous cyber soul mate turns out to be her high school's über-popular quarterback (Murray). (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Leigh Dunlap
DIRECTED BY:	Mark Rosman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 19, 2004 Video: October 19, 2004 Theatrical: July 16, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Canada

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A mostly charmless affair.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

The supporting cast's comic abilities smooth over many -- if not all -- of the movie's flaws.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Deeply, proudly average..."Mean Girls" it's not; a plastic butter knife has more edge. But sometimes it's nice to know your kids won't cut their fingers.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

It's not a terrible movie, just a disappointingly pleasant one.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

When not unnecessarily bland, synthetic, and indistinguishable from undistinguished teen TV, A Cinderella Story is unnecessarily coarse and dumbed down, with every character except Sam and Austin subject to perfunctory ridicule.

Village Voice Jennifer Snow

The film lacks the guiltily pleasurable panache (and punch) of other recent chickadee flicks posited as protofeminist fairy tales.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Under the charmless direction of Mark Rosman, the actors seem to be frozen at the rehearsal stage, with the blessed exception of a sublimely funny Jennifer Coolidge as the Botoxed horror of a stepmother.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Unfortunately, "Cinderella" feels like a pro forma TV movie from the get-go and relies almost entirely on Duff's likability to hold the audience's attention.

Empire Anna Smith

This is simple, lazy storytelling rendered merely functional by appealing leads and the eternal lure of romantic fantasy.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The story is without an original thought, the characters little more than caricatures (unappealing ones, at that) and the filmmaking so uninspired that it's hard to imagine anyone embracing it with anything more than a shrug and a wonder why they didn't wait to catch it on TV.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The only intriguing character is the manager of the diner (and de facto fairy godmother), played by Regina King.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

Of all the teen performers out there, Duff has to be the blandest (especially since the Olsens hit the skids).

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Not as vile as "Sleepover," nor as tangy as "Mean Girls."

USA Today Mike Clark

Desperately conceived by even the most insipid standards of contemporary teen-queen cinema, A Cinderella Story operates under a rotting pumpkin of a supposition.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Even for a fairy tale, A Cinderella Story, directed by Mark Rosman from a screenplay by Leigh Dunlap, fails to make sense.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Duff isn't exactly known for complex fare, but even "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" was way better than this.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

From its uninspiring title -- and certain turnoff for young males -- to its limp slapstick and uneven acting, A Cinderella Story arrives with a dull thud.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Lusterless trifle.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

A Cinderella Story banks far too heavily on its audience's affection for Duff, who's dreadful in a terrible role.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Having defused the fairy tale, first-time screenwriter Leigh Dunlap pads this out to 96 minutes with stale high school politics and the usual claptrap about believing in yourself.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Winda Benedetti

Perhaps worst of all, this film seems to assume its teen viewers are a bunch of drooling half-wits, going to great pains to explain everything in so much after-school-special detail.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A terrible movie, sappy and dead in the water.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson

A Cinderella Story has little of the smarts that distinguished this spring's big teen hit, "Mean Girls", which starred Duff's arch-rival, Lindsay Lohan. Whereas that film presented a genuinely complex and enjoyably snarky portrait of modern teen life, this effort is content to be another candy-coloured fantasy.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Even the delightful Duff disappoints.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The sort of entertainment that makes you happy to be grown up and able to avoid the current onslaught of trite, lazy, unimaginative films aimed at tween-agers.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's probably the movie event of the summer if you're an eight-year-old girl who doesn't get out much.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It isn't all the actors' faults, of course. You can't, ahem, turn straw into gold, and straw – dull, brittle, lousy to taste – is entirely what director Mark Rosman and first-time screenwriter Leigh Dunlap deliver.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

They took the most famous tale in the world and broke it.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

At worst, it’s an insult even to the intelligence of 12-year olds.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It is horrible. Time curls up and dies while this Hilary Duff vehicle wheels its weary, conventional way along.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 53 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sebastian rhonda tootsie gave it a3:
I picked a number at random. sorry... never thought hilary duff was that good of an actor.

Shelley N. gave it a3:
You call this a movie? Honestly Hilary do us all a favor and just stop. Whoever told you that you are good was sadly mistaken. im trying to save u from more imbaresment if thats possible.

Jeremy E. gave it a1:
Hilary Duff at her absolute best! Chad Michael Murray at his absolute best! Oh wait... That's still not anywhere near good.

Sam gave it a5:
The movie is like Raise your Voice with double the budget and double the effort. Just a reminder, Raise your Voice had no effort whatsoever.

Kylie A. gave it a10:
I love this movie! It's the modern day version of the childhood classic and it's a amazing! It's one of those movies you watch and makes you once again believe in love and hope all over again.

Sebastian R. gave it a10:
I think this movie it's the best of the best..only because hilary duff appears on it. she's the most beatiful person in the world.

Carlyle B. gave it a10:
I love the movie it's has my fav people it Chad.M.M and Hilary Duff. The movie is the best thing out there.

Cinderella Story, A Warner Bros.

Cinderella Story, A
Warner Bros.