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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Alexandra
43
Anamorph
35
Babysitters, The
32
Backseat
80
Band's Visit, The
62
Battle for Haditha
47
Bella
63
Blind Mountain
71
Blindsight
47
Boarding Gate
63
Body of War
58
Bra Boys
70
Caramel
54
Cashback
44
Chaos Theory
32
Chapter 27
69
Chicago 10
82
Chop Shop
46
CJ7
78
Counterfeiters, The
30
Cover
48
Dark Matter
35
Deal
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58
Fall, The
43
Favor, The
58
First Saturday in May, The
57
Flawless
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx
From Within
44
Frontier(s)
59
Fugitive Pieces
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61
Girls Rock!
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57
Grand, The
58
Hats Off
68
Honeydripper
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
67
Jellyfish
xx
Kiss the Bride
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
72
Life of Reilly, The
50
Look
65
Married Life
35
Meet Bill
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
52
Noise
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
48
Penelope
90
Persepolis
62
Planet B-Boy
xx
Plumm Summer, A
67
Praying with Lior
46
Previous Engagement, A
72
Priceless
17
Prom Night
69
Redbelt
72
Roman de gare
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
85
Savages, The
24
Sex and Death 101
66
Shelter
75
Shotgun Stories
40
Sleepwalking
67
Snow Angels
64
Son of Rambow
71
Standard Operating Procedure
76
Stuff and Dough
64
Surfwise
xx
Tashan
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
57
Teeth
56
Then She Found Me
55
Tracey Fragments, The
56
Turn the River
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
59
Under the Same Moon
76
Unforeseen, The
xx
Unsettled
91
Up the Yangtze
55
Vice
79
Visitor, The
64
Water Lilies
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57
Without the King
74
Witnesses, The
63
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
91
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chop Shop
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Shotgun Stories
74
Witnesses, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Roman de gare
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
71
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Caramel
69
Redbelt
69
Chicago 10
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Jellyfish
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Shelter
65
Married Life
64
Surfwise
64
Son of Rambow
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
Body of War
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Battle for Haditha
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
Girls Rock!
59
Under the Same Moon
59
Fugitive Pieces
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Turn the River
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
54
Mister Lonely
52
Noise
52
My Blueberry Nights
50
Look
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Dark Matter
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
46
Previous Engagement, A
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
17
Prom Night
xx
Tashan
xx
Unsettled
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
What a Girl Wants
Warner Bros.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG for mild language
Starring
Amanda Bynes,
Colin Firth,
Kelly Preston,
Anna Chancellor,
Tom Harper,
Jonathan Pryce,
and
Eileen Atkins
Determined to live out her fantasy of forging a storybook relationship with her long-absent dad, a spirited young American girl (Bynes) impulsively hops a flight to London, where she quickly discovers that her father (Firth) is a high profile politician. (Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): |
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jenny Bicks
Elizabeth Chandler
William Douglas Home (play The Reluctant Debutante and 1958 screenplay)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Dennie Gordon
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 5, 2003
Video: August 5, 2003
Theatrical: April 4, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
100 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

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...
67
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
In her sassy but scrubbed way, Bynes is a real charmer, and What a Girl Wants is a likable throwaway.

63
USA Today
Claudia Puig
There's nothing wrong with fairy tales, but they don't have to be formulaic. A movie like this would have benefited from a blending of the fanciful and the inventive.

60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
It's a tame, hypocritical fantasy.

60
Film Threat
Clint Morris
While this is far from an avant-garde, ingenious flick, it uses a dependable formula thatll definitely deliver.

60
TV Guide
Angel Cohn
Bynes is a charmer who adeptly straddles the line between romantic heroine and physical comedienne, while Firth is extremely enjoyable as a befuddled father.

60
The New York Times
Dave Kehr
Minnelli's comedy had its serious underpinnings: by the end of the film, a girl had become a woman. By the end of Ms. Gordon's film, the girl is still a girl, but a girl with much cooler stuff, including a stately home, a butler and a cute British boyfriend.

60
LA Weekly
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
Strictly for budding young ladies, though it does offer those who've already bloomed the grown-up pleasures of Firth, a great actor who graciously invites you to join him in the slow-burn romantic corner into which he's rapidly painting himself.

60
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Works well enough. It has a decided plus in its appealing young star, Amanda Bynes, last seen opposite Frankie Muniz in "Big Fat Liar."

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It's mostly forced and predictable, too much of the physical comedy falls very flat.

50
Boston Globe
Janice Page
It's not that What a Girl Wants is dreadful; it's merely slapdash, wildly inconsistent in
tone and style, and mind-numbingly predictable in character and plot.

50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Harmless, fish-out-of-water fluff.

50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Pleasant bubblegum romp, which was inspired by the old Sandra Dee picture "The Reluctant Debutante."

50
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
It's slick girlie stuff, but the cast makes it go down easy.

50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie is clearly intended for girls between the ages of 9 and 15, and for the more civilized of their brothers, and isn't of much use to anyone else.

50
Variety
Todd McCarthy
It feels much more like a shameless reshuffle of "The Princess Diaries."

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Karen Heller
Designed as the ideal confection to attract a young girl or teen, What a Girl Wants will more likely hook their mothers.

50
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
It's a cheery, impossible fantasy.

40
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
Instantly forgettable but good-natured all the same.

40
Village Voice
Anya Kamenetz
A culture-shock/daddy-meets-girl romantic comedy, WAGW is a sanitized adventure for the Mary Kate-and-Ashley set.

40
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
Very sketchily based upon "The Reluctant Debutante" (minus the charm, plot, and characterization).

38
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
Movie lite, a clueless, formulaic paint-by-numbers comedy.

38
Chicago Tribune
Robert K. Elder
Were it not for young star Amanda Bynes' energetic good nature in the face of drab dialogue and wooden stereotypes, What a Girl Wants might have been a career-ending movie violation rather than just an embarrassing fender-bender.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
It's uninspired and insipid all the way.

25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
If the Warner Bros. wizards have it right, what a girl wants is to see as much of Amanda Bynes as she possibly can...It's not so great for the rest of us, since the film has nothing else to offer.

25
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Irritating wish-fulfillment movie.

25
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Dreadful teen comedy with a "Cinderella" theme.

20
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Young audiences may welcome this movie, but girls, and boys, should want more.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
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