What A Girl Wants Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)April 7th, 2003
WHAT A GIRL WANTS
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Daphne Reynolds (Amanda Bynes, "Big Fat Liar") has had a fine childhood growing up in a
Chinatown walkup with her folk singing mom Libby (Kelly Preston, "View From the Top"),
but when her fifteenth birthday passes, Daphne decides that her father, Lord Henry
Dashwood (Colin Firth, "Bridget Jones's Diary") is "What a Girl Wants."
Warner Brothers seems to have crossed Disney's "The Parent Trap" with "The Princess Diaries,"
but this is actually based on a 1958 play, "The Reluctant Debutante," by William Douglas Home.
Director Dennie Gordon ("Joe Dirt") doesn't overcome Bynes's inexperience with timing nor does he show restraint with villainy, but Bynes's likability and Firth's charm go a long way towards making this film a pleasant enough diversion.
After witnessing the umpteenth father-daughter dance at the weddings mom sings at while she works with the catering staff, Daphne crosses the Atlantic in search of the father who doesn't know she exists. After plunking down in a boho hotel, the better to meet love interest/musician Ian (newcomer Oliver James), Daphne unceremoniously arrives at the family estate by climbing over the gated walls. A picture of her dad taken in Morocco by her mom is all it takes to convince Henry, who is at a critical crux in his political career, that she's
his daughter, much to the dismay of his ambitious fiancee
Glynnis (Anna Chancellor, "Four Weddings and a Funeral") and her teenage daughter (Christina Cole).
Henry decides his daughter will stay for the summer 'season,' and
a series of posh events unfurl, each segment titled by an invitation. Daphne displays her crude American ways and makes some unlikely friends, then cleans up her act and loses Ian all before deciding that she just wants to be herself. This, of course, causes a rueful Lady Dashwood (Eileen Atkins) to remind her son of all he's given up so that everyone can live happily ever after.
Bynes's fresh-faced optimism and initial refusals to back down to snobbery and injustice is symbolic of American amiability and independence. The Brits are represented by the upper crust - either stuffy and conniving (Glynnis and her father Alastair (Jonathan Pryce), Lord Orwood (Roger Ashton-Griffiths), endearingly eccentric (Henry Dashwood and his mother, formerly of the stuffy and conniving category) or mousy fashion disasters in need of a shakeup (Peach and Pear Orwood). Ian is the down-to-earth exception and even he's revealed to have an unusual background to make him more suitable for Lord Dashwood's daughter.
With some maturing, Bynes should have a career in front of her. She certainly displays no lack of self-confidence. She
possesses the types of looks that can swing from a wholesome chipmunk-like appearance to that of an alluring young woman with a toss of her hair. Firth trots out his "Bridget Jones's Diary" mode of a man who appears to be a stuffed shirt on the surface but who, in actuality, is drawn to the wild side, and runs with it. The film's largest lie is that Firth's Henry Dashwood would ever have been attracted to "Four Wedding's" Duckface. Kelly Preston brings an appealing warmth to Libby and surprises with an able voice as well. Oliver James displays a fresh and natural ability on screen and also gets to take to perform
musically.
"What a Girl Wants" isn't deep, edgy or original, but it should play well with its intended audience. It's a step up from "The Princess
Diaries."
B-
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