Celebrated author Robert James Waller has died at the age of 77. Take a look back at People’s 1995 cover story on Meryl Streep and her emotional role in the film adaptation of Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County.
In the final days of the five-week shoot of The Bridges of Madison County last fall, Meryl Streep did one of the many things she does better onscreen than anyone else: she cried. Filming an emotional scene in which her character struggles to say goodbye to her lover, the actress would show up on the set in Winterset, Iowa, at 9 in...
In the final days of the five-week shoot of The Bridges of Madison County last fall, Meryl Streep did one of the many things she does better onscreen than anyone else: she cried. Filming an emotional scene in which her character struggles to say goodbye to her lover, the actress would show up on the set in Winterset, Iowa, at 9 in...
- 3/10/2017
- by People Staff
- PEOPLE.com
The magic is gone in this latest screen version of "Cinderella". 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. It doesn't help that this contemporary take on the classic fairy tale re-explores ground already covered this year by such movies as "Mean Girls" and "Ella Enchanted".
Thanks to popular young star Hilary Duff, the film might see a brisk boxoffice opening weekend. But word-of-mouth and more attractive options in the multiplexes should lead to a sharp drop-off by the second week.
Wicked stepmothers and Prince Charmings are awkward concepts in a contemporary setting. There is little evidence that writer Leigh Dunlap or her producers thought through how to re-imagine the fairy tale for modern day. Having Cinderella leave behind a cell phone instead of a glass slipper as the clock strikes midnight is not nearly enough.
First of all, the film never makes the case that our Cinderella, Valley high school senior Sam Montgomery (Duff), is truly abused. When her dear dad dies in the Northridge earthquake -- how exactly? we wonder -- her self-indulgent, plastic surgery-obsessed stepmom, Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge in an amusing but over-the-top performance), banishes Sam to the attic and puts her to work in her dad's '50s diner. The trouble is, designer Charles Breen turns that attic into a very cool-looking loft, Sam's paycheck goes to her college education and must we really feel sorry for a girl who complains that she has to drive a "beat-up old car"? The car runs, doesn't it?
Her high school is similarly disconnected from reality but not in the fairy tale sort of way. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Duff is a beauty, and costume designer Denise Wingate does nothing to make her seem otherwise. So why is Sam so unpopular with the boys? They mock her as "Diner Girl" -- what, no one else at school has a job? -- and her only male friend, geeky Carter (Dan Byrd), seems oblivious to her charms as well. Then she puts on a gown and mask and everyone is knocked out by her presence. Go figure.
Her dreamboat is popular football star Austin Ames Chad Michael Murray). He's a good-looking lad, but the script makes him into a boob. He's afraid of his dad, in a dead-end relationship with a shallow cheerleader (Julie Gonzalo), easily cowed by his buddies and unable or unwilling to pursue his Cinderella. They don't make Prince Charmings the way they used to.
Director Mark Rosman and Dunlap search for laughs in all the wrong places. Fiona's complete body makeover with implants, Botox, plastic surgery and a tanning machine earns a few laughs but gets old fast. The slapstick bumbling of Sam's "out-of-step-sisters," Brianna (Madeline Zima) and Gabriella (Andrea Avery), is thoroughly unfunny.
Duff and Byrd anchor the film in a perky though realistic acting style. But too many other actors resort to overblown shtick in a vain attempt to bring cartoonish characters to life. The diner sequences work the best: Regina King, Paul Rodriguez and others form a neat ensemble of characters who work hard, support one another and share a mutual contempt for the owner. Conversely, the sequences in high school or at home feel tired if not belabored.
Tech credits are pro though unexciting.
A Cinderella Story
Warner Bros. Oictures
A Clifford Werber production
Credits:
Director: Mark Rosman
Screenwriter: Leigh Dunlap
Producers: Clifford Werber, Ilyssa Goodman, Hunt Lowry, Dylan Sellers
Executive producers: Michael Rachmil, Peter Greene, Keith Giglio
Director of photography: Anthony B. Richmond
Production designer: Charles Breen
Music: Christophe Beck
Costume designer: Denise Wingate
Editor: Cara Silverman
Cast:
Sam: Hilary Duff
Fiona: Jennifer Coolidge
Austin: Chad Michael Murray
Carter: Dan Byrd
Rhonda: Regina King, Shelby: Julie Gonzalo
Mrs. Wells: Lin Shaye
Brianna: Madeline Zima
Gabriella: Andrea Avery
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 95 minutes...
Thanks to popular young star Hilary Duff, the film might see a brisk boxoffice opening weekend. But word-of-mouth and more attractive options in the multiplexes should lead to a sharp drop-off by the second week.
Wicked stepmothers and Prince Charmings are awkward concepts in a contemporary setting. There is little evidence that writer Leigh Dunlap or her producers thought through how to re-imagine the fairy tale for modern day. Having Cinderella leave behind a cell phone instead of a glass slipper as the clock strikes midnight is not nearly enough.
First of all, the film never makes the case that our Cinderella, Valley high school senior Sam Montgomery (Duff), is truly abused. When her dear dad dies in the Northridge earthquake -- how exactly? we wonder -- her self-indulgent, plastic surgery-obsessed stepmom, Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge in an amusing but over-the-top performance), banishes Sam to the attic and puts her to work in her dad's '50s diner. The trouble is, designer Charles Breen turns that attic into a very cool-looking loft, Sam's paycheck goes to her college education and must we really feel sorry for a girl who complains that she has to drive a "beat-up old car"? The car runs, doesn't it?
Her high school is similarly disconnected from reality but not in the fairy tale sort of way. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Duff is a beauty, and costume designer Denise Wingate does nothing to make her seem otherwise. So why is Sam so unpopular with the boys? They mock her as "Diner Girl" -- what, no one else at school has a job? -- and her only male friend, geeky Carter (Dan Byrd), seems oblivious to her charms as well. Then she puts on a gown and mask and everyone is knocked out by her presence. Go figure.
Her dreamboat is popular football star Austin Ames Chad Michael Murray). He's a good-looking lad, but the script makes him into a boob. He's afraid of his dad, in a dead-end relationship with a shallow cheerleader (Julie Gonzalo), easily cowed by his buddies and unable or unwilling to pursue his Cinderella. They don't make Prince Charmings the way they used to.
Director Mark Rosman and Dunlap search for laughs in all the wrong places. Fiona's complete body makeover with implants, Botox, plastic surgery and a tanning machine earns a few laughs but gets old fast. The slapstick bumbling of Sam's "out-of-step-sisters," Brianna (Madeline Zima) and Gabriella (Andrea Avery), is thoroughly unfunny.
Duff and Byrd anchor the film in a perky though realistic acting style. But too many other actors resort to overblown shtick in a vain attempt to bring cartoonish characters to life. The diner sequences work the best: Regina King, Paul Rodriguez and others form a neat ensemble of characters who work hard, support one another and share a mutual contempt for the owner. Conversely, the sequences in high school or at home feel tired if not belabored.
Tech credits are pro though unexciting.
A Cinderella Story
Warner Bros. Oictures
A Clifford Werber production
Credits:
Director: Mark Rosman
Screenwriter: Leigh Dunlap
Producers: Clifford Werber, Ilyssa Goodman, Hunt Lowry, Dylan Sellers
Executive producers: Michael Rachmil, Peter Greene, Keith Giglio
Director of photography: Anthony B. Richmond
Production designer: Charles Breen
Music: Christophe Beck
Costume designer: Denise Wingate
Editor: Cara Silverman
Cast:
Sam: Hilary Duff
Fiona: Jennifer Coolidge
Austin: Chad Michael Murray
Carter: Dan Byrd
Rhonda: Regina King, Shelby: Julie Gonzalo
Mrs. Wells: Lin Shaye
Brianna: Madeline Zima
Gabriella: Andrea Avery
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 95 minutes...
- 7/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The latest careening comedy-romance in an avalanche of high school-themed films, "She's All That" is an upscale teen version of "My Fair Lady" starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook in Robert Iscove's (ABC's acclaimed "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella") feature directorial debut.
The Miramax release is not doomed, and all that, at the boxoffice, but it won't dance away with much as adults will stay away. The few virtues in this blandly written, cliche-riddled fairy tale are limited to the performances. Not even the target audience will line up in big numbers for such recycled flub dub.
Screenwriter R. Lee Fleming Jr. is also a newcomer to features after working on such projects as MTV's "Dead at 21". One is surprised that Fleming and Iscove do not strive for a zestier flavor to the satiric elements of "She's All That", although some of the gags involving a bogus cast member from MTV's "The Real World" are winners.
Set in Pacific Palisades, Calif., with an almost Homeric rivalry between senior gods Zach (Prinze) and Dean (Paul Walker), the story takes place in the eight weeks between spring break and graduation. When Zach's longtime girlfriend Taylor (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe), the evil queen of the realm, dumps him for "Real World" loser Brock (Matthew Lillard), sadistic Dean goads our hero into betting he can transform any girl into a winner on prom night.
Scarily egotistical and aggressive, Dean laughingly picks out the school dweeb, artist and free thinker Laney (Cook), anticipating Zach's utter humiliation and defeat. Indeed, "bitch-magnet" Zach is vaguely confused and upset, but he quickly takes a hankering to sweet, sharp Laney. She doesn't make it easy for him, and he has to pull off "Pretty Woman"-like feats of materialistic wizardry from time to time.
Zach's combat-tested sister (Anna Paquin) and Laney's loose-cannon brother (Kieran Culkin) stand out in the crowded supporting cast that includes parents, an annoying DJ, many brainless inhabitants of the city and friends of the leads. From wild parties to peachy beach volleyball games, Zach woos and makes over Laney, climaxing in the prom and a sudden switcheroo when she finds out about the bet.
Prinze and Cook do more than go through the paces, but it's safe to say they're destined for better things. The latter is quite successful at the appealing character's grubby-to-glamorous transformation, while Prinze manages to find some angles to flesh out the sometimes thick-headed Zach.
Visually, the film is skin and bones. Iscove and cinematographer Francis Kenny ("A Night at the Roxbury") have the most fun with "Grease"-like dance numbers in the finale.
SHE'S ALL THAT
Miramax Films
A Tapestry Films and Film Colony production
Director: Robert Iscove
Producers: Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy, Richard N. Gladstein
Screenwriter: R. Lee Fleming Jr.
Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Director of photography: Francis Kenny
Production designer: Charles Breen
Editor: Casey O. Rohrs
Costume designer: Denise Wingate
Music: Stewart Copeland
Color/stereo
Cast:
Zach: Freddie Prinze Jr.
Laney: Rachael Leigh Cook
Dean: Paul Walker
Taylor: Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
Mackenzie: Anna Paquin
Simon: Kieran Culkin
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The Miramax release is not doomed, and all that, at the boxoffice, but it won't dance away with much as adults will stay away. The few virtues in this blandly written, cliche-riddled fairy tale are limited to the performances. Not even the target audience will line up in big numbers for such recycled flub dub.
Screenwriter R. Lee Fleming Jr. is also a newcomer to features after working on such projects as MTV's "Dead at 21". One is surprised that Fleming and Iscove do not strive for a zestier flavor to the satiric elements of "She's All That", although some of the gags involving a bogus cast member from MTV's "The Real World" are winners.
Set in Pacific Palisades, Calif., with an almost Homeric rivalry between senior gods Zach (Prinze) and Dean (Paul Walker), the story takes place in the eight weeks between spring break and graduation. When Zach's longtime girlfriend Taylor (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe), the evil queen of the realm, dumps him for "Real World" loser Brock (Matthew Lillard), sadistic Dean goads our hero into betting he can transform any girl into a winner on prom night.
Scarily egotistical and aggressive, Dean laughingly picks out the school dweeb, artist and free thinker Laney (Cook), anticipating Zach's utter humiliation and defeat. Indeed, "bitch-magnet" Zach is vaguely confused and upset, but he quickly takes a hankering to sweet, sharp Laney. She doesn't make it easy for him, and he has to pull off "Pretty Woman"-like feats of materialistic wizardry from time to time.
Zach's combat-tested sister (Anna Paquin) and Laney's loose-cannon brother (Kieran Culkin) stand out in the crowded supporting cast that includes parents, an annoying DJ, many brainless inhabitants of the city and friends of the leads. From wild parties to peachy beach volleyball games, Zach woos and makes over Laney, climaxing in the prom and a sudden switcheroo when she finds out about the bet.
Prinze and Cook do more than go through the paces, but it's safe to say they're destined for better things. The latter is quite successful at the appealing character's grubby-to-glamorous transformation, while Prinze manages to find some angles to flesh out the sometimes thick-headed Zach.
Visually, the film is skin and bones. Iscove and cinematographer Francis Kenny ("A Night at the Roxbury") have the most fun with "Grease"-like dance numbers in the finale.
SHE'S ALL THAT
Miramax Films
A Tapestry Films and Film Colony production
Director: Robert Iscove
Producers: Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy, Richard N. Gladstein
Screenwriter: R. Lee Fleming Jr.
Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Director of photography: Francis Kenny
Production designer: Charles Breen
Editor: Casey O. Rohrs
Costume designer: Denise Wingate
Music: Stewart Copeland
Color/stereo
Cast:
Zach: Freddie Prinze Jr.
Laney: Rachael Leigh Cook
Dean: Paul Walker
Taylor: Jodi Lyn O'Keefe
Mackenzie: Anna Paquin
Simon: Kieran Culkin
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 1/27/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.