A Cinderella Story


A Cinderella Story is a 2004 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Mark Rosman, written by Leigh Dunlap and stars Hilary Duff, Chad Michael Murray, Jennifer Coolidge and Regina King. A modernization of the classic Cinderella folklore, the film's plot revolves around two Internet pen pals who plan to meet in person at their high school's Halloween dance.
The film was released on July 16, 2004. While it received negative reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing $70 million against its $19 million budget, and inspired four straight-to-video sequels. Over the years, it has developed into a cult classic.

Plot

Eight-year-old Samantha "Sam" Montgomery lives in the San Fernando Valley with her widowed father, Harold "Hal" Montgomery, who runs a popular, sports-themed diner. Hal meets and eventually marries a vain, greedy and selfish gold-digging woman, named Fiona, who has spoiled and bratty fraternal twin daughters, named Brianna and Gabriella. When the 1994 Northridge earthquake strikes, Hal is killed trying to save Fiona. As he supposedly left no will, Fiona receives everything including the house, the diner, and to her dismay Sam.
Eight years later, Sam, now sixteen, is employed at the diner as a waitress to save money for her dream college, Princeton, but is regularly tormented by her stepfamily, who think they are more popular than her despite being regarded as obnoxious. Fiona has transformed Hal's beloved diner into a hot pink 50s-themed eatery, demands that salmon be included in over half of the dishes and takes Sam's earnings. To make matters worse, Fiona also uses the inheritance to live as if they are insanely rich, including spending on minor facial and cosmetic surgeries, and even refuses to save water during the ongoing drought. Sam also struggles to fit in at North Valley High School, where head cheerleader and queen bee, Shelby Cummings, also bullies and calls her names, such as "Diner Girl", along with other members of the popular clique: David, Ryan Hanson, Caitlyn and Madison. Despite how badly she's being treated, Sam confides in her online pen pal "Nomad", who shares her dream to attend Princeton to become a writer, her best friend but outcast, Carter Farrell, and finds comfort in the diner staff, including Rhonda the manager, Eleanor, a waitress and Bobby the chef. "Nomad"'s true identity is Austin Ames, the popular - yet unhappy - quarterback of the school's football team, called "The Fighting Frogs", and Shelby's reluctant boyfriend; he attempts to break up with Shelby who "chooses to ignore that". It turns out that Austin's father, Andy, has arranged for his son to attend the University of Southern California with a football scholarship. "Nomad" proposes that he and Sam meet in person at the school's Halloween dance. Initially reluctant, Sam is convinced by Carter to go to the dance and meet her mysterious online friend.
On the night of the dance, Fiona forces Sam to work the night shift at the diner, then leaves to drive Brianna and Gabriella to the dance. Carter and Rhonda take Sam to find a costume for the dance, but couldn't find anything that suits her until Rhonda comes across a white masquerade mask. Sam, wearing a mask and Rhonda's old, but still beautiful wedding dress, meets "Nomad" at the dance, and is surprised to learn that he is Austin, thus causing an envious Terry, a student who has a crush on Sam, to walk off. After sharing a romantic dance together and before Austin can remove her mask, Sam's cell phone alarm goes off, warning her to return to the diner before Fiona comes back at midnight. She leaves without revealing her identity to Austin, unaware that she's named the homecoming princess along with Austin as the homecoming prince by Mrs. Wells, the principal, and drops her phone on her way out. Austin picks it up and begins a search to figure out who his "Cinderella" really is.
Later, Brianna and Gabriella discover Sam's emails to Austin and realize that Sam is "Cinderella". After failing to convince Austin that either one is Cinderella, they later present the emails to Shelby and convince her that Sam tried to steal Austin from her. To retaliate, Shelby, Brianna and Gabriella perform a mean-spirited skit at a school pep rally, horrifying the school staff as the emails are read aloud and Sam's identity is revealed to Austin. Humiliated and upset that Austin did not stand up for her, Sam leaves in tears.
Like Austin, Sam had been accepted to Princeton, only to be duped by Fiona into believing she was rejected by having a fake rejection letter made in order to keep Sam working at the diner and as her slave. Sam gives up hope and resigns herself to working at the diner, but Rhonda convinces Sam to not give up on herself. Soon, Brianna and Gabriella enter the diner and slam the door, causing the wallpaper to tear off, in which they blame on their stepsister. Sam seeing the inspirational quote, "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game", fills her with confidence. Frustrated with Fiona's persistent emotional abuse for almost a decade and her schoolwide humiliation, Sam stands up to Fiona, quits her job at the diner and moves out to live with Rhonda. Rhonda and the rest of the diner staff also resign, having only stayed for Sam's sake after Hal's death, and the disgusted customers also storm out after witnessing everything.
Before the school's homecoming football game, Sam confronts Austin about his cowardice and lies. Before the final play of the game, he sees Sam leaving the stands and runs to apologize to her, but only after standing up to his father due to not wanting to play football for the rest of his life. She accepts his apology and they share their first kiss, much to the dismay of Shelby, Brianna and Gabriella, as rain falls over the drought-plagued valley, and the football team wins the game. Soon after, Sam finds Hal's will hidden in her childhood fairytale book, which stated that all of his money, belongings, the house and diner actually belong to her. Since this leaves her as the rightful and legal owner, Sam sells her stepfamily's fancy cars so that she can pay for college, and Fiona, who signed the will as a witness but claims to have never seen it before, is arrested by the LAPD and the County district attorney for financial fraud, swindling her stepdaughter out of her inheritance and for violating child labour laws due to all the long hours she made Sam work at the diner in spite of her being a minor.
Things clear up in the San Fernando Valley. Sam's stepsisters retrieve her real acceptance letter to Princeton from the garbage, where Fiona "filed" it. Soon, Fiona and her daughters are made to work at the diner to work off all the money they squandered from Sam to avoid facing time in prison and juvenile hall, and the diner is restored to its former glory before Hal's death by its new owners, Sam and Rhonda. Andy comes to accept his son's desire to attend Princeton and creates a promotion for Princeton alumni at his car wash. Carter soon films a commercial for a new acne medication, causing him to become popular and Shelby to fall in love him, but after seeing her true colors at the pep rally, Carter rejects her for Astrid, the high school's goth DJ and announcer. Austin and Sam begin a relationship, after Austin gives Sam back her cell phone, and they both end up driving off to Princeton together.

Cast

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 12% based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "An uninspired, generic updating of the classic fairy tale." On Metacritic, the film has a score on 25 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert wrote that A Cinderella Story, "is a lame, stupid movie, but Warner Bros. is spending a fortune.. to persuade to see it and recommend it”.
The film was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards at the 2005 ceremony, winning the award for Choice Movie Blush Scene, the same year Duff won the Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Movie Actress.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $13,623,350 in 2,625 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office, behind I, Robot, Spider-Man 2 and . By the end of its run, A Cinderella Story grossed $51,438,175 domestically and $18,629,734 internationally, totaling $70,067,909 worldwide.

Soundtrack

Sequels

A Cinderella Story was followed by four direct-to-video sequels, each presenting a separate modern-day version of the Cinderella story: The sequels use the themes and situations which also borrow from the Cinderella tale, but do not contain any characters from the first film. Unlike the first film, the sequels also include musical, dance and holiday event themes.
Film titleYearDirectorStarring
Another Cinderella Story2008Damon SantostefanoSelena Gomez
'2011Damon SantostefanoLucy Hale
'2016Michelle JohnstonSofia Carson
2019Michelle JohnstonLaura Marano