A Cinderella Story

A Cinderella Story
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Rosman
Produced by	Clifford Werber Dylan Sellers
Written by	Leigh Dunlap
Starring	Hilary Duff Chad Michael Murray Jennifer Coolidge Dan Byrd Regina King
Music by	Christophe Beck
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Editing by	Cara Silverman
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 16, 2004
Running time	95 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Gross revenue	$51,431,160
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

A Cinderella Story is a teen romance movie starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray. A modern-day take on the classic story of Cinderella, the plot involves a lost cell phone, rather than the traditional glass slipper. Directed by Mark Rosman, the film also includes Jennifer Coolidge, Dan Byrd, Regina King, Julie Gonzalo and Lin Shaye. The movie features the song "Now You Know", written and performed by Kara DioGuardi and an Our Lips Are Sealed cover by Hilary and Haylie Duff. It features on the soundtrack being sung by Hilary Duff. The film was given mixed reviews by most critics, but the film was a box office success; at $51 million domestically and $70 million worldwide, it stands currently as Hilary Duff's most successful movie in a leading role.

Tagline:

• Once upon a time, can happen anytime.

Plot

Samantha "Sam" Montgomery (Hilary Duff) lived a semi-fairytale life with her widowed father (who is later shown remarrying) when she was 8 years old in the San Fernando Valley, until the 1994 Northridge earthquake kills her father and leaves her with her plastic-surgery-obsessed stepmother Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge) and her two clumsy stepsisters Brianna (Madeline Zima) and Gabriella (Andrea Avery). 8 years later, Sam is a straight-A student enduring snobbish Fiona, who turned her father's diner into a teen hot spot and forces her to work as a "diner girl". In addition to her family, Sam must deal with the "popular" girls at school, led by the witchy Shelby (Julie Gonzalo), and an instant-messaging relationship with a "secret admirer" who wants to attend Princeton with her. Her only escapes from her cruel world are her friends: the dorky actor Carter (Dan Byrd), the diner manager Rhonda (Regina King) and her diner family, and Austin Ames (Chad Michael Murray), who is the star football player and her e-mail buddy who does not know who Sam is and vice versa.

As they text each other back and forth, Austin invites Sam to the Halloween Homecoming dance so they can meet face-to-face, despite complications with his girlfriend Shelby and his athlete friends. At the same time, Fiona forces Sam to work late at the diner that night until 12AM. Carter, Rhonda, and the other diner employees help Sam get to the ball, masquerading as a princess in a mask and Rhoda's wedding dress. She meets Austin in the middle of the dance floor, and they dance and play "10 Questions", Sam never revealing her identity. As they dance outside in the gazebo, her cell phone alarm goes off at 11:45 PM and Sam flees so she can be back at the diner before Fiona finds her, dropping her cell phone in the process. Austin picks up the phone and wants to find Sam again.

Sam returns to school a couple days later to find Austin performing a school-wide search for his "Cinderella." (The cell phone is locked) Sam is still feeling uncomfortable about revealing herself to Austin, who in turn is still searching obsessively. One afternoon, Sam's stepsisters find her emails while snooping around on her laptop. After unsuccessfully trying to pass themselves off as "Cinderella" to Austin, they begin to fight, which results in a hilarious trip through the car wash where Austin works for his father (Kevin Kilner). They end up showing the emails to Shelby who is also the head cheerleader, with whom Austin has just broken up with. The stepsisters make her believe Sam stole Austin on purpose, so she puts together a cruel skit to perform at a pep rally in order to humiliate Sam. The skit is performed in front of the whole school, as well as Austin's father (who is present at the rally and has been pressuring Austin to attend college and play football at USC), and reveals her identity to Austin shamefully.

Eventually, Sam has enough of her step-family and their abusive treatment and quits working at the diner, tells Fiona off, and moves in with Rhonda. The night of the big homecoming game, Sam storms into the locker room and confronts Austin, saying that she's fed up with his two different identities, one to her and one to his friends ("waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this drought, useless and disappointing"). In the last few moments of the game, Austin comes to his senses, abandons the game, and kisses Sam on the bleachers, at the very same time it starts raining. In the end, Sam finds her father's hidden will, leaving everything to her. She has Fiona arrested for keeping it a secret when her signature was plainly on the document, and for violating California child labor laws for all of the hours she was forced to work at the diner, under supervision from Rhonda. Carter gets a role in a commercial, and Shelby is left in the dust. Brianna and Gabriella, along with Fiona, are forced to work in the diner to pay off their community service debts. Sam and Austin are accepted to Princeton and ride off to their new future together.

Cast

• Hilary Duff as Samantha "Sam" Montgomery (Cinderella)
• Chad Michael Murray as Austin Ames (Prince Charming)
• Jennifer Coolidge as Fiona (evil stepmother)
• Dan Byrd as Carter (Jacque)
• Regina King as Rhonda (fairy godmother)
• Julie Gonzalo as Shelby
• Lin Shaye as Mrs. Wells
• Madeline Zima as Brianna
• Andrea Avery as Gabriella
• Mary Pat Gleason as Eleanor
• Whip Hubley as Mr. Montgomery
• Kevin Kilner as Mr. Ames
• Erica Hubbard as Madison
• Simon Helberg as Terry

Free-TV airings for A Cinderella Story

A Cinderella Story made its cable premiere on YTV in Canada and on ABC Family in November 2006. But it has requested that ABC Family's sister station, Disney Channel, will start airing A Cinderella Story in 2007.

Soundtrack

Main article: A Cinderella Story: Original Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released July 13, 2004 by Hollywood Records. The soundtrack contains 14 songs including Hilary and Haylie Duff's cover of Our Lips Are Sealed.

External links

• Official site
• A Cinderella Story at the Internet Movie Database
• A Cinderella Story at All Movie Guide

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