Actors overcome weak script in predictable 'What a Girl Wants'

By Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

WHAT A GIRL WANTS (Rated PG) Two and One-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) "What a Girl Wants" is "The Princess Diaries" meets "The Banger Sisters," and it's so mind-numbingly predictable that only a winning cast could save it. The remarkable news is they do, sort of. Starring Colin Firth, Amanda Bynes and Kelly Preston. Directed by Dennie Gordon, Warner Bros., 100 minutes.

Colin Firth's name belongs in the title because this isn't a movie so much as a star vehicle. Of course, my title has problems of its own. Namely, it fails to recognize Amanda Bynes, who makes up the other 50 percent of the film.

When "What a Girl Wants" is working, it's because Bynes and Firth are charming us. When it's not, it's because the script got the better of them.

Based on the William Douglas Home play "The Reluctant Debutante," which first was made into a movie of the same name in 1958, this is one of those exercises that does exactly what you expect at the precise times you expect it.

It exists for no other reason than to sell its stars and as a result should succeed as a harmless distraction for 10-year-old girls. For adults, it's still harmless but considerably less distracting.

The plot revolves around Daphne Reynolds (Bynes), a young woman who has spent her life longing to meet the father she's never known. After years of being shined on by her mother, Libby (Kelly Preston), Daphne takes matters into her own hands, flying to England where she meets her father, Lord Henry Dashwood (Firth).

One look in Daphne's eyes and Dashwood is convinced of her paternity, accepting her into his home. Only problem? She's an unmannered American and he's a respectable British politician. We spend the rest of the movie watching Bynes do the fish-out-of-water shtick and Firth remembering what it was like to be young.

It is "The Princess Diaries" meets "The Banger Sisters," and it's so mind-numbingly predictable that only a winning cast could save it. The remarkable news is they do, sort of.

There is no getting around the film's manipulative nature and bland storytelling, but Bynes and Firth do the best with what's set before them. It would be easy not to care whether Daphne develops a relationship with her newfound dad, but Bynes ensures that we do.

She is a charming actor and the charm-o-meter is going full tilt here. Likewise, Firth plays Dashwood as the type of aristocrat we want to believe in. His character is dutiful and ambitious, yet governed by traits like honesty and morality. As if.

The roles are cliche, yes, but Bynes and Firth put enough heart in their performances to sell them. And because we like them, we sometimes like the film. The key word being sometimes.

Rated PG for mild language.