A Cinderella Story
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: July 16, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
25
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
9
Negative:
21
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A mostly charmless affair. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
The supporting cast's comic abilities smooth over many -- if not all -- of the movie's flaws. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Deeply, proudly average..."Mean Girls" it's not; a plastic butter knife has more edge. But sometimes it's nice to know your kids won't cut their fingers. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
It's not a terrible movie, just a disappointingly pleasant one. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
When not unnecessarily bland, synthetic, and indistinguishable from undistinguished teen TV, A Cinderella Story is unnecessarily coarse and dumbed down, with every character except Sam and Austin subject to perfunctory ridicule. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJennifer Snow
The film lacks the guiltily pleasurable panache (and punch) of other recent chickadee flicks posited as protofeminist fairy tales. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Under the charmless direction of Mark Rosman, the actors seem to be frozen at the rehearsal stage, with the blessed exception of a sublimely funny Jennifer Coolidge as the Botoxed horror of a stepmother. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Unfortunately, "Cinderella" feels like a pro forma TV movie from the get-go and relies almost entirely on Duff's likability to hold the audience's attention. Read full review
40
EmpireAnna Smith
This is simple, lazy storytelling rendered merely functional by appealing leads and the eternal lure of romantic fantasy. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
Of all the teen performers out there, Duff has to be the blandest (especially since the Olsens hit the skids). Read full review
38
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Not as vile as "Sleepover," nor as tangy as "Mean Girls." Read full review
38
USA TodayMike Clark
Desperately conceived by even the most insipid standards of contemporary teen-queen cinema, A Cinderella Story operates under a rotting pumpkin of a supposition. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
The story is without an original thought, the characters little more than caricatures (unappealing ones, at that) and the filmmaking so uninspired that it's hard to imagine anyone embracing it with anything more than a shrug and a wonder why they didn't wait to catch it on TV. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The only intriguing character is the manager of the diner (and de facto fairy godmother), played by Regina King. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
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. Read full review
30
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Lusterless trifle. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Duff isn't exactly known for complex fare, but even "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" was way better than this. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Even for a fairy tale, A Cinderella Story, directed by Mark Rosman from a screenplay by Leigh Dunlap, fails to make sense. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Having defused the fairy tale, first-time screenwriter Leigh Dunlap pads this out to 96 minutes with stale high school politics and the usual claptrap about believing in yourself. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A Cinderella Story banks far too heavily on its audience's affection for Duff, who's dreadful in a terrible role. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Even the delightful Duff disappoints. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The sort of entertainment that makes you happy to be grown up and able to avoid the current onslaught of trite, lazy, unimaginative films aimed at tween-agers. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's probably the movie event of the summer if you're an eight-year-old girl who doesn't get out much. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A terrible movie, sappy and dead in the water. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
A Cinderella Story has little of the smarts that distinguished this spring's big teen hit, "Mean Girls", which starred Duff's arch-rival, Lindsay Lohan. Whereas that film presented a genuinely complex and enjoyably snarky portrait of modern teen life, this effort is content to be another candy-coloured fantasy. Read full review
25
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWinda Benedetti
Perhaps worst of all, this film seems to assume its teen viewers are a bunch of drooling half-wits, going to great pains to explain everything in so much after-school-special detail. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It isn't all the actors' faults, of course. You can't, ahem, turn straw into gold, and straw – dull, brittle, lousy to taste – is entirely what director Mark Rosman and first-time screenwriter Leigh Dunlap deliver. Read full review
20
Washington PostStephen Hunter
They took the most famous tale in the world and broke it. Read full review
10
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It is horrible. Time curls up and dies while this Hilary Duff vehicle wheels its weary, conventional way along. Read full review
10
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
At worst, it’s an insult even to the intelligence of 12-year olds. Read full review
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