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My friend Kristin and I are big Colin Firth fans. So even though the previews made this movie look rather cheesy and made for a slightly younger audience, we braved the crowds of youths to see What a Girl Wants.
And we were glad we did. What a Girl Wants is one of those movies that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Slightly embarrassed that there are six-year-olds sitting behind you, but warm and fuzzy, nonetheless. It’s a genuinely funny, clean movie. Sure, the humor can get a bit wacky at times, but that’s the fun of it.
I found myself laughing out loud a few times. The whole movie’s worth seeing, if only for the scene in which Colin Firth’s character tries on his leather pants from the sixties and dances in front of the mirror with a silly awkward grace that’s hilarious.
What’s the movie about? Well, the storyline’s reminiscent of The Parent Trap, particularly the latest remake that’s half set in London. The main difference is that there’s only one daughter, and she’s a few years older than the ones in The Parent Trap. So anyway, there’s this teenage girl (Amanda Bynes) who’s never known her dad (Colin Firth). Her mom’s a hippie-ish singer at weddings, and her dad’s a member of the House of Lords in England. Her parents were separated by his disapproving family and political counselors before she was born.
She’s just graduating from high school and has decided to go meet her dad, so she flies to England to meet him. He never knew she existed but warms up to her. His evil fiancé and her daughter, naturally, don’t warm up to her. The major question is whether she, a crazy American, can fit into the upper crust British world her father lives in, while staying herself.
Like I said, it’s a fun, funny, feel-good movie. It’s nothing terribly thought provoking, ground-breaking, or award-winning, but it’s a good slumber party caliber movie.
