Review of Sydney White (2007) by Kevin P — 01 Jun 2018

Strengths: Most reviews of this film mention how witty and charming Amanda Bynes (Sydney White) is. They're correct as she's the star of the show. She has a charisma about her that steals the show in every scene. Her chemistry with Matt Long (Tyler Prince) is also solid. The group of seven dorks is a mixed big, with some of that leading to funny bits of charming stories. The best thing about the movie is probably the clever ways in which they take aspects from Snow White and use it in the modern world. For example, just before an important debate, Sydney gets her laptop wiped (poisoned apple) and when she has to pull an all-nighter, it is a kiss from Tyler (last name Prince, yea) that awakens her. There's also how each dork plays off a dwarf, like Doc, Sleepy, Dopey, and Bashful.

Weaknesses: Sara Paxton (Rachel Witchburn) plays the "evil witch" and does so with an over top performance. She tries too hard to get the evil over and it fails, coming off as cheesy for most of the movie. There are way better "bad girls" in teen flicks out there. A lot of what happens are cliché, as are some of the characters. There is potential for something kind of special, but the movie misses those opportunities. Like, I originally saw it when it first came out and almost completely forgot it even existed, because it's so unmemorable.

Overall: It doesn't stand out and features a few too many clichés to be anything great. However, Amanda Bynes gives a strong performance to help things out. The movie is cute, charming, and overall enjoyable.