Directed by Dennie Gordon
What a Girl Wants was made with teenagers clearly in mind and has hit its target audience right on the head. Henry Dashwood (Colin Firth) falls in love and “marries” Libby Reynolds (Kelly Preston) in Morocco but when he brings her back to England to marry her officially his family does not approve of her and encourages her to go back to America. Little did anybody know that she was already pregnant and 17 years later Daphne Reynolds (Amanda Bynes) has come to London to finally meet her father.
Henry Dashwood is now Lord Dashwood and engaged to be married to Glynnis Payne (Anna Chancellor) and ready to take on a step-daughter, Clarissa. He is also running for parliament and Daphne doesn’t quite fit the mould of an aristocrat’s daughter. She is far too outrageous and certainly doesn’t dress the part. After embarrassing her father at Lord Orwood’s home, Daphne decides to start acting more like a debutante in an effort to fit in with her father’s society. His parliamentary ambitions are also suffering. This also means putting her relationship with Ian Wallace, her British boyfriend, on the back burner.
Daphne changes her wardrobe and suddenly Dashwood starts to climb in the polls again. Those fickle voters!! She even gets to meet the Queen and has her own “Coming Out” Party where she is introduced to society. Every body is impressed by the new Daphne except Ian Wallace who puts it best when he says “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out ?”
Daphne is just about to have her Father-Daughter dance at her Ball (the thing she wanted more than anything) when Glynnis locks her in a room after she finds out Glynnis’ father was responsible for breaking up her parents all those years ago. Clarissa takes her place instead and Daphne then realizes that she doesn’t fit in her father’s world and quickly flies back to America with her mother Libby in tow.
Has she lost the two most important men in her life? Of course not, this is Hollywood and a happy ending is just around the corner. You will just have to watch it to see it unfold.
Colin Firth plays a similar role in Bridget Jones’ Diary but his Lord Dashwood is not a patch on Mark Darcy. The sight of him practicing his air guitar skills in leather pants was cringe worthy but his accent is still to die for.
Kelly Preston is beautiful as Libby Reynolds but whoever told her she could sing should be severely reprimanded. I bet you her husband, John Travolta, put her up to it. Amanda Bynes is a natural and I am sure that she will be in many movies to come.
This film is an enjoyable way to fill in 100 minutes. You don’t need to use a lot of brain matter to follow the film and it will certainly keep teenagers amused if you want some peace and quiet. Even adults should have a chuckle or two. It is also a good film to see all the land marks of England and how the other half lives.

THE EXTRAS

There are many on this DVD. They include:
? Scene selection (28 different scenes in total)
? Audio commentary by Amanda Bynes
? Commentary by the director and two screenwriters (Jenny Bicks and Elizabeth Chandler).
There is plenty of information about the film here. For example, I learnt that this movie is a remake of a movie The Reluctant Debutante.
? Fashion and Etiquette 101 - This is a documentary of two very different parts. This first part deals with the outfits chosen for all the main characters in the film and why they were chosen. The second part focuses on the proper etiquette to use in various situations (very educational). This runs for about eight minutes.
? Additional scenes - three different scenes (runs for about two minutes). The footage is a little grainy and not all that exciting anyway.
? A theatrical trailer (runs for two minutes, as expected a summary of the entire film).
? Cast and Crew - just a list of the main characters and the actors playing them.

CONCLUSION

Daphne Reynolds (Amanda Bynes) has never met her father and so she heads off to London in search of Lord Dashwood (Colin Firth). When she arrives she finds that he is engaged to be married to Glynnis and ready to take on a new step-daughter, Clarissa. He is also running for parliament. Daphne is far too vibrant for her father’s society and doesn’t quite fit in and so decides to change her whole attitude to be more like the debutante she is expected to be. This doesn’t impress her newly acquired British boyfriend, Ian Wallace.
This film is clearly aimed at the teenage audience (thus the G rating) and will not disappoint.