Sydney White
feels far too artistically conflicted a cinematic experience
than any ‘tween-targeted romantic-comedy has any right to feel.
As I watched it, I felt as if I was witnessing a battle between
two halves, each fighting for control over the tone and content
of the entire picture. One of these halves offered exactly what
I expected part of a movie called Sydney White would: a
formulaic, estrogen-charged spin-off of Snow White and the
Seven Dwarves. The other, however, was a completely pleasant
surprise: a zany, inventive, and funny vehicle by which
Amanda Bynes was able to engage her likable talents.
Unfortunately, the good-half of Sydney White is never
able to establish dominance over the rest of the film. The end
product is a movie that is somewhat frustrating given its
noticeable embrace of convention, but far more invigorating than
most other fare of this sort due to its plethora of inventive
qualities.
Bynes plays
title-character Sydney White, a recent high school graduate
heading off to Southern Atlantic University. Sydney is a
likable, amiable, everyday girl (both conveniently and
ironically portrayed by an actress as attractive as Bynes)—qualities
thattantly make her a fish-out-of-water when she pledges her
late mother’s sorority, Kappa. Sydney thought that the
experience would bring her closer to the spirit of her mom, who
always dreamed Sydney would join Kappa. However, pledging ends
up making her completely miserable given Kappa’s elitist and
air-headed policies. After a series of troublesome
misunderstandings at Kappa’s pledge-reception, Sydney is kicked
out of the group by sorority-leader Rachel (Sara Paxton), who
has been out to get Sydney all along for flirting with her hunk
of an ex-boyfriend, Tyler (Matt Long). After being taken in by a
group of video-game playing, science-studying geeks who live in
a rundown house at the end of Greek Row, Sydney decides to break
Rachel’s grip over the SAU student-body. With her new roommates
and love-interest Tyler in tow, Sydney enters dorky Terrance
(Jeremy Howard) in the Student Council President race against
interim candidate Rachel.
Sydney White
works best when it isn’t concerned with matters of plot. The
most enjoyable moments of the film are those that allow Bynes
free-range over loosely-defined material. The actress is
effortlessly charming here and brings a much needed energy to
the lead role, perfectly balancing the zany spunk of her
character with a generally attractive and appealing quality that
gains the sympathies of the audience. Bynes also has terrific
chemistry with the cast of the seven dorks in the film;
they share several scenes that had even me, the epitome of a
cinematic cynic, laughing out loud. Not to mention, Bynes
perfectly complements the evil of Paxton’s wickedly (and
brilliantly) played Rachel.
Despite its
array of refreshing assets, Sydney White still follows a
tired formula. If screenwriter Chad Creasy thought that creating
a spin-off of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was an
original idea, he was deeply deluded. Sydney White’s
storyline is as frustratingly generic as they come; its
point-for-point embrace of its source-material and the
romantic-comedy formula proves thoroughly uninspiring. Similar
to recent indie Eye of the Dolphin, Sydney White
proves disappointing mainly because the stunning strength of its
lead performance is somewhat exploited by the tremendous
weakness of its script. Still, the movie succeeds far more on
the whole than most pictures of this sort usually do, and
deserves to be recommended for this.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 9.1.2007
Sydney White is rated PG-13 and runs
107 minutes.
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