What a Girl Wants

A lollypops-and-rainbows adventure about a free-spirited New York teenager (Nickelodeon-launched Amanda Bynes) running away to London to find the blue-blooded daddy she's never known (Colin Firth), the first half of this flick virtually ignores its raison d'etre of father-daughter bonding in favor of stock tourist footage (with Bynes hanging off the back of a double-decker bus), music video shopping montages, rivalries with snooty soon-to-be stepsisters, and flirtations with an unthreateningly cute working-class boy (Oliver James) who plays guitar and rides a motorcycle. The second half takes place mostly at endless balls, cotillions and coming-out parties, at which a dolled-up Bynes always manages to make a scene, while the audience wonders whether she will curb her spirit and conform to her father's world or listen to the cute boy who asks, "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" Knowing full well that most 'tween girls will be too young to recognize its artificiality and paint-by-numbers banality, director Dennie Gordon doesn't even bother trying to make the picture palpable to anyone with more discerning tastes. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentaries (one by star Amanda Bynes, the other by director Dennie Gordon and screenwriters Jenny Bicks and Elizabeth Chandler), an eight-minute “Fashion and Etiquette 101” featurette on costume design and proper London protocol, a “What's a Girl to Wear” game where players match outfits and accessories to reveal a brief featurette with Bynes, three additional scenes, a cast/crew list, and a trailer. [Bottom line: a fun extras package for a lightweight toss-off film.] (R. Blackwelder)