“What a Girl Wants” (2003), rightly regarded as Amanda Bynes’ best starring role, adds sprinkles to the cake of the teen rom-com genre. It’s mostly about American teenager Daphne’s (Bynes) longing to meet her father, well-liked British politician Henry (Colin Firth).
Mother Libby (Kelly Preston) had told Daphne about her dad, but always dissuaded her from meeting him. But then Daphne’s free-thinking nature kicks in and she travels to London. This premise – updated from the 1958 film “The Reluctant Debutante” and likely making people think of “The Princess Diaries” (2001) – is ridiculous under a real-world lens but plausible enough for a movie plot.
Director Dennie Gordon knows the strengths in her lineup. The amusingly contrasting charms of Firth and Bynes — and in a wider sense, the stereotypes of stuffy Brits versus wild Americans — play wonderfully in bringing alive the screenplay by Jenny Bicks and Elizabeth Chandler.
“What a Girl Wants” (2003)
Director: Dennie Gordon
Writers: Jenny Bicks, Elizabeth Chandler (screenplay); William Douglas-Home (1958 screenplay)
Stars: Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, Kelly Preston
One example: When Daphne wants to thank her hostess — the fraternal grandmother she’s recently met (Eileen Atkins as Jocelyn) — for her lavish bedroom quarters, Jocelyn says “I don’t hug. I’m British.” Throughout the film, dry British observations about life tastily contrast with the silly and predictable narrative beats.
The predictability means “WAGW” would’ve benefited from being slightly shorter, yet a smile gets pasted on a viewer’s face and stays through most of the 105 minutes. There isn’t much nuance here, as Daphne, Henry, Libby, and Daphne’s prospective boyfriend Ian (Oliver James) are all unambiguously good people. Henry’s soon-to-be in-laws – plus one snooty rich teen hitting on Daphne — represent the villainy, but in a pleasantly cartoonish way.
Born to stand out, trying to fit in
As Ian points out amid their canoe-trip reprieve from upper crustiness, Daphne strives to fit it but she’s born to stand out. Despite the obvious nature of their internal conflicts, “WAGW” rings true. Daphne and Henry – along with the viewer — feel the pressures of family members combined with the weight of centuries of expected behavior at political functions and debutante balls.
Bringing real-world flavor, Preston and James perform songs themselves. These are nice, brief interludes to Firth as the good guy trying to please everyone and Bynes as the one-girl American Invasion.
Showcasing London locations and occasionally landing a nice needle drop outside of the diegetic music (although, oddly, never the 1999 Christina Aguilera song), “WAGW” is very easy to like. But does it heed Ian’s advice? Does it effectively stand out from the teen comedy pack when it would be so easy to just fit in?
Not as much as it could. There is an expectedness to most of the set-ups. For instance: At a stuffy formal party, we know Daphne (on the dance floor) and Ian (at the mic) will spice up the night in a funny way. But, hey, sometimes that’s what a viewer wants.
And with so many Bynes movies being extended skits (granted, not always a bad thing; see “She’s the Man”), it’s nice to have one with emotional depth, and not merely about Daphne’s first crush, but also about her dad. “What a Girl Wants” isn’t quite a stand-out film, but it’s a special one just the same.