Hilary Duff stars in this movie as a girl whose father dies in an earthquake. Because there is no will left her stepmother gets everything, including Sam (Hilary).

The movie picks up 8 years later where Sam is a senior in high school preparing to go to college at Princeton (that is, if she gets accepted). High school isn't exactly a happy experience for Sam as she has only two friends. One real, one an email friend that texts her constantly. To everyone else in the school she's know as Diner Girl.
Home isn't any better, as she is forced to live in the attic, do all of the chores, wait on her stepmother and sisters constantly, and work seven days a week at the diner owned by her stepmother.

Since I saw the previews of this movie I thought it looked funny. I've been looking forward to it since the first preview. However, now that it's out and I read the reviews I was nervous. Luckily my fears weren't realized. This movie ended up being a sweet, family friendly, romantic comedy. Duff does an excellent job of portraying Sam. She truly is an excellent young actress, the pep rally scene is proof of this.

While this movie wasn't really laugh out loud funny, it was funny at times, but more than that it was sweet and, for lack of a better word, cute. The direction was really nice. It wasn't super artsy, but it was well done and added a certain beauty to the film.

Cinderella Story ended up being a really sweet movie that deserves a better reaction than it recieved. Great acting, a clever update of an old fairy tale, an awesome soundtrack, and a likeable cast makes for a great afternoon at the movies.