Sydney White (2007)

A modern retelling of Snow White set against students in their freshman year of college in the greek system.

Director:

Joe Nussbaum

Writer:

Chad Gomez Creasey

Stars:

Amanda Bynes, Sara Paxton, Matt Long

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Amanda Bynes	...	Sydney White
Sara Paxton	...	Rachel
Matt Long	...	Tyler
Jack Carpenter	...	Lenny
Jeremy Howard	...	Terrence
Crystal Hunt	...	Dinky
Adam Hendershott	...	Jeremy
Danny Strong	...	Gurkin
Samm Levine	...	Spanky
Libby Mintz	...	Christy
John Schneider	...	Paul White
Arnie Pantoja	...	George
Donté Bonner	...	Embele
Brian Patrick Clarke	...	Professor Carleton
Lauren Leech	...	Katy

Storyline

This modern retelling of the classic fairytale follows a beautiful college freshman as she pledges her late mother's once dignified sorority. But after discovering that today's sisterhood is not what it used to be, Sydney finds her new home away from home with seven outcasts. With the help of her socially challenged new friends, Sydney will take on the reigning campus queen to attempt to transform the school's misguided social hierarchy.

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Plot Keywords:

college | sorority | college freshman | elite | hasidic jew | 

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Taglines:

Freshman year is no fairy tale.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some language, sexual humor and partying

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sydney White and the Seven Dorks

Filming Locations:

Church Street Station - 129 W. Church Street, Orlando, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$5,196,380 (USA) (21 September 2007)

Gross:

$11,702,090 (USA) (26 October 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Productions, SW7D Productions, Clifford Werber Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of the members of the "SAU Marching Sharks" in the film are actual band members. Members of the University of Central Florida Marching Knights were used to film these scenes.

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Goofs

When Sydney gets on the bus and says "I love you, Dad." you can see Paul's jaw moving but there's no sound.

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Quotes

Gurkin: [updating his blog] Does anyone know another word for "douchebaggery"? I don't want to use it a third time.

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Connections

References Dallas (1978)

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Soundtracks

"Fortress"
Written by Rob Crow and Armistead Burwell Smith IV
Performed by Pinback
Courtesy of Touch and Go Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Not the most original, but sweet, harmless and entertaining!

Maybe I just haven't seen a good "teen girl" movie in so long. In fact, I don't remember the last time I went and saw a "teen girl" movie. Maybe if there were more out there was fun as this, I would. Basically, I had boring, rainy Saturday and a little sister. The trip to the theatre wound up with the two us laughing our heads off and all the appropriate "aww" moments.

The premise is a modern-day Snow White on a college campus. A little contrived, but hey, it apparently worked. Sydney is your average tomboy who is under all sorts of pressure to pledge herself to her dead mother's old sorority. Well, the sorority girls are no longer what they used to be, and the pampered princesses throw Sydney out into the rain. She winds up taking refuge at the Vortex, a student housing building where lives the guy she dumped for a sorority mission and his six bizarre roommates.

Honestly, I didn't think it would work. But it did, and besides the cuteness there is a little more moral meat as Sydney and her new friends lead a student body revolution. Yeah, it's cheesy and we've seen the revenge-of-the-nerds theme many a time before, but it's so goodhearted and fun that I couldn't help but love it, stereotypes, predictability, and all.

All the characters seemed very much into their roles. I wouldn't say I'm an Amanda Bynes fan, but she failed to annoy me this time around! It was a great blend of an old story with modern college life with clever, roll-your-eyes references to the original Disney animated film. It might bother some people, but as a Snow White fan I thought they were cute.

It's definitely a girl movie, I'll give you that, so if you can't put up with the silliness and the cheesiness, you will not enjoy it. But if you're a girl looking for a cute movie with a lot of harmless fun, this will hit the spot. This is one I will definitely buy on DVD and watch when I need something light and fun.

Not the most artistic of film making and not a whole lot of focus on in-depth characters and originality, but as a former teenage girl, I will happily give this adorable little film 7/10 for sheer sweetness, a good heart, and a passion for doing the right thing. Sometimes we just need that girly spunk.