Killing Cinderella (2000)

Rating: C

Dir: Lisa Abbatiello
Star: Marin Hinkle, Patricia Kalember, Anthony Clark, Jessica Capshaw

Aroogah! Aroogah! Chick-flick alert! Yet, despite TC’s general aversion to oestrogen-flavoured cinema, even I have to begrudgingly admit this is not unbearable. It’s a story of three New Jersey girls and their search for love in all the wrong places – one, Karen (Hinkle) is plagued by the re-appearance of an imaginary friend and fairy-tale princess (Kalember – the wife from Jacob’s Ladder), whose advice is not worth a glass slipper in today’s world. This culture-clash is witty and well-observed, and we’d have liked to have seen more of it, and the sharp dialogue which rings true.

Unfortunately, in the middle, the movie descends into a love story which is way too obvious. You know Karen has fallen for the wrong guy – rich, successful and, inevitably, a total wanker – and the director doesn’t make any effort to build suspense or add twists, leaving it astonishingly predictable. Still, there’s little of the man-bashing so often seen in the genre, with neither sex immune to satirical jabs. It’s a light confection with no depth to speak of, yet if you must see this kind of film (say, if the Ilsa movies are all out at the video store) you could do a lot worse.