Sydney white

There are movies out there that provoke us, that kindle the mind and push the limits of innovative filmmaking with inspired audacity.

Anyway, Sydney White isn't one of those movies.

If cinema were a banquet spread of foreign, obscure and expensive concoctions for the refined palette, Sydney White would be the double cheeseburger and chocolate milk shake drive-through run on the way home.

It's easy, it's predictable, it's probably not that good for you, but oh boy, is it satisfying.

Taking the cue of nondescript teen chick flicks everywhere, Sydney White tells the tale of a cute but socially inept girl (Amanda Bynes) tossed into a social safari of perpetually-uniformed band kids only to be shunned by the blonde chicks and taken in by the losers. Our heroine nevertheless impresses the hot jock with her wit and overhand throw and, in the process, manages to disseminate social harmony throughout the world-okay, so maybe just the college campus.

To add a bit of gusto to the formula, the pretty tale unfolds as a modern retelling of the Snow White fairy tale. The evil witch struts onto the screen as the fashionably-emaciated sorority president, Rachel. Seven dorks take the place of seven dwarfs and Tyler Prince, the "hot jock" in question, is, you guessed it, the charming Prince.

Formulaic, yes, but what's great about Sydney White is that the clumsy cutie doesn't execute her social coup d'etat by ditching the glasses and adding some mascara. Nope, Sydney White is one of those exquisite rarities: a dork in a pretty girl's body, and there she stays from once upon a time to happily ever after.

The seven dorks take the center stage in all their role-playing, Boba Fett-worshiping glory. From mega-allergetic Lenny to angsty blogger Gurkin, the seven members of outcast-living hovel, the Vortex, are endearing in their cult passions and comical in their gawky statures. And though Sydney's prepubescent boy hobbies add to the mix of geek tribute, it's this troop of bungling brains that make the film worth its five hundred calories of feel-good fluff.