Sydney White (2007) User Reviews (65)

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

[mollymormonbrat · 7/10 · 22 September 2007]

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.

Modern Day Fairy Tale...

[jaddison383 · 5/10 · 22 September 2007]

Don't we all wish our lives could be fairy tales??? In this movie, that's exactly what one naive and tomboyish girl named Sydney White gets. To us, it seems like a rather familiar story.

What Amanda Bynes is so good at is delivering clean and funny teen and family comedies. She is a very funny actress, and continues to be respectable by not screwing up her life like most actresses her age. She's cute as Sydney, though her tan was not. It was quite over-done in fact. Besides her the ones who steal the show are, of course, the dorks (aka dwarfs). They are certainly adorable, and we can't help but think that Sydney has found the best possible friends on campus. The downfall in the cast was Sara Paxton as the arch-nemesis Rachel WITCHburn. She just didn't seem quite evil enough for me. Crystal Hunt was also not that great as Sydney southern friend Dinky.

There are some laugh-out-loud moments and one-liners. The most fun part of the movie is catching the fairy tale parts as they come. That and watching the dorks. "Sydney White" is a fine family film and will even work well for teens, and it has a very nice message. However, it never reaches any kind of high point and kind of just seems to go on at a continuous rate. Still, it's worth a watch as a diversion from reality and back into fairy tale world. 6/10 stars!

Jay Addison

Snow White and the seven dorks

[brettchatz-1 · 6/10 · 5 October 2007]

Sydney White stars popular actress Amanda Bynes as the new girl in an elite college sorority. The Kappa Sisterhood is made up of a group of size 2 beautiful clones, all praising their mean-spirited leader, Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton).

As Sydney's popularity rises, Rachel begins to feel threatened by her. And so begins a story of rejection; acceptance and love. Sydney meets the handsome Beta fraternity leader Tyler (Matt Long) who is besotted by the good-natured Sydney.

With seven new geeky friends in the vortex house, Sydney decides to run for student president. Some good clean comedy ensues. Sydney White is a teen girl's dream movie; lots of romanticised idealism and a warm-fuzzy ending

Modern day Snow White

[ComedyFan2010 · 7/10 · 12 May 2018]

The movie isn't original. We all have seen many revenge of the nerds/dorks/good guys movies. So you know how it ends before it starts. The bad characters are also so one sided and boring. Nothing special about them, they are just overdone bad.

But I still like the movie. I give it above average rating because I liked all the Snow White references. Mainly the poisoned apple and the seven dwarfs. They make the movie especially funny with their charming characters and personalities. So it is a pretty good movie when one doesn't expect much and just wants a few laughs.

Feel good to the 7th power!

[napierslogs · 7/10 · 3 July 2010]

"Sydney White" is the typical losers-become-winners where we cheer for the underdogs.

Amanda Bynes is Sydney White, a freshman in college, who doesn't fit in with her Greek sorority. Determined to fight them she teams up with 7 'dorks' and launches a campaign to win back the school. Yes it is supposed to be a modern update of Snow White which I find lame, but it's easy to ignore that.

It has all of the characters you expect to find, the cute tomboy, the pretty and popular mean girl, the cute and popular but also sweet guy, and the geek (7 of them in this case). The great thing about these characters is that the important ones, who are supposed to be more than just caricatures, actually are.

And of course the highlight is Amanda Bynes, she is funny and sweet and pretty and very easy to like. Most people are familiar with Bynes so if you have liked her previous films ("What a Girl Wants" (2003) or "She's the Man" (2006)) then you should like her here. If you are not a fan of hers then I respect your opinion but think you're missing something, and you should probably also skip this.

"Sydney White" is everything that you want in a cute, sweet, feel good PG movie. I recommend it.

A guilty pleasure film

[jamesmtuttle-31416 · 7/10 · 11 August 2022]

The story is not great, but I do find some of the jokes to be funny. I'm socially awkward myself, so that helps me appreciate the jokes. It's a guilty pleasure film.

It's no "She's the Man"

[mcsheehey · 4/10 · 1 October 2007]

Amanda Bynes is an enormously talented actress, and I've really enjoyed all of her roles in the past, especially in the fantastic "She's the Man." For that reason alone, "Sydney White" was a huge disappointment for me. The real reason for my dislike of this film is the poor use of characters. In a good fun teen comedy, its perfectly alright to have a cast of all fairly reality-based teen characters. In "Sydney White," this idea is thrown out the window.

Amanda Bynes makes a fine Sydney, but she is really lacking in a lot of what usually makes her sparkle as an actress. I blame this on the script, which makes her character too bland and restrained, and on the hair/makeup department, which gives her a detestable plastic look and an annoying hair style. The seven "dorks" that Sydney eventually befriends are far worse. They are so dorky that it's impossible to like them or even respect them as characters. They're essentially repulsive gag fodder. As is the story's "Prince Charming," who is completely unbelievable as a character and is about as cheesy as can be.

Perhaps the film's biggest star-to-be (with the possible exception of Amanda Bynes) is Sara Paxton, who's actually very good as the conniving Rachel Witchburn. It's just a shame that the script-writers didn't make her a bit more gray than black.

The plot is basically that of "Snow White." What kills it is that it is too blunt and obvious a re-imagining. The connections to "Snow White" are thrown at us so much throughout the film that they are ultimately annoying and overblown. Prince Charming is unrealistically charming, the "witch" is far too despicably witchy, the seven "dorks" are too dorky, and Sydney is just too pure of heart. Now, this is not to say that the movie is all bad. Though Bynes is forced down by the script, she still has her moments. As does Sara Paxton, who brings physical comedy to the max in her scenes. Sydney's room-mate, named "Dinky" is also great fun as a character. It's a somewhat funny film at parts that is ultimately just too cheesy and clichéd to recommend.

A genuinely good movie

[Slwells5815 · 9/10 · 22 September 2007]

In our day and age, it's very difficult to find a truly funny film that is also fairly sweet and innocent. Having grown up as a fairy tale princess wannabe, I've seen my share of fairy tale spin-offs, and this has by far been the best one. I was almost afraid to watch this movie, seeing as it was PG-13 and that doesn't really mean anything anymore (could be clean, like Sydney White, could be completely raunchy). However, I was pleasantly surprised by its clever writing. Some may complain that it is too stereotypical with the cliques, but I would point out that the gorgeous Prince Charming is also a genuinely decent guy, not just Mr. Popularity as in most films. I mean, let's face it: fairy tales were pretty stereotypical to begin with. Evil queens, handsome princes, princesses in danger or in hiding, or regular girls becoming princesses. But that doesn't make it any less of a good story. Overall, I found it highly entertaining and terrifically charming. Truly heartwarming to a fairy tale fan like myself, and even to my dad, who decided to accompany me to the movie because he had nothing better to do--and believe me, it's not easy to entertain my dad with 'chick flicks'.

Predictable, maybe. But who really wants to see the evil witch win in the end?

"Snow White and the 7 Dorks"

[Kamurai25 · 7/10 · 10 July 2021]

Really good watch, would watch again, and can recommend.

A modern day re-telling of Snow White. Not an easy task to get a modern ensemble cast to be significant, but they do a good job for the characters being mostly socially awkward societal rejects.

Amanda Bynes pretty much carries the movie, but that's to be expected from a Snow White.

The fun twist is they went with a "vs the rich" trope against greek row instead of her being princess-like.

The movie is a lot of fun, and Amanda Bynes does a great job of competitive girl on the social battlefield as does Sarah Paxton.

Sydney White & the seven dorks!

[Web_Of_Doom · 3/10 · 20 August 2022]

OK, so the film is basically supposed to be a college version of Snow White & the Seven Dwarves ( however it really is not a Snow White story ).

Amanda Bynes is a very talented actress & as usual she gives a performance as good as the script allows ( so this movie did have really great potential ).

The problem is the college/school standard "mean girls" in all these movies are once again 2D characters who are bad people out to ruin the good girl.

This is a 12 rating film & yet the audience are treated like they are all 5.

Even 5 year olds would deserve better characters with more reality to them as whatever the age rating good stories need realism & morals to learn.

With a 12 rating you have more leeway on some things, but maybe this film should just forget the rating & just concentrate on getting a better script.

So totally unoriginal & lazy writing as I feel sorry for the actress Sara Paxton who plays the "mean girl" Rachel as the poor script is what is wrong here.

The movie has the unoriginal "nicest guy" who just happens to also be the best looking guy in the college ( funny how that is only true in movies, as usually the good looking guys have not learned most of life's lessons ).

After all Amanda Bynes is a nice looking girl ( not the most attractive physically but the audience like her because she has a great personality ), so she would be perfect to match up with a truly great guy who perhaps is not the best looking guy but an OK looking guy who also has a really great personality ( as that would be more realistic & be a much better moral ).

However the casting agent, director & writer + producers must have thought a really attractive guy would be better to choose because it's superficial?

( when doing these films they need to think about ethics & morals more ).

Most audiences want an interesting story, that makes sense, is believable & ultimately the characters story arcs help show important life lessons too.

We want a realistic, happy ending overall & feel good about the film's story that there actually was a point to it & doing the right thing does pay out.

Yes there can be tragedy within the movie like in real life & then we can see how people learn to live with that & find the right ways to find happiness.

If it's a romantic comedy then let's have some good laughs along the way & believable characters who can find love, real love that comes from getting to know each other & finding things in common they can respect about each other. Instead we get these superficial films with very lazy scripts.

( yeah sure, he secretly is a good guy who helps out the poor in his free time + he is still the coolest guy in college & everyone loves him & out of all the people he could choose to like he like's the Tom Boy with a great arm ).

Well "fairy tales are not real" so why have any real morals or believability in the film, as after all "Snow White" must fall in love with the "Handsome Prince" & who cares if they don't know each other ( the thing is in real life getting to know someone is actually more important & should be the message in this film as it does it to some extent but just not well enough ).

Now Sydney White ends up in a very unsafe house with the seven dorks ( you can decide how unsafe but certainly the whole in the wall that catches fire every now & then is surely something no one could really accept ).

The so called "seven dorks" are incredibly unrealistic & caricatures of any real life human beings plus of course Sydney White will be their friend as none of them could ever be worthy of being attractive to any female, as this has all been done before & is total nonsense as again super lazy writing.

A film can make money & still have a great story with realistic character growth & good morals to be learned, however these films seem to be rushed scripts, 2D characters & nothing really learned by the audience.

Now the 7 nerds are obviously like in real life smart, not very attractive maybe & use to rejection by superficial attractive girls so wary of them ( no you are wrong in this film the 7 nerds are both super smart one minute then unbelievably & I mean no audience would believe super dumb the next, they are also incredibly trusting of strangers especially super attractive girls as the moral of the story seems to be nerds are all idiots really & super attractive girls are all 2D mean girls ( until the very end of the film ).

What ridiculous writing is this, as the film just makes no sense with this.

At one point Sydney is sleeping & the "handsome Prince" Tyler wakes her up with a kiss ( this is what in reality is called an inappropriate & unwanted kiss but Sydney smiles & in this movie accepts this as appropriate behaviour ). Now yes this is very loosely based on Snow White but remember Snow White was supposed to be dead, where Sydney has just fell asleep so trying to force this kiss in was not appropriate like this & sends a bad message. Now this is more example of lazy writing than anything else as if they wanted a romantic kissing scene surely they could have thought up one that would not only have been appropriate behaviour but also truly romantic. Remember this Tyler boy is not even Sydney's actual boyfriend yet!

This film is full of poor script writing & the poor actors like Matt Long ( who plays Tyler ) do their best with what they are given as I'm sure most girls think he is very handsome & like his character is such a great guy too & when he kisses a sleeping girl without her consent they will let him off. Terrible message but not the actors fault as he following the director's instruction, however the director really should have said this is wrong.

However teaching morals through the story does not seem to be the aim here as the goal seems to be get as much money as we can from movie.

At the end of the film they try to make things better by having a very pretty girl falling for one of the complete idiot dorks who is a hypochondriac, though there is no basis for this as there is no real logic to why she would like him as they have barely interacted & no common ground has been formed. The writer & director I guess thought this would look good right, however the audience are not idiots & can see this means nothing to us!

Now another of the dorks has a girl that is into his blogging as OK we can accept that as at least they have tried to explain their common ground.

Then immediately the dork who no girl ever shows interest in has 4 girls pull up in a car & they all look at this dork & for no apparent reason like him & want him to show them around campus ( no logic, lazy writing again ).

Of course the weirdest, dumbest dork shows up at the end of the film saying he sold his billion dollar idea for $10m ( though the idea really could not possibly work in real life ) so this maybe fits as the guy is clearly an idiot, who is a genius, who is an idiot, who is a genius etc etc. Wait that makes no sense just like the movie, as give the audience a break & give us a decent script that makes sense & stop writing garbage & giving us a bad movie.

This film ultimately appeals to no one because the writing is too lazy.

I will give the film 3 out of 10 as the actors tried their best with the script.

Pleasant

[jlj9675-1 · 8/10 · 22 September 2007]

I found this simple tale charming and entertaining. It was funny without filth. The cinematography was quite lovely in many spots. It was fun to see John Schneider in a mature role for the first time in a long while. I feel that Amanda is a lovely, talented young girl who did a good job with the role. All the geeks were comical and interesting in their own individual ways. The facial expressions of George were absolutely endearing and evoked hilarious laughter several times. I found myself wanting to bring them all home for a good meal! I especially liked the excellent life-lesson shown for all of our society and wholeheartedly recommend this film for everyone over the age of 12. Younger kids just won't get it nor enjoy it.

What if Snow White was a teenager in high school,well that's what this film is all about

[lisafordeay · 6/10 · 3 February 2014]

She's The Man's Amanda Bynes and Aquamarine's Sara Paxton star in this High School version of Snow White.

Bynes play the title character Sydney White who goes to some posh sorioty school that her late mom attended and she later meets up with a bunch of guys who all share the same persona's as the dwarfs in Snow White. However Sydney has some competion with sorioty leader Rachel Witchburn(seriously that is her surname) played by Sara Paxton who tries all in her power to become the next school president and doesn't want Sydney White to win. So Rachel decides to manipulate Sydney. Problems arise however when Sydney falls for Rachel's ex boyfriend (Matt Long) who likes Sydney but Rachel doesn't want him to be with Sydney. Will Rachel do something bad to Sydney?(since this film is loosely based on Snow White?).

So what did I think of it well I honestly thought it wasn't bad,copies are very hard to find this movie and I bought it again in CEX as I used to have it on DVD.

If you are a fan of Amanda Bynes than check it out.

Strictly for kids

[sendme-73173 · 4/10 · 4 May 2021]

Super Cute but it will degenerate your brain. Not recommend for adults.

revenge of the dorks

[zoerobe · 7/10 · 27 September 2007]

Hi, I'm zoerobe, and when I was in high school I was in the band. Also I've played Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. So I guess I'm a dork!

Sorry, I just got a little carried away. This is a cute but totally, like, unoriginal movie - "Revenge of the Nerds," meets "Legally Blonde," meets "She's All That," for starters. But it's totally indebted to "Revenge of the Nerds," this way ancient movie that came out, like, over a decade ago. Let's compare the two plots.

Revenge of the Nerds: Two young freshman with limited dating experience and social skills go off to college, where they are made to sleep in the gym because the Big Greeks on Campus have burned down their own house and need a place to stay. The nerds get fed up and form their own frat (Lambda, Lambda, Lambda) and compete in the fraternity/sorority challenge because the winner gets to control all the Greek activities/funds.

Revenge of the Dorks, oops I mean Sydney White: Amanda Byrnes plays a young wholesome tomboy with limited social skills who goes off to college to pledge the same sorority as her dead mom. She is eventually cast out and forced to take refuge in the Vortex, a house for seven guys who are dorks. The dorks get fed up and decide to take control of the Student Council so the funds will be more evenly distributed.

Dissing Amanda Byrnes'acting is like kicking a puppy. She's so cute that she even made "She's the Man" halfway bearable. All the actors do a decent job, although they aren't helped by a predictable script and mostly lame dialog. But well, Amanda is cute enough to help the movie rise above these flaws. She's totally, like, adorkable!

Good retelling of Snow White with a a really good looking young lady in the lead

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 11 November 2008]

Retelling of Snow White on a college campus as nerdy girl raised by construction workers goes to her dead mothers old college where she runs afoul of the sorority and is forced to take refuge with seven "dorks", uber geeks like herself. Cute family oriented movie isn't bad but is a bit too artificially constructed to be fully moving. Still I have to give any film that name checks Usagi Yojimbo as a badge of geekiness points. Wait for cable and watch it with rug rats (No pun intended).

I do have to speculate about the casting of Amanda Bynes (who did Rugrat voices) who is fine here, and wonder did she get the job because of her talent or because of her good looks. I know its a piggy thing to say but there was more than once I was wondering about how they had her look-which while not overly slutty did seem to scream SEX OBJECT. Granted it will keep the dads happy, but was it really necessary?

A somewhat re-telling of the fairytale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

[ltlacey · 7/10 · 9 July 2009]

What happens when you take a few elements from Animal House (which worked somehow), Revenge of the Nerds, Mean Girls (which also worked somehow), and a classic fairy tale? You get Sydney White. I do not usually go for movies like this, what with being a middle-aged cantankerous old broad, but this movie sounded somewhat interesting, and I figured it was going to be okay, and thus a way to blow off almost 2 hours of a boring day, or was going to really be bad, and I'd just doze through it. And it was okay, until the very end when it turned into Revenge of the Nerds. Why "they" decided to steal that infamous scene, replacing I Am A Nerd, or I Am In Love with A Nerd, with, I Am A Dork, is beyond me. Up until then this movie was cute and entertaining and moved along nicely. This movie also has some very funny lines and scenes. And I really liked how they incorporated the classic fairy tale into the movie and made it work. And yea, there were some problems with the movie (is college life really like this? No), those are easily over looked (like the deal with who was or was not wearing a wig, which was more than 1 young lady). So check it out.

Whomever told Amanda Bynes she was funny should be fired

[shondaranson · 2/10 · 1 November 2008]

I rated this one better than awful because I liked seeing Jonathon from Buffy in something again -- even if it was the same role.

First, the concept is kind of cute for a short, but not an entire movie. The writing was forced and contrived. I have the feeling that the movie suffered the most during editing.

Second, Amanda Bynes always looks like her eyes are crossed -- even when she's not trying to do it. She's just not funny. She always plays some sort of misfit girl who triumphs by being herself -- ironic, considering Amanda seems to always be a caricature. I would actually like to see her in something serious. I really want to give her a chance, but she is always cast in these trite roles where she wiggles and makes faces and somehow that's a good thing?

Finally, the whole "I'm a Dork" segment was ripped off from Revenge of the Nerds. There was nothing in this movie that was unpredictable.

Shame, shame, shame.

All right I get it...it's not going to make movie classic history...I loved it...going outside the box I suppose

[Robert_duder · 9/10 · 21 October 2007]

The cold hard truth is I knew walking into this film that I was going to come out smiling having seen a movie that I really liked that most people will not and will continually make fun of it. So I'll do something I rarely do and right this from just my own personal experience and how I felt about it. I'm a smack in the face sucker for teen flicks, especially remakes of classics redone with the modern High School/College Twist...ie: Ten Things I Hate About You, Get Over it, and now this one. Sydney White was just cute...it had some real tongue in cheek humor and didn't try to be anything but what it was...a genre inducing, demographically aimed film that hits the nail on the head. Granted you have to let go of reality and accept the nearly insulting barrage of stereotypical clumping that the film provides but aren't all teeny flicks like that? I admit that while watching the seven 'dorks' I got a tinge of offensiveness creeping up because it is kind of harsh towards certain attributes even if they were made out to be the anti-heroes of the film. The attention to adding in little references to the Original Snow White Story was pretty well done including a hilarious (I thought it was hilarious) Hi-Hoe line delivered by a couple of the 'dorks.' Some of it might have been a little forced...the Poison Apple should have happened earlier on and the names "Witchburn" and "Prince" were almost a little much but even still the film is cute and funny and fluffy in all the right places.

Every time I see an Amanda Bynes film I tend to rave about her. Yes I have a small crush...but besides that I generally feel that Bynes is a terrific young comedian who is terrific at dead pan humor, physical comedy and has this real down to earth quality about her and she can still look terrific and movie star like. She's just damn likable which is why movies like this work for her. Sure I'd like to see her give some time to something maybe more serious but stick to what you're good at and this is good for her!! She's terrific as Sydney White, a down home girl that is rough around the edges more than frilly but is still a gal at heart and you really just like her and want to see her kick some witch butt. Now I had some nasty things to say about the movie reviewers who commented on her appearance in this film saying she looked awful and fake tanned and Orange because what a stupid and shallow thing to go on about but I admit...there was definitely some issues with her appearance. She does look orange throughout nearly the whole film and it looks like a bad spray tan. Sara Paxton is a terrific villain for Bynes' Sydney White. She's pretty stereotypical as far as teen flick villains go but she does it well. I know she can do a spectrum of characters because this is a far cry from her performance as the naive and cute mermaid in Aquamarine but similar to her bad girl in Sleepover. Honestly I would have liked to have seen her got more of an appropriate ending in Sydney White. Keep your eyes on young actor Matt Long who made an impression on short lived TV Series Jack and Bobby and I think could have made a better Ghost Rider than Nicholas Cage. He's mostly a show piece as Tyler Prince and the object of Bynes' and Paxton's affections. Bynes' and him have good chemistry and he does a great job in the role for what he's given. I honestly wish I had the space to run down ALL the supporting actors including the 7 dorks because they did a truly terrific job in their respective dorky roles and they all had a certain chemistry with Bynes that was important. There were also supporting characters like Crystal Hunt, who did a great job, and the amazing John Schneider as Bynes' Dad.

Truth be told no one is walking away from filming Sydney White a better or worse actor for having been on set and they won't ever see any awards quite likely. The thing was they were picked to put forth a certain appearance and performance and they all did it spot on and there is nothing wrong with that I don't think. Sydney White is just an example of know what you're good at and go with it. Bynes knows she's adorable and likable and can play this role, same with Sara Paxton, and even director Joe Nussbaum. This is his third movie of this type and they've all been exactly what you would expect from the genre and there is nothing wrong with that. I actually REALLY enjoyed Sleepover (see my review), because it shows what it is and it doesn't try to be anything else. And I like cute little teeny films...is that wrong?? I don't slap a 9/10 on this because it's a must see movie that will live forever and teach you something about life. I'm just going with my gut and how much I enjoyed it. If you like this type of movie and want something cute, and fluffy...you'll love it!!! 9/10

Writing could have been better!

[FilmBrit · 6/10 · 5 June 2021]

Very straightforward but then a good movie if you're looking for something different, you've found it. Sydney White is pretty much Amanda Bynes' lead role in a teen movie. She plays a very tough tomboyish lead role in a very generic university setting. Looking closely on the movie title, the full tagline being Sydney White and the Seven Dorks, a clear play of words of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In terms of the movie, it is a straight forward story of a struggling lead character who finds her way to be the strong individual that she is and it plays out well, with its setting, maybe common for a 2007 film considering there's already enough teen films, many of which already take the spotlight and push the genre, as much as it needs to be. Sydney White at least steady's what it has and at least offers something different and new, in an already saturated genre of teen films (at the time).

The modern day parody of Snow White many be too playful but here's where it does wrong, the idea that the title itself is almost tacked on, mainly the use of the word "dorks" in it's fine print in the title. I have no problem with usage of crude language and maybe back then, it was just a way to burn off how some may view someone. I get it. Maybe it's a bit too crude, it just makes this movie age horribly. I think someone got carried away when naming this movie, that they fine printed that on the movie poster. The play of words, maybe worked for Bynes' previous film, She's the Man, but "the Seven Dorks"?. Could have found a more friendly yet less crude way if explaining what it was going for, which is a shame, because the production of the film is great and tells its story well, to the point where you hardly notice it retells the story of Snow White. It does have a good presentation if it's able to put that together.

Am I a dork because I thought this movie was just OK

[MLDinTN · 5/10 · 7 August 2008]

This movie is more suited for young teens. It's a teen retelling of Snow White. Tomboy Sydney White goes off to college and pledges to her mom's frat, which is run by the witch, Rachel. Rachel is jealous and kicks Sydney out. Sydney must go live with the 7 dorks whom live in the Vortex house. Sydney also meets a guy whose last name happens to be Prince. He is Rachel's ex and was in favor of tearing down the Vortex to build a Greek center. But after hanging with Syd and the dorks he realizes they aren't that bad and doesn't want to go ahead with the plan. There is also the student elections in which Syd decides to go up against Rachel. There are other things that are similar to snow white, like the looking mirror, the kiss from a prince, etc...

Amanda Bynes is charming on screen. She makes the character. It was amusing, but didn't really make me laugh.

FINAL VERDICT: I thought the idea was neat, but the movie was OK. I think younger people will like it more.

Charming as well as Hilarious

[Pranksalot · 10/10 · 20 September 2007]

This movie is a rarity, genuine humor is displayed throughout the film without using sex jokes/raunchiness references. That's is what comedy films need to strive for which is clean wholesome humor unlike movies such as SuperBad, Borat, Wedding Crashers, and Knocked Up. I know it's difficult with today's society to come up with clean jokes with what is shown on television now days, which is why Sydney White deserves several rounds of applause. I can't even think of a college movie which does not have at least one dirty joke or being as wholesome as this film. According to an article Amanda is the one who told the writers to tone down the script and not make it raunchy. Amanda Bynes as the leading performer in this movie is phenomenal. She is hysterically funny as well as being cute as a button. Amanda is destined to have a long career in the comedy field since there isn't many actresses out there who can even "do" comedy. What Amanda have and not many other actors/actresses is her facial expressions. Her facial expressions makes the movie 10 times better. It's as if Amanda is two actresses wrapped in one.

I really like Amanda's interaction with the dorks, the scenes when they are all together...it's the best. Matt Long is charming as the prince. His type of character is rare in movies and in real life. He's handsome, funny, and do charity work. Amanda Bynes and Matt Long have great chemistry, makes me wish they will date each other in real life.

Cyrstal Hunt is funny as the airhead southern buddy of Sydney. The weakest link of the movie would be Sara Paxon, but she improves throughout the movie. There is some clichés in the movie, but what movie doesn't? Every movie borrows somethings from other resources. Another rare thing that this movie have would be that it actually teaches a great lesson which is to be yourself and not to conform.

Not blatantly Snow White, but kind of charming in an odd way

[bluemountainwolf · 7/10 · 21 February 2019]

The movie was sort of like a cheesy comedy of Snow White (and Cinderella). It's not really a kid's movie, but maybe teen-centered? University student centered? Over all, the movie grew on me later. I found myself thinking about it after it was over and pieces started to click. I actually didn't catch onto the resemblance with the 7 college guys. But I'll say that her reflection of Snow White's poisoned sleep was too forced and the kiss felt off. Perhaps because the "Prince" wasn't really that likable a character to me. The sneezy kid would probably be a better companion as the Prince felt stiff and unlikable. Perhaps make him more charming and less of a jerk who feels entitled and the story would feel better.

Sydney White: Cute, but just a remake

[rrachlin · 4/10 · 22 August 2008]

My 15 year old daughter asked me to watch this movie with her on Cable TV. As someone who saw Revenge of The Nerds in a movie theater, I found this movie to be an extremely predictable remake of it. The Nerds were simply replaced by Dorks. I drove her crazy by being able to predict precisely what would happen in each scene. The cast was cute, especially Amanda Bynes.

Screenwriter Chad Creasey should be ashamed for writing such an obvious remake of an early 1980's flick. The title should have simply been "Revenge of The Dorks." Perhaps the sequel will be Revenge of the Dorks 2.

In the borderline of being too much of a caricature. But the "embrace your dorkiness" message makes it worth watching

[quiqueperezsoler · 7/10 · 17 April 2020]

While the idea might be a tad unoriginal the movie had room to make it its own. The characters seemed interesting and it was an endearing and feel good movie as everybody realises is better to be themselves instead of trying to fit into the "cliques" of college. But the movie would have failed miserably if it wasn't for the outstanding performance of Amanda Bynes who can seem to do no wrong in these genre of teen comedies. As for the rest and especially the poshy blond girl and all of the nerds, they were so over the top and exaggerated that they actually seemed demeaning caricatures of themselves.

As a dork and geek myself I usually find the interpretation of other dorks and geeks in these movies inoffensive and always sticking to the most common traits but when a movie takes it as far as basically giving them all the inconventionalities you can have in life: allergies, speech-traumas,... it just becomes overbearing and impossible to empathise with. Some romantic choices for them were a nice touch to an already busy movie but it's worth mentioning that the most outstanding aspect of the movie is its choice of making the lead female protagonist as dorky as she was. The movie wouldn't have worked as well if it weren't not only for Amanda Bynes performance but also the interestingly written character with her backstory and her tastes, pretty impressive for hollywood and a welcome female protagonist.

IN CONCLUSION, what's best to realise of the movie is that it promotes being yourself and also to be proud of the dork, geek and nerd in all of us. The movie is easy-going, harmless and a fun ride if you don't take it too seriously. Amanda Bynes was amazing as always, the love story cute, the dorks a bit too much but in the end likable and the rest of the people were okay I guess. At times the whole Snow White beats and references were a bit out of place but if you look over it it's fine.

good movie, shld watch it

[hiteshrawat · 7/10 · 24 June 2008]

I have seen Amanda and liked her in the movie "She's the man". That movie was also very good like this one. And both the movie has that especial content "Amanda". She brought so much of life into the characters she played in both the movies. She was so much convincing in both the movies it felt that she is same in her real life too, may be, cause I don't know.

This movie is real good with some of the famous and popular contents of teen movies like bitching, romance, mean girls etc. I like the humor of the movie. Other than Amanda I like Sara Paxton and some of the roomies of Sydney.

The story of the movie is very much like the fairy tale where there is a beautiful girl, waiting for her prince charming, entrapped by an evil lady. I'm not going to reveal more on the story cause of its predictability, yea the story is very predictable but still this the movie is good.