http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/09/21/SYDNEY-WHITE-The-Cast-Makes-It-Shine.aspx SYDNEY WHITE is part ELECTION, part REVENGE OF THE NERDS and part SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS.  It is a movie that shouldn’t work, but does.  The temptation is to say it succeeds despite itself, but that’s wrong. It works because screenwriter Chad Gomez Creasey turned a clichéd idea inside out and made it funny. It works because director Joe Nussbaum’s minimalist direction moves the plot so fast you don’t notice inconsistencies. It works because top to bottom the actors are perfectly cast. But most of all, it works because of Amanda Bynes, who brings alive the title character and makes you believe that beauty and brains are not mutually exclusive.  Now if we can just keep her away from the Lohan-Spears-Hilton crowd, we have the makings of a giant superstar.  Sydney White was brought up by her widowed father and hung around the construction sites where he worked as a plumber.  She goes off to Southern Atlantic University and pledges Kappa Phi Nu, not because she’s an airhead.  Rather, that was her mother’s sorority, and she feels if she joins that sorority it will bring her closer to her mom.  But she’s the anti-sorority girl, level-headed, unconcerned about artifice, prepared to judge everyone by their actions, not their appearance or finances. en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/09/21/SYDNEY-WHITE-The-Cast-Makes-It-Shine.aspx 77 60 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/09/21/SYDNEY-WHITE-The-Cast-Makes-It-Shine.aspx#1711 I love Amanda bynes cant wait to see this one:) tinkluvspan http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/09/21/SYDNEY-WHITE-The-Cast-Makes-It-Shine.aspx#1711 Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:05:32 GMT