Synopsis
It’s all just so heartwarming. Spirited single-mother Virginia Madsen (what in Heaven’sname is she doing in this?) struggles to make ends meet flipping waffles, while spunky, talenteddaughter Lindsey Haun longs to attend The Haverty Conservatory of Music and Dance. WhenMadsen becomes aware of Haun’s dream, she moves mountains for her daughter. You canpredict the rest.
Mother and daughter wuv each other sooooooo much, you just want Jason Voorhees to stepin and stag… an intervention. This is based on a “novel” by Britney and Lynne Spears, andtherefore we have some icky autobiographical elements. Then, there’s the fact that Haun has aposter of Spears in her bedroom — how tacky is that? But why am I quibbling over little details.The whole thing doesn’t bear thinking about, let alone watching.
Audio
The sound is limited to 2.0, which is a bit surprising, given that a big point of this exerciseis music. Still, the quality of the audio is very crisp, and the surround is very active — too activeas it turns out (notice how deafening the background radio is in the opening scene).
Video
The picture is fullscreen, but as this is a made-for-TV film, that shouldn’t be surprising. Thecolours are fine, but the image is very soft. It’s hard to believe this is a 2004 release, as yousquint to make out the finer details.
Special Features
There is a half-hour behind-the-scenes documentary called “College Vision and Fusion,”and this isn’t a bad example of its type. The cast and crew interviews, in another 20-minutefeaturette, are rather harder to take, given the stream of sycophantic Britney worship that assaultsthe viewer. The menu’s main screen is animated and scored, while the next-level screens arescored.
Closing Thoughts
No, this film did not move or inspire me. Even uncritical Spears fans might be disappointed,since Her Royal Highness doesn’t actually take part, except as exec-producer. The wholeexercise is just a bit creepy.
Special Features List
- “College Vision and Fusion” Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
- Cast and Crew Interviews
