Another Cinderella Story

The spiritual successor to Hilary Duff's A Cinderella Story, Another Cinderella Story tells the tale of Mary Santiago (Selena Gomez), an aspiring, talented dancer living in Cinderella Circumstances under her adopted mother/boss, the wealthy, influential Dominique Blatt (Jane Lynch) and her two daughters, Bree and Britt. Mary doesn't think that her life can get any worse: the only thing making it better is her trendy best friend Tami, who is the one who tells her about the new celeb in town, Joey Parker (Drew Seeley).

Joey, on the other hand, is a famous, "young" dancer/singer who comes back to Los Angeles with his best friend Dustin/The Funk (Marcus Paulk) to remember why he started dancing - but all he can find is his Alpha Bitch ex-girlfriend Natalia (Nicole La Placa), who seems determined to get back together with him (much to his dismay).

At a masked black-and-white ball Dominique, Bree, and Britt try their best to keep Mary out of, Joey dances anonymously with Mary, and is left exhilarated even after she leaves to meet her midnight curfew. Determined to find her, he takes the Zune she leaves behind and sets out to find her.

Tropes used in Another Cinderella Story include:

• Actor Allusion: This is not the first time Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle played sisters. This is also the third movie Jane Lynch has played a Wicked Stepmother.
• Alliterative Name: Bree and Britt Blatt, Mary's evil stepsisters.
• Alpha Bitch: Natalia.
• Beta Couple: Tami and the Funk.
• Black Best Friend: The Funk to Joey.
• Blondes Are Evil: Dominique and Natalia. Bree and Britt would be evil if they weren't so dumb.
  • According to Word of God, they originally wanted Tami to be blonde, though she ended up with purple hair
• Cool Loser: Mary.
• Dance of Romance: The reason Joey falls for Mary.
• Dawson Casting: Drew Seeley (25) is supposed to be a high school student. Uh-huh. Emily Perkins (Britt) was 31 when this movie was made, and still a mostly believable high schooler.
• Dumb Blonde: Mary's stepsisters are as stupid as they are rich.
• Flipping the Bird: Variation. Tami shows her fist to Bree and screams, "Here's my invisible finger!"
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Dominique says she will never work with a certain man because he has a "serious case of the grab-hands". Later, she repeats this description for a woman she refuses to work with.
  • The Separated by the Wall scene is rather sensual.
  • When Joey sets up a booth to find his "Cinderella" figure, a few boys get in the line, too. The Funk drives them off, saying, "You are so not his dream girl!"
  • A video reveals that Joey is at least ten years older than Mary, who is still in high school.
  • The Not What It Looks Like scene.
• High School Dance
• Irony: See Laser-Guided Karma.
• Jerkass: There's Dominique, Natalia, Bree, and Britt.
• Jive Turkey: The Funk.
• The Girl Who Can Tell Me The Top Four Songs on Their Zune's Playlist: How Joey sets out to find Mary. Naturally, dozens of girls turn up.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Dominique, determined to keep Mary away from the Manhattan Academy of Dance in fear of losing her, tells the Academy's teacher that Mary has broken both legs and is unable to dance. Near the end of the movie, Dominique falls off the stage of Joey's concert and breaks both her legs.
• Little Miss Snarker: Mary, especially when Joey calls her up to the stage during his concert to apologize.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Joey, from what we can see.
• Meganekko: Tami, although she doesn't act like it.
• Official Couple: Joey and Mary.
• Not What It Looks Like: Mary walks in on Natalia on top of Joey in bed. It turns out that Natalia had broken into his house and jumped on him.
• Rich Bitch: Natalia, played completely, absolutely straight. Dominique, too.
• Separated by the Wall: The male lead is teaching a dance class and the female lead is following along on the other side of the one way mirror. At one point they both lean into the mirror in the same exact spot and appear to feel something from it, even though he doesn't know she's there and they haven't properly met yet.
• Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy
• Trash of the Titans: Dominique's bedroom.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: When Dominique tells Mary she can't go to the ball as she has to clean her ridiculously filthy room before midnight, Tami arrives with some (Asian) acquaintances of her sister, telling her that she's going to the ball. She did go, and she did have a good time, but she had to get back before midnight or else Dominique would suspect something.
• The White Prince: Joey.
• Wicked Stepmother: Dominique, Dominique, Dominique.
• Witch with a Capital B: Averted; while Dominique is often called a "witch" in the movie, this probably has more to do with the whole fairy tale theme than anything.
• Yandere: Natalia.