History Film / ACinderellaStory

* CoolLoser: Sam. The pep-rally scene makes it clear the entire student body (except Carter, Terry, Austin and his friend Ryan) hates her... for no reason in particular. In case you thought they were only screaming "Diner Girl" at Sam during the pep-rally because they were innocently going along with the skit, there is a follow-up scene with people pointing and laughing at Sam, while she is crying.
** People can be heard cheering for Sam and Austin during their first kiss, so they might just be fickle.

* ArtisticLicenseChildLaborLaws: California has some ''really'' strict child labor laws, so Fiona is breaking the law in plain sight just by forcing the underage Sam to work what is essentially a full-time job in the diner (past midnight on a school night at least once!) on top of trying to finish high school.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Sam, mostly because she doesn’t work at a cool job, even though she is a straight A student.

** Austin gets up on stage during the pep-rally and tries to save face by pretending that the whole thing was a joke he was in on. This explains why the faculty never punished Shelby, the stepsisters and their friends for the skit.

* AndADietCoke: In one scene at the diner. According to Sam in the prologue, “diet” was a four letter word before Fiona took over operations.
* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Austin decides to give up on his football scholarship to go after Sam, his dad protests and says he's throwing away his dreams. Austin replies, "No, dad. I'm throwing away ''yours''."
* ArtisticLicenseChildLaborLaws: California has some ''really'' strict child labor laws, so Fiona is breaking the law in plain sight just by forcing the underage Sam to work what is essentially a fulltime job in the diner (past midnight on a school night at least once!) on top of trying to finish high school.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Carter is protective of Sam, and he looks out for her well being throughout the movie.

* DominoMask: Sam's costume for the dance is a pretty dress, and this. True to trope, somehow nobody can figure out who she is. (Also Carter with his Zorro costume, but at least that's more elaborate.)

* [[GoodParents Good Parent]]: Hal, who spends quality time with his daughter and encourages to chase her dreams by being the best she can be.
* HateSink: We can’t really hate Fiona and the stepsisters due to their comedic quirks, but we can hate Shelby and her GirlPosse. They are obviously intended to be as despicable as possible, as they constantly bully poor Sam for being a "Diner Girl" and publicly humiliate Sam at the local pep-rally.
* HollywoodLaw: It's impossible for Fiona to have "gotten everything" when Sam's father died without a will; under California intestate succession law, Sam would have been entitled to half of ''everything'' her father owned before he married Fiona. While this might not have prevented her from being financially exploited by her stepmother, it likely would have been much harder for Fiona to do so. Rhonda or the authorities probably would have kept a close eye on Sam's finances to make sure they weren't being illegally accessed before she reached maturity; and Fiona would have no excuse for forcing Sam to work in the diner under the pretence of saving up money for college, as well as taking Sam's earnings for herself, if there was ''already'' money waiting for her in an inheritance account or trust fund.

** Austin can't recognize Sam's voice when they're at the diner. Despite the fact they had a lengthy conversation at the dance. Not to mention she has long blonde hair, and he could've eliminated anyone without that hair color.

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: The fact Sam and her "prince" are both planning to go to Princeton is an important part of the plot. Neither of them have safety schools apparently .
* {{Jerkass}}: Fiona, the stepsisters, Shelby and her squad... including Austin's pervert friend David.

* KarmaHoudini: Averted with Fiona and the stepsisters, but not for Shelby and her lackeys, who are never punished for the pep-rally, despite the fact that it's performed in front of the faculty. While she receives some LaserGuidedKarma in the end, it has nothing to do with the rally whatsoever. It can be assumed that they received punishment later on.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Fiona and her daughters are put to work in the diner to pay back the money they stole from Sam. Special note is that Fiona knew the will existed, but lied that her signature was on it when faced with the proof, while Sam's stepsisters basically ruined her life just to be petty. It's safe to say they are stuck there for the rest of their lives.]]
** A bit more subtle example; [[spoiler:After publicly humiliating Sam, Shelby later gets rejected by two different boys in front of large crowds of people. The fact that she is trying to mooch off of Carter implies that she and her friends lost their social standing.]]
* LetsJustBeFriends. Defied. When Shelby breaks up with Austin, he tries to use this line, but is cut off by Shelby, who says he was just having a mental lapse. She stops this trope from happening.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: There's not even a hint or romance between Carter and Sam; nobody even mistakes them for a couple when they come to/leave the dance together, both in face-concealing disguises.
* LostWillAndTestament: Sam's stepmother had initially gotten everything that belonged to Sam's father because he didn't make a will stating otherwise [[spoiler:but it was eventually revealed he ''did'' leave a will and Fiona knew about it. To avoid prison time for this, she agreed to perform "community services" at the diner]].

* MamaBear: Rhonda to Sam. Sam's the only reason Rhonda stayed at the diner all those years. [[spoiler:When Sam quits the diner, Rhonda declares that Sam is staying with her, and she quits as well]].
* NemesisAsCustomer: While Sam is working at the diner a few hours before the dance starts, she's forced to wait on a table of students from her school, which includes the local AlphaBitch who proceeds to make fun of her (with everyone but [[NiceGuy Austin]] joining in). To make matters worse, they then ditch almost immediately, but Austin hangs back to pay Sam.

* PinkMeansFeminine: Fiona wears pink almost exclusively and Hal's diner gets a pink-makeover when she takes over the establishment.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Neither Sam or Carter harbor any feelings towards each other. They are supportive of each other's respective love life's. Their friendship is strictly platonic.

* RaisedByDudes: Sam, due to her raised by her single dad. She loves and is good at sports, but is behind in makeup and fashion.

* ShamedByAMob: Fiona is in StunnedSilence when [[spoiler:the entire diner walks out on her after Sam hits a RageBreakingPoint and refuses to live with Fiona's rules anymore. She tries to threaten Rhonda with termination if the later takes in Sam, but Rhonda says she never needed the job and only stayed for Sam's sake. Cue the rest of the staff also walking out because they were on Sam's side, and some customers. One honorably asks Fiona to send him the bill for his meal before leaving]].

* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: Sam realizes that Terry is lying about being Nomad, because her and Nomad's conversations never included sci-fi roleplay.

** Sam believes that her LoveInterest would if he knew her true identity, bully her like everyone else. Unusually for films of this demographic, ''she's right''.
** Lying about signing a will as well as forcing a minor to work so many hours is illegal and causes Fiona and her daughters to be arrested and have to work off their debts. [[spoiler:It helps that Sam found the will, learning that her dad left his house, diner and assets to his daughter. Consulting a lawyer helped her realize in turn that Fiona broke the law]].
* TakeMyHand: Inverted. Hal and Sam are holding hands during the earthquake, but Hal then lets Sam's go (zoomed-in cam and slo-mo) so that he can go save Fiona.

* TomboyishBaseballCap: Her father gave her his blue cap when she was a kid. She wears periodically through the film.

* TrueLovesKiss: As soon as the Sam and Austin share their first kiss, the drought the town has experiencing for years suddenly ends with a drop that falls right onto Austin, as if the kiss broke the curse.

* VetinariJobSecurity: Fiona can't fire Rhonda because her knowledge of the customers is the only thing keeping them coming back to the diner. [[spoiler:Sure enough, when Rhonda does quit in support of Sam, they're not the only two who walk out of the diner. ''Every customer'' follows, showing clear disappointment in Fiona]].

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Austin's dad wants him to go a different college on a football scholarship, then inherit his successful carwash business, and Austin can't work up the nerve to admit that his true dream is to be a writer. After finally getting together with Sam, Austin sets his dad straight and tells him he plans on going to Princeton. This turns into a subversion as Austin's dad decides to support his decision.

* WorldOfJerkass: Nearly everyone treats poor Sam Montgomery like dirt, including her stepmother and stepsisters, her classmates (aside from Carter and Terry), and even her LoveInterest, who scornfully rejects her because she is an indentured waitress. One of the few exceptions to this trope is [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Rhonda]], who even [[spoiler:lets Sam move in with her at the end of the film]].
* YankTheDogsChain: There's so much to make you feel dead inside at the end, but especially the pep-rally scene.

** Bizarrely, many references to American media is replaced... with different American media. Raj (Carter) goes as ComicBook/TheMask instead of Zorro.

* NoNameGiven: Sonia's friends (Madison and Caitlin's counterparts) and the two DJs kids (Astrid) even go unnamed in the credits.
* PlayingCyrano: One of April's stepsisters forces to create an email identity (Cinderella) that she was supposed to make for a writing project, and this is how she meets Cyrus.

** Unlike Shelby in the first movie, Sonia seems to repent her cruelty, and wishes Cyrus well when he goes after April. Whether or not she patches things up with Raj is never resolved, especially since Astrid's counterpart already has a boyfriend. Though this could have been a last second chance to look nice to get Cyrus back.

Sam Montgomery is the downtrodden "Diner Girl", a teen girl who's been forced to be a waitress at her cruel stepmother Fiona's diner ever since her father died. Bullied along with her best friend Carter by the popular clique at school and exploited at home, Sam's only hope is getting out of the house and going to Princeton, and one of the few solaces in her life are her conversations with another person planning on this goal, a young man that she met on a chatroom who goes to the same school as her. She's fallen in love with him, and they plan to reveal their identities to each other at the Halloween dance.

** Sam had to suffer a heap of misery and abuse from her step-family because [[spoiler: her father left his will that meant she would inherit everything inside one of her favourite books, instead of leaving it securely with his executor (or even Rhonda, who clearly would have Sam's best interests at heart) and since he only gave her a vague hint that what's inside the book could help her in the future, Sam never looked inside that book in ''eight years''. Even if Sam had found the will almost immediately after he died, did her father really expect that an ''eight year old'' would know what to do with it?]]

But it turns out her Internet beau is Austin, the captain of the football team, who's recently broken up with head cheerleader Shelby. What revenge might Shelby be plotting for the person who 'stole' her boyfriend from her? Is Fiona ''really' going to let her unpaid worker go that easily? And how will Austin react to the girl of his dreams being a dorky waitress?

But it turns out her Internet beau is Austin, the captain of the football team, who's recently broken up with head cheerleader Shelby. What revenge might Shelby be plotting against the one who 'stole' her boyfriend from her? Is Fiona ''really' going to let her unpaid worker go that easily? And how will Austin react to the girl of his dreams being a dorky waitress?

Sam Montgomery is the downtrodden "Diner Girl", a teen girl who's been forced to be a waitress at her cruel stepmother's diner ever since her father died. The only thing she has is the hope of getting out of the house and going to Princeton. Another person is planning on going to Princeton, a young man that she met at a chatroom who goes to the same school as her. She's fallen in love with him, and they plan to reveal their identities to each other at the Halloween dance. It turns out her Internet beau was the captain of the football team. How will Austin react to the girl of his dreams being a dorky waitress?

* HollywoodLaw: It's impossible for Fiona to have "gotten everything" when Sam's father died without a will; under California intestate succession law, Sam would have been entitled to half of ''everything'' her father owned before he married Fiona. While this might not have prevented her from being financially exploited by her stepmother, it would have been ''much'' harder for Fiona to do so e.g. Rhonda or the authorities probably would have kept a close eye on Sam's finances to make sure they weren't being illegally accessed before she reached maturity; and Fiona would have no excuse for forcing Sam to work in the diner under the pretence of saving up money for college, as well as taking Sam's earnings for herself, if there was ''already'' money waiting for her in an inheritance account or trust fund.

** Sam had to suffer a heap of misery and abuse from her step-family because [[spoiler: her father left his will that meant she would inherit everything inside one of her favourite books, instead of leaving it securely with his attorney or the county (or even Rhonda, who clearly would have Sam's best interests at heart) and Sam never looked inside that book in ''eight years''. Even if Sam had found the will immediately after he died, did her father really expect that an ''eight year old'' would know what to do with it?]]

* IdiotBall: Austin can't recognize Sam's voice when they're at the diner. Despite the fact they had a lengthy conversation at the dance. Not to mention she has long blonde hair, and he could've eliminated anyone without that hair color.

* WorldOfJerkass: Nearly everyone is an asshole to poor Sam Montgomery; her stepmother and stepsisters treat her like dirt, her classmates (sans Carter and Terry) bully her relentlessly, her teachers are rather unsupportive, and even her LoveInterest callously rejects her for being an indentured waitress. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Rhonda]] is one of the few exceptions to this trope, [[spoiler:even having Sam move in with her at the end of the film]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Mona lies to April about winning the scholarship, knowing that she would use the money to leave home. This is never resolved.
** Unlike Shelby in the first movie, Sonia seems to repent her cruelty, and wishes Cyrus well when he goes after April. Whether or not she patches things up with Raj is never resolved, especially since Astrid's counterpart already has a boyfriend. Though this could have been a last second chance to look nice to get Cyrus back.
* WorldOfJerkass: Nearly everyone is an asshole to poor Sam Montgomery; her stepmother and stepsisters treat her like dirt, her classmates (sans Carter and Terry) bully her relentlessly, her teachers are rather unsupportive, and even her LoveInterest wants nothing to do with her when he finds out her identity as an indentured waitress. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Rhonda]] is one of the few exceptions to this trope, [[spoiler:even having Sam move in with her at the end of the film]].

* WorldOfJerkass: Nearly everyone is an asshole to poor Sam Montgomery; her stepmother and stepsisters treat her like dirt, her classmates (sans Carter and Terry) bully her relentlessly, her teachers are rather unsupportive, and even her DesignatedLoveInterest wants nothing to do with her when he finds out her identity as an indentured waitress. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Rhonda]] is one of the few exceptions to this trope, [[spoiler:even having Sam move in with her at the end of the film]].

* WorldOfJerkass: Nearly everyone is an asshole to poor Sam Montgomery; her stepmother and stepsisters treat her like dirt, her classmates (sans Carter and Terry) bully her relentlessly, her teachers are rather unsupportive, and even her DesignatedLoveInterest wants nothing to do with her when he finds out her identity as an indentured waitress. Rhonda is one of the few exceptions to this trope, [[spoiler:even having Sam move in with her at the end of the film]].

* WorldOfJerkass: Nearly everyone is an asshole to poor Sam Montgomery; her stepmother and stepsisters treat her like dirt, her classmates (sans Carter and Terry) bully her relentlessly, her teachers are unsupportive, and even her DesignatedLoveInterest wants nothing to do with her when he finds out her identity as an indentured waitress. Rhonda is one of the few exceptions to this trope, [[spoiler:even having Sam move in with her at the end of the film]].

** Unlike Shelby in the first movie, Sonia seems to repent her cruelty, and wishes Cyrus well when he goes after April. Whether or not she patches things up with Raj is never resolved, especially since Astrid's counterpart already has a boyfriend. Though this could have been a last second chance to look nice to get Cyrus back.

Sam Montgomery is the downtrodden "Diner Girl", a teen girl who's been forced to waitress at her cruel stepmother's diner ever since her father died. The only thing she has is the hope of getting out of the house and going to Princeton. Another person is planning on going to Princeton, a young man that she met at a chatroom who goes to the same school as her. She's fallen in love with him, and they plan to reveal their identities to each other at the Halloween dance. It turns out her Internet beau was the captain of the football team. How will Austin react to the girl of his dreams being a dorky waitress?

* {{Meganekko}}: Probably what Hal found appealing about Fiona. (She however is not actually a meganekko.)

SpiritualPredecessor to ''Film/AnotherCinderellaStory'' and, subsequently, ''Film/ACinderellaStoryOnceUponASong'', ''A Cinderella Story: If The Shoe Fits'', ''Film/ACinderellaStoryChristmasWish'' and ''A Cinderella Story: Starstruck''. There is also a Bollywood remake.

SpiritualPredecessor to ''Film/AnotherCinderellaStory'' and, subsequently, ''Film/ACinderellaStoryOnceUponASong'' and ''A Cinderella Story: If The Shoe Fits''. A fifth film version, intended as a Christmas special, was released in 2019, titled ''Film/ACinderellaStoryChristmasWish''. There is also a Bollywood remake.

SpiritualPredecessor to ''Film/AnotherCinderellaStory'' and, subsequently, ''Film/ACinderellaStoryOnceUponASong'' and ''Film/ACinderellaStoryIfTheShoeFits''. A fifth film version, intended as a Christmas special, was released in 2019, titled ''Film/ACinderellaStoryChristmasWish''. There is also a Bollywood remake.

* JerkassWoobie: Shelby. She loses everything to Sam. Which includes her boyfriend as well...

SpiritualPredecessor to ''Film/AnotherCinderellaStory'' and, subsequently, ''Film/ACinderellaStoryOnceUponASong'' and ''Film/ACinderellaStoryIfTheShoeFits''. A fifth film version, intended as a Christmas special, was released in 2019, titled ''Film/ACinderellaStoryChristmasWish''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQI5rIwHpdY There is also a Bollywood remake.]]

* HollywoodLaw: It's impossible for Fiona to have "gotten everything" when Sam's father died without a will; under California intestate succession law, Sam would have been entitled to half of ''everything'' her father owned before he married Fiona. While this might not have fully prevented her from being financially exploited by her stepmother, it would have been ''much'' harder for Fiona to do so e.g. Rhonda or the authorities probably would have kept a close eye on Sam's finances to make sure they weren't being illegally accessed; and Fiona would have no excuse for forcing Sam to work in the diner under the pretence of saving up money for college, as well as taking Sam's earnings for herself, if there was ''already'' money waiting for her in an inheritance account or trust fund.

* CinderellaCircumstances: ''A'' '''''Cinderella''''' ''Story''.