Um Romance na Alta Moda

Newly graduated Kate Kassell (Portia Doubleday) is trying to be a fashion designer but her father Lee (Chris Noth)'s cheap knockoff reputation stymies her. She joins her fathers company which was started with her deceased mother. Her stepmother Elise (Lauren Holly) schemes to kick her out of the company. Elise with her simpleton daughters are undermining the company. After they successfully get Kate fired, her friends suggest returning as a male designer.

This is sorta Cinderella with a dash of Twelfth Night. I like Portia Doubleday and really the only reason to watch this. Her weird-looking male character is off-putting at first but he does grow on me. The father is infuriating as if he is suffering dementia. It might be helpful to see the roots of the dysfunctional father daughter relationship. The evil stepmother is fine. The fashion business is nothing insightful or real. At the end of the day, none of that is the big problem. It is simply too cheap and too cheesy to be effective. It is not more than a TV movie that cannot elevate. Doubleday does an admirable job but it is not enough.

This is my kind of movie. A sweet and fun hour and a half with my 12 year old daughter. Of course it's unrealistic, but so are Shakespeare and Cinderella.

Usually shows take the secret too far. I can't stand that. The timing was perfect here. Just when I thought the secret should be told, the right people find out. Since that's my opinion, I'm going to hope that's not a spoiler.

Portia Doubleday heads a phenomenal cast who have fun with Shakespeare's themes of disguises and miscommunication. I started watching this show thinking it was just a Cinderella remake, but was taken on a surprise road trip through a comedic spectacular.

It probably helps to compare this film more to 'Twelfth Night' than to 'Cinderella', though it owes both.

I enjoyed it; but then I enjoy anything with Portia Doubleday. She is not as slapstick-funny as Amanda Bynes; but she is prettier; and she carries off the awkwardness of the Kate character amusingly and even credibly. You are inclined to like her character here - she is honest, well-meaning, and determined without being either overly sappy or shallow.

If there are shallow acting performances, they're down to everyone else - Daniel's character was insufficiently developed, making him appear like a caricature of Prince Charming rather than a real-life, modern-day Orsino; and Elise's character is hardly any Olivia. The actors are good enough but they aren't given much to work with.

Being a vehicle for Miss Doubleday is the movie's one saving grace. I really missed seeing her (little spoiler here) on the runway at the end; as it'd have been a major PR success for the company to have had Kate present in her new capacity; and of course she's lacking nothing to have made a good model... if only on her own terms :)

After the Ball is an entertaining little comedy that takes a few elements of Cinderella and uses them to tell the story of a young fashion designer who manages to get a job at her father's design company, only to be ousted by her stepmother and stepsisters. With the encouragement of her aunt and her actor friend, she disguises herself as a young male designer and manages to get hired back at the company where she battles the evil forces out to get her/him, but with newly found self-confidence.

I was expecting nothing from this movie, but my daughter wanted to watch it and it had a rating higher than one star on Netflix, so I figured why not. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. While it's predictable in the extreme, it's genuinely funny and moves along at a good pace, with a solid screenplay and likable characters. I had never heard of Portia Doubleday before watching this movie, but her performance is terrific. She's funny, sympathetic and simply a pleasure to watch.

Don't expect a profound or earth-shattering experience, but if you are in the mood for some lighthearted fun, you could do much worse than After the Ball.