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.
Was apparently turned into a stage musical in Germany.
Tropes associated with this movie:
- Alliterative Name: Bree and Britt Blatt, Mary's evil stepsisters.
- Alpha Bitch: Natalia.
- Cinderella Plot: Mary Santiago is an aspiring dancer adopted by a woman named Dominique to do her and her daughter's housework. The Prince is a famous musician named Joey Parker, moving back to the city with his best friend. They meet at a Masquerade Ball, and Mary loses her Zune, which Joey retrieves and uses to find her. The plot continues after he discovers who Mary is, as the stepfamily continue to conspire against her and ruin her new relationship and dancing aspirations.
- Fairytale Motifs: Mary is in a Cinderella Plot with her as Cinderella, Dominique as the Wicked Stepmother, Britt and Bree as the stepsisters, and Joey as Prince Charming. Tami is the Fairy Godmother. She has her family help clean up Mary's house and provides her with a dress for the ball. Tami's vehicle that she drives Mary to the ball in is orange and resembles a pumpkin, aka the pumpkin carriage. Tami even calls it The Great Pumpkin.
- Fostering for Profit: Dominique adopts Mary for the sake of using her as unpaid help.
- Flipping the Bird: Variation. Tami shows her fist to Natalia and screams, "Check out my totally invisible finger!"
- Hate Sink: Holy carp, Dominique. She is an Abusive Parent and a complete Jerkass, and she has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It's a wonder how she managed to get away with her treatment of Mary before the events of the film. Her daughters are just as bad, humiliating, blackmailing, and manipulating Mary at every turn, just for the petty sake of keeping her miserable.
- High-School Dance: A black and white masquerade ball, also implied to be a dance for Valentines Day.
- Jerkass: Dominique, Natalia, Bree, and Britt.
- The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: Joey sets out to find Mary by seeing who can identify the songs on the top of her playlist. 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. She ultimately ends up wheelchair bound as a result, and with Mary heading off to the Academy, the previously pampered and spoiled Bree and Britt are forced to take over caring for their mother during her recovery, as well as presumably all of Mary's other chores as well.
- 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, poor guy.
- Nice Guy: Joey, that's it.
- 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.
- Product Placement: Probably the only movie in existence to feature a Zune instead of an iPod.
- 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.
- Stress Vomit: Joey meets a nervous male fan who vomits when Joey shakes his hand.
- Trash of the Titans: Dominique's bedroom, also of her daughters has something that’s died in her closet.
- 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 acquaintances of her family, telling Mary 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.
- You Must Be Cold: In the scene where Joey identifies Mary, he gives her his jacket as it is really cold.
Tell me something I don’t know!
