What a Mom Wants

I'll admit I'm getting inordinate enjoyment lately from the rather inconsequential teen movie "What a Girl Wants," starring Amanda Bynes (who we practically watched grow up on a variety of Nickelodeon shows) as an American teen who goes to London to meet her long-lost father, and Colin Firth as the aforementioned pop. The film seems to be on heavy HBO rotation lately, and as is my way with cable movies, I've seen the first hour maybe once, and maybe not in its entirety, and the second hour eight or nine times. It's something I'm happy to leave on whenever I channel surf past it, partly because Amanda Bynes is fairly adorable, but mostly because Colin Firth is, oh, considerably more adorable still. The guy can say more with a soulful look than with a page of dialog -- which, given the level of repartee in this particular script, is a very good thing indeed. There ought to be some sort of special Academy Award for Better Performance Than Was Really Necessary by a Star in a Movie for Children. Until there is, those actors who step up and give us moms something to swoon over will just have our grateful thanks.