What a Girl Wants

What a Girl Wants is a 2003 American teen comedy film directed by Dennie Gordon and written by Jenny Bicks and Elizabeth Chandler. Based on the 1955 play The Reluctant Debutante by William Douglas-Home, it is the second adaptation for the screen of this work. It stars Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, and Kelly Preston. The film was released on April 4, 2003, received mixed reviews and grossed $50 million worldwide. Plot 17-year-old Daphne Reynolds is an American girl, living with her wedding singer mother, Libby, above a restaurant in Chinatown, Manhattan. Many years earlier, Libby had met Briton Henry Dashwood in Morocco, and they had got married in a Bedouin wedding ceremony, under uncertain legality. They then returned to his family's estate in England. His father died soon afterward, making Henry the Lord Dashwood, Earl of Wycombe. Alistair Payne, the family's aristocratic advisor, tricks Libby into leaving Henry, telling her it is best for Henry's duties not to know she is pregnant; then he lies to Henry, hiding the pregnancy from him, and saying that Libby claimed to be leaving him because she was in love with someone else. Libby has always been honest with Daphne about who her father was, though Daphne felt a sense of emptiness without him. Daphne soon graduates from high school and she runs off to London to try and meet her father. Henry has disclaimed his seat in the House of Lords to run for election to the House of Commons, hoping to eventually become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Henry is being pushed by Alistair, acting as his political advisor. Henry has become engaged to Alistair's daughter, the snobbish Glynnis, who only wants to marry Henry in order to become the new Countess of Wycombe, who also had an equally snobbish teenage daughter, Clarissa. Checking into a London hostel, Daphne meets Ian Wallace, a local boy who works there to support his dream of becoming a musician. After forming a friendship when Ian shows Daphne around London, they start dating. When Henry catches Daphne at his estate, he is stunned to learn he has a child, but his mother, Jocelyne, the current Countess of Wycombe, immediately welcomes her in, giving her a room at the estate. After confirming things in a phone call with Libby, Henry embraces the opportunity to connect with her. Daphne tries to win the acceptance of her father's social circle, but is repeatedly thwarted by Glynnis and Clarissa, who feel threatened by her arrival.