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.

Kate Kassell (Portia Doubleday) is a very talented clothes designer and is searching for an entry level job in haute couture. However, no one will hire her because her dad, Lee Kassell (Chris Noth) is a top producer of "knockoff" ladies wear. Therefore, Kate has no choice except to work for her father. Alas, her wicked stepmother, Elise (Lauren Holly) and her two evil stepsisters don't want her there and work behind the scenes to get her fired. In truth, Mr. Kassell has been in mourning since Kate's mother died and has let Elise have too much say at Kassell clothing. Moreover, Kate looks so much like her mother that Lee has become distant to his own daughter, somewhat unconsciously. Kate's only real friend at the firm is Daniel (Marc-Andre Grondin), who creates shoes. All too soon, Kate is indeed let go, as her father believes she has leaked designs to a competitor. But, ho ho, things can change. Kate's aunt and uncle encourage her to go back to Kassell as a disguised male named Nate and turn the company on its ear. It happens. Nate is soon beloved by almost all, especially Mr. Kassell, with the three wicked women working to find a way to give Nate the boot. Daniel even asks Kate to attend a fashion ball with him but she also has to show up as Nate. Changing from one to the other often in the women's room, Kate overhears just how devious her stepmother's plans really are. Can Kate/Nate find true love, a great job, and give Elise and the two young witches the heave-ho? This is really a great new take on the classic Cinderella story, fashion style. Doubleday is truly amazing as the woman who must play a man, at times, and she is beautiful. Grondin, Noth, Holly, and the rest of the cast is terrific, too. Add on great scenery, fabulous costumes, a polished script and an energetic direction and what, what's not to love? Go after it now, romcom fans and anyone else as well!

We found this Canadian movie on Netflix streaming movies. It is entertaining enough once it gets past the first third or so. It seems to be inspired by the classic Cinderella story, with a wicked step- mom and two wicked stepsisters, but dad is still alive as the head of the clothing company.Cute Portia Doubleday, reminding us a lot of Amanda Seyfried, is recent fashion graduate Kate Kassell. She is trying to branch out on her own but eventually looks to her dad's company for a job.The wicked step-mom mostly runs the business, she is played by Lauren Holly as Elise , and right away we see that she and her evil but not bright daughters will try to run Kate off, first by giving her a trash assignment sorting buttons and other odds and ends in a large storage area.Kate is in fact driven off through mistreatment and lies about her, but she returns, in disguise, as Nate an upcoming designer. Of course this brings to the fore all those situations done so many times in movies where Kate and Nate have to be at the same place and dealing with others alternately as Kate and Nate. Some of that is entertaining.This is just a so-so movie but entertaining if you are in the right mood. "Mr. Big", Chris Noth is Kate's dad and the head of the company. The two evil stepsisters are played by Natalie Krill as Tannis and Anna Hopkins as Simone. Portia Doubleday is the best thing going on here. SPOILERS: It turns out the evil step-mom and her daughters were conspiring with a competitor to get the Kassell company to go bankrupt and be taken over by the competitor. Kate and her Nate, with the help of friends at work, and some crafty computer programming, expose all of it and Kate becomes chief designer while patching up her relationship with her dad.

Kate is a fashion designer who dresses up as Nate in order to reveal her step mother's mal doings and save her father's fashion business. After the ball is a good enough movie for a TV movie until Kate turns to Nate. Nate is unnatural simply and he behaves very oddly for not being suspected. The rest is just the cliché fairy tale that so many movies tried to adapt and failed. Cinderella is being pushed away by her step mother and her evil but stupid dangers as she finds the love of her life with the gentle prince. The whole Nate idea is just so naive and certainly not even possible, but in just a day Kate manages to alter her personality and become someone else. Not to even mention that the clothes that they produce do not belong to a fashion company, but that is just a minor setback compared to the whole direction and presentation of the movie. Odd enough the performances are not so bad and maybe that saves after the ball from giving it a 1.