Film Review: Bandslam

I am going to put it out there. I unashamedly enjoyed Bandslam. Yes my friends, I did. Just ask my Facebook status update. Call me a tween, tell me to act my age, remind me I find Vanessa Hudgens about as exciting as doing my tax return …but I stand by it. The script, the other two main stars and the soundtrack set this flick apart from the other (schmaltzy, tired, bland) members of the genre and I guarantee you will leave singing Bread’s ‘Everything I Own’ and desperately wanting to form your own rock band.

New kid at school and musical genius, Will Burton (the highly charismatic newcomer Gaelin Connell) is approached by former (now reformed) head cheerleader/Queen Bee Charlotte Banks (Aly Michalka) to manage her band – a band she has formed to go head to head with ex-boyfriend and lead singer of their high school’s hottest (yes I said hottest) band. Name of the game? Win Bandslam, the event of the year. Hurdles to clear along the way? A burgeoning romance with new bestie, the oh-so-dark and mysterious Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgens); a dark family secret to let go of and the usual curveballs teenage-dom throws one’s way.

This is battle of the bands with the perfect dash of teen angst (deftly dealt with) and a sizzling pop-rock soundtrack (in the strictest sense of the word, no Jonas Brothers here). It has everything you could hope for and more.

Hudgens has branched out into a deeper, darker, more complex character but with absolutely no tongue in cheek and a limited range that depends heavily on a charm sapped almost entirely by her High School Musical years. This is why one must be thankful for the snap, crackle and pop that is Michalka (one half of American pop duo Aly and AJ) and the spectacular awkward-adolescent performance from Connell. Add Lisa Kudrow and her capacity for the deadpan, a likeable motley crew that comes to be the coolest rock band on campus, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On and a fresh, funny script from director Todd Graff (of Camp fame) and Josh A. Cagan (Undergrads) and you have a seriously enjoyable one hour and fifty one minutes.

Just go in with an open mind and an extra large frozen coke. Nothing like a sugar high to gloss over the fact you fare-welled the target demographic five years ago.

Director: Todd Graff

Cast: Aly Michalka, Vanessa Hudgens, Gaelin Connell, Lisa Kudrow

Australian release date: August 13th 2009