Parts of this film were good...and kept you interested in what was coming next...but then part of it was so predictable you could leave the room and still know what was going on when you came back 20 minutes later...as it drags along so slowly. The new kid...Will..moves into town with his rather odd mother...and tries to start fitting in somehow. Right away...he meets two girls...one is a dark brooding emo chick...who is overly serious..about what we aren't too sure...and the other girl is a blonde who is trying to be overly mature for her age with witty comments and attitude to match. She once was a cheerleader...but that was..as she puts it "in another life"....how deep can you get? She has left all the trappings of being a silly high school girl..including a jock boyfriend...(who looks way too old to be in high school to begin with). She is also the lead singer for a band trying really hard to stand out but cannot find a real way to do it...they simply attempt to do covers of rock songs..and do it pretty badly...but...of course..they think they are THE BEST at it. The band is made up an odd assortment of kids...the kind that don't fit into the mainstream...and they plan to win BIG at BANDSLAM...which is THE EVENT of every year. The problem is though...they will be up against another band with more or less the same name....GLORY DOGS...I guess finding an original name was just too hard to do. Will..being the cool kid he really is...(and he doesn't know it...)gets the band to re-think everything...their style, their music..etc..etc...and POOF...they suddenly the PERFECT BAND! While all this is going on...Will is also trying to decide which girl he truly likes the most...and which one truly likes him in return. Neither girl is the "girl next door"...and we wonder what will become of them after high school...when the real world comes knocking. The movie is kind of a coming of age thing...kids trying to find their identities while trying to survive high school at the same time. None of the characters have any real depth...as if what they are doing at that moment is all they ever will do in life. No one will peak any farther than they have already...mundane lives for everyone...with the only highlight being BANDSLAM..which they will talk about over and over to anyone who might listen. The director was trying to cash in on using Vanessa Hudgens...the cute girl from High School Musical...and she tries to do the exact opposite of what she did for Disney...tries a little too much really. And...the other girl is very overly sexy with pouty lips and smoldering facial expressions that are way too old for her to be doing. Both girls are going to attract the attention of men way too old for either of them. Gross. Anyway...it is a decent film....for the most part. I am not sure if it is suppose to be a cutting edge indie type film...or just a film that was made on a low budget. Either way...it is one most teens would enjoy...even though they might not have a clue who David Bowie or Cheap Trick is.
Review of Bandslam
