Simply Perfect

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I had heard of and seen the poster for this film in the past, I knew it was a teen targeted movie with singing, I assumed it was going to be similar to High School Musical, so I watched to see what I would think. Basically Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) is a teenage outcast and a music enthusiast, he always writes to singer David Bowie with his thoughts, like a journal, although Bowie never answers. Will's mother Karen (Lisa Kudrow) has found a new job, so he has switched high schools and escaped bullying at his previous one, he soon makes with friends with a girl who writes her name as "Sa5m" (High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens), pronounced Sam, the 5 is silent. Sa5m tells him about Bandslam, an annual music competition in which the winning band gets a recording contract, Will then meets another girl named Charlotte Barnes (Aly Michalka), she is impressed with his eclectic knowledge of music. Charlotte is a talented singer/songwriter, she is forming a band to compete against her egocentric musician ex-boyfriend Ben Wheatley (Scott Porter) in Bandslam, Will agrees to help Charlotte's band, later named I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, which includes members Bug (Charlie Saxton) and Omar (Tim Jo), also outcasts, slowly they create good music, and Will loses his "loser-status". But Will helping with the band gets in the way of helping Sa5m with a project, she teaches him how to kiss at one point, but he stands her up to go with Charlotte to a concert, Sa5m starts ignoring him, but he makes a touching documentary, with the song "Young Folks", about her for a Human Studies project as a way of apology, she forgives him. Will accidentally ruins an Ben's attempt to get Charlotte back, so Ben researches and finds out his father went to prison for killing a child while drink driving, just like his previous bullies Ben and others start calling Will "Dewey", which stands for "DWI" ("Driving While Intoxicated"). Then it gets worse when Charlotte's father dies and she quits the band, she explains that she changed her image and attitude for her father, and be nicer to outcasts, the band members find out this and are hurt, as it means she did not genuinely like them, but they go on, and Sa5m joins as the new lead singer. On the night of Bandslam, Charlotte arrives to apologise to Will, he eventually accepts, before they are due to go on stage, Ben and his band "Glory Dogs" sing the song I Can't Go On, I'll Go On were originally going to perform, forcing them to change their act at the last minute. While the band get their act together, getting the lyrics to the song "Everything I Own", Will buys some time for them going out on stage, the students chant "Dewey! Dewey! Dewey!", he initially walks off, but uses this chanting to make the phrase "Do we wanna ROCK?!", then the band shows up and excite the crowd with an upbeat ska version of "Everything I Own". Although they do not win the Bandslam competition, a YouTube video of their performance goes viral, even David Bowie sees it, he emails Will explaining that he is starting an indie music label and is interested in having the band as one of their first artists, Will is excited, and he and Sa5m are confirmed as dating. Also starring Ryan Donowho as Basher Martin and Lisa Chung as Kim Lee. Connell is convincing as the unaccepted teen, Hudgens is pretty and has a good voice, and Kudrow gets her time as the nerd's mother, the story is simple, I agree with critics there are the odd duff notes in the performances, but there is good music, a familiar but fun music-based romantic comedy. Worth watching!

Every time I remember this movie, I always think of how horribly it was mistreated by Summit, because it's a movie that deserves to become a classic of the teen genre, but it will never be because it was awfully marketed as a "High School Musical" without Zac Efron or Ashley Tisdale."Bandslam" is much more adult than you think. The film delivers a real vision of high school, all the bullying, the awkwardness, love, and with a little injection of rock... the cast is perfect, maybe Vanessa was a little weak at times, but I think it was Sa5m's personality, not her skills. Aly and Galean steal their scenes, being dramatic when they have to be dramatic, funny when they have to be funny... it's a movie that has you smiling, crying, being shocked. The story is believable, it has you interested from beginning to end. It's definitely one of my all-time favorite movies. If you're a rock/indie fan, you'll be pleased with the soundtrack.Maybe if Summit would have marketed Bandslam the way they marketed "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", it would have the attention and love it deserves, oh well. I highly recommend it! Give it a chance!

I watched this movie because I heard it was better than it looked. I remember thinking "eh, it's a good way to turn my head off and I can watch it in the background while i do other things" kind of movie. Listen, teeny rom coms aren't my thing. But i DO love me some live music. I haven't seen any of the Teen musical things that pollute and insult my intelligence. The story has a formulaic outline, that you'll see coming a mile away...but the ride is fun. It's little moments of real angst and just making bad decisions that every teen goes through that actually surprise you, and make it worth your time watching. Everyone knows the quirky weird girl that really has no idea how hot she is, or the dorky kid, hot cheerleader, bad boy, blah blah blah, they are all here. But they actually feel like real people. They make decisions that don't make you roll your eyes. And I gotta say, the music is FAR better than I was expecting. Not all the original songs are good, but the soundtrack is WAY above average. And the scene talking about the Velvet Underground proves that for me. The closing numbers ska/punk riff had me smiling. Because ska was something i loved in high school myself. I'm in my 30's and have no kids, and anyone i recommend this to laughs in my face. I completely understand why, but this movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Got an hour and a half to kill?? I dare you to try and not enjoy it on some level. Plus, I'd rather have this as my guilty pleasure than crappy reality TV, endless reruns of ESPN, or whatever flavor of the week is on.

People ask me what I think makes a good movie and I say simple, tell me a good story and tell it to me well. This movie delivers on both counts. The script is like a great hand of Texas hold em. We've seen stories like this a hundred times from the Karate Kid to High School Musical. That's your hole cards. But each time you know what you got, the "dealer" flips another card and it's a whole new hand. Disney (said in a good way) enough for tweens, edgy enough for teens and adults. And "the river card", the ending, well lets just say it surprised me (more than once) and that's saying a lot. Performances were solid especially when you consider that most of the key roles were played by musicians who act as opposed to actors playing musicians.