Bandslam

Director: Todd Graff
Writers: Todd Graff, Josh A. Cagan
Starring: Gaelan Connell, Alyson Michalka, Vanessa Hudgens
Release Date: August 14, 2009
Length: 2 hours 1 minute

If the only decent teen movie in a while comes with insipid Disney stars who want to show off that “they’re not just actors, they are some-what musicians too”, then we’ll take it. Although the title actors for Bandslam are Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka, the film truly stars newcomer Gaelon Connell in the typically outcast, socially awkward, kind of loser role.  He’s not a breath of fresh air, but has some funny moments with Charlotte (Michalka) and his mom played by the lovable Lisa Kudrow. There is also a nice simple high school romance that is not completely overdone, though coming close with 1 or 2 cliché’s, between Will Burton (Connell) and Vanessa Hudgens’ character Sa5m (the 5 is silent). Bandslam was surprisingly well written by director Todd Graff and co-writer Josh A. Cagan. This film’s premise definitely had the potential to be dreadfully horrific but came out much better than expected.  It has to be said that Hudgens didn’t exactly help my enjoyment of this film. I guess the character of sa5m was supposed to be dark and mystifying but the whole audience could see she was trying way too hard with her nauseating fake deep voice. Another problem with Bandslam was that this innocent teen comedy had too many deep changes in the storyline that were supposed to make the film dramatic, but were then soon overlooked within the next 10 minutes. Will’s passion for music, the interesting character of Charlotte and the non-stopping clever and inventive script kept me intrigued long enough for me to thoroughly enjoy this movie.