Review of Bandslam (2009) by Jonathan B — 17 Feb 2013

I wanted to completely hate this, with its constant name-dropping of old, hip music, that annoying David Bowie letter-writing situation, and of course, the titular battle of the bands that somehow, in a no-name town in New Jersey, is so popular it attracts major labels.

It's as if there is a layer of goop on top just to appeal to those hipster type teenagers, though, unlike the referenced Velvet Underground, this is all Disney confection, not likely to appeal to same.

But perhaps because of that Disney quality, it's at least invested with the mechanics of a decent story and likeable characters. It short, it works, like so many mainstream movies do; where many an ambitious, artsy movie may be ripe with meaning and ideas but fails to convey them in a compelling manner, this one is a familiar story of a teenage misfit finding friendship and romance and doing it well enough to elicit interest from the audience.

Not really my thing, but it's good enough.