Review of Bandslam (2009) by Edwin T — 03 Feb 2010

"Keep true to the dreams of thy youth." -- Friedrich von Schiller.

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There's nothing better than watching a movie you were sure would be bad turn into an entertaining and enjoyable experience. It seems as though you just can't trust the film industry anymore. The biggest and most awaited movies turn out to be disappointing while some films you barely ever heard of can surprise you in ways you never expected. Often I find myself avoiding the big names and simply going for the rather ignored movies. Sure, that doesn't always work, but you'll know it's worth it when it does.

I was sure that "Bandslam" was gonna suck. An American high school, the typical clichéd theme and Vanessa Hudgens holding a Gibson Flying V guitar looks like the perfect recipe for disaster. Then again, appearances can be deceiving, and there's no better example than this movie.

Let's get a look at the plot: Will Burton is a lonely teenager who moves with his mother to New Jersey in order to escape a troubled past. Opportunity strikes when he finds out that the new high school he's attending is participating in Bandslam, which is sort of a yearly event where bands compete for a record deal. This means quite a lot for Will, since he's a passionate music lover. He soon befriends two girls: Sa5m (apparently the "5" is silent... I still don't get it), who is rather a loner herself, and Charlotte, who wants Will to be her band's manager. All these things open up a new path for Will, where he will learn the value of friendship, success and love.

The story may seem a little cliché as a whole, but the characters and the dialogue keep the movie interesting and unpredictable. The script is remarkably well-written, which gives way to some clever dialogue and keeps the typical coming-of-age story hidden underneath engaging and unique situations.

The three central characters Will, Charlotte and Sa5m (played by Gaelan Connell, Alyson Michalka and Vanessa Hudgens respectively) are definitely the best thing in the movie. They are written quite well and tend to become more complex as the story progresses. Sa5m is probably the most intriguing character, but at the same time she is also the most flawed one. It looks as though the writers didn't give her as much attention as the other ones and she also has less screentime than expected. I almost forgot to mention that Lisa Kudrow plays appears in the movie as well -- she plays Karen, Will's mother. Her role is rather unnecessary, though, and she gets a little too much screentime for such a small part.

I can't say much about the acting except that it was better than I expected. It wasn't exactly Oscar material, but most of the actors did well. Vanessa Hudgens' performance wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't great either. That may be because of her character being underwritten, so I'll just leave it at that. My favourite performance was that of Alyson Michalka, which seemed to become really good near the end. Both Gaelan Connell and Lisa Kudrow did a fairly good job as well.

The music in the movie is quite okay, but it's nothing you won't soon forget. I was pleasantly surprised to hear a few interesting references to events and bands that influenced music (even if not all of them were entirely accurate) -- another fine example that the script was seriously worked on and not just thrown in there for the sake of having one.

I was a little thrown off by the ending, which didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the movie -- it was a bit too typical and I was disappointed to see that the writers decided to play it safe. Nevertheless, the ending doesn't bother much since the rest of the film is good enough to make up for it. "Bandslam" is one of the few good modern teenage movies and, despite its obvious flaws and minor weak points, it is definitely worth giving a look.

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