'Bandslam's' funny start can't save its familiar finish
Have you heard this one before?
A lovable misfit brings together an unlikely group of student-musicians for a battle of the bands competition. The group includes a hot-tempered drummer and a quiet Asian keyboard player. In the climactic musical sequence, our heroes totally nail a song they barely practiced, but (spoiler alert!) ultimately lose the competition.
That plot came from one of the funniest films of 2003, Richard Linklater's "The School of Rock," and surfaces again in one of the most frustrating films of 2009, "Bandslam."
Withdrawn music lover Will Burton (newcomer Gaelan Connell, who resembles Shia LaBeouf by way of Larry Fine) and single mom Karen (Lisa Kudrow) move to New Jersey for a fresh start, and Will gets it in the form of Bandslam, a wildly unrealistic competition in which one high school rock band will win a record deal.
The favorites to win are his school's Glory Dogs, who play to screaming fans in the cafeteria on Will's first day. ("Suddenly, lunchtime turned into Nuremberg as produced by MTV," Will's voice-over says.)
Enter the beautiful Charlotte (Aly Michalka), a singer/songwriter and former member of Glory Dogs who enlists Will's encyclopedic knowledge of rock to give her new rival band a boost.
Will can't believe a girl like Charlotte would even talk to him, let alone ask for his help. And he really can't believe that his other new friend, emo wannabe Sa5m - "The 5 is silent," she says - suspects Charlotte has ulterior motives. Is Charlotte hiding something, or does Sa5m want Will for herself?
The tragic stories behind Charlotte's attitude and Will's absent father eventually come to light, killing the momentum "Bandslam" builds in its breezy first hour. The shift in tone is jarring, and the young actors aren't quite up to the task.
That first hour, however, surprises and delights with clever dialogue and slick musical performances.
The script by Josh A. Cagan and director Todd Graff ("Camp") serves as an introduction to "real" rock for a generation of kids raised on "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical." One scene has Will and Sa5m (played by "HSM" star Vanessa Hudgens) breaking into the now-defunct New York club CBGB, where Will waxes poetic about punk pioneers like The Clash and The Jam.
Charlotte's new band doesn't rock quite that hard; the repertoire begins with a vanilla cover of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me." But Will adds horns and strings, and soon they're delivering an up-tempo version of "Amphetamine," an obscure gem by Steve Wynn.
The movie pretty much belongs to Michalka, a pop star in her own right (check out Aly & AJ's "Closure" and "÷") who sings and performs her own guitar and piano parts in the film. Hudgens convincingly plays against type, but can't convincingly sing a ska version of David Gates' "Everything I Own." Connell is saddled with a one-note character, but shows comedic skill in a funny first-kiss scene. (With whom? I won't tell.)
Like so many pop songs, "Bandslam's" glossy production is unable to transcend its derivative content. It could, however, inspire young Jonas Brothers fans to inquire about David Bowie and the Velvet Underground, and that's pretty cool.
"Bandslam"
Rating: 2½ stars
Starring: Gaelan Connell, Aly Michalka, Vanessa Hudgens, Lisa Kudrow, Ryan Donowho
Directed by: Todd Graff
Other: A Summit Entertainment release. Rated PG (thematic elements, mild langugage), 111 minutes.