This was definitely a nice surprise. Finally a movie where kids aren't brainless morons and actually act like, well, teenagers. Of course it does help if they are a little closer to the teenage years than some (most of them were 20-22 at the time of filming from what I saw). Will Burton (nicely played in an understated everyman way by Gaelen Connell) plays the new guy in a school in New Jersey where all the rage is a contest for bands in school to compete against other schools called Bandslam. What I liked about the script was the writers made Will not exactly the coolest kid in school by a long shot but a likable dude who just about knows all there is about different kinds of music which is what we see develop as the movie progresses. Yes I know we've seen this all before with the teen angst, the drama about relationships, but most of these situations are quite believable. Interesting secondary characters round out the movie as the different band members who try to form a cohesive unit. The last 10 minutes or so of the film is the final showdown at Bandslam. Sure there are some somewhat cheesy dramatic revelations as well as some cheesy music but the heart is definitely in the right place. Plus check out the soundtrack. There are some good diverse songs in there as well as the band Will helps out does a cover of "Amphetamine" by Steve Wynn who was in Dream Syndicate so long ago. Now that was a great cover. Another great thing is all the people in the bands actually play their instruments. That's always a good thing. I recommend this to anybody who wants to see a smarter teen musical comedy thats better than most.
No comments:
Post a Comment