Bandslam (2009)

I'm going to be doing a couple of these high school type movies in the coming weeks. They'll be more discussions than reviews, so they'll be discussed in length, spoilers and all.

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I first heard about this movie from the DVD releases of the Twilight series. It was advertised as just another high school movie, which happened to have Vanessa Hudgens- who I knew from High School Musical at that time. I remember seeing it once years ago and feeling letdown because it didn’t live up to my expectations based on the trailers. Coming back to it however years later, those feelings haven’t changed. In fact they’ve only gotten more complicated.

It’s a basic premise. New kid moves from the Midwest to a new high school in northern New Jersey. He didn’t fit in where he was from and this was a chance for him to start fresh with a clean slate. His new school is one of many in the northeast looking forward to the titular event. Vanessa’s character describes it as being as big as high school football is in Texas. New kid Will gets involved with it through his new friend Charolette (Aly from Aly & AJ) who has a new band with aspirations to win.
Another ongoing storyline is Will and Sa5m (Vanessa’s character) having to do a project for class where they have to get to know each other and do a presentation on who the other person is.

The bizarre part of this movie that was hard for me to get past: it was hard to get a handle on who these characters were. All of them felt like they had a secret or something to hide. Not that this isn't a common thing in movies or fiction, but the way they did it... it's like they're saying "this person has a secret but we're not going to give you any hints about what it might be but just remember there's a secret.. And it'll be revealed at th worst time possible, etc, etc.

I’ve always been one of those people who puts themselves in a character’s shoes or relates enough to them where I’m able to react to the ongoing events through their eyes. I had trouble doing that here based on this blasé approach.

Will was easy enough to figure out but it didn’t make the nature of his secret any less shocking. He clearly wasn’t close with his dad and would talk about how he was never around because he was touring with other bands as a roadie or some other menial job.
“Dewey” got thrown around a few times and it wasn’t until much later when it was explained as a homonym of DWI. i.e. driving while intoxicated. His dad apparently drove drunk and killed one of his classmates at his old school, so while he went to jail, Will Jr. was bullied and saddled with his mistake. Thanks to a fellow student who was jealous of his friendship with Charlotte, this secret was leaked to his new school and it was difficult to overcome all that a second time.

Vanessa Hudgens had played a few different high school archetypes in her time. Gabriella in High School Musical was a whiz kid but also very shy- until the sequels and that part of her character was completely discarded. Then later in the FOX live version of Grease, she was a really good Rizzo.
Sa5m (the 5 is silent) comes off as an introvert and she remains that way for much of the movie. She’s quiet and keeps to herself but slowly opens up to Will as they get to know each other. It’s really sad when she gets comfortable with him, she invites him to see her favorite movie and he doesn’t show. All because an outing with Charlotte and the band happened to be the same day.

Thankfully it doesn’t take too long for them to make up and become friends again. She does her school project using a mirror to signify how Will interacts with other people. He'll show you the part of him he wants you to see but it's not the true version and the only person he can't do that with is himself... some really weird poetic shit.

He does a cute little video where he interacts with a cardboard standee of her and it charms everyone including her. I especially like the part where they share a can of soda and he puts in two twizzlers as their straws- it's a throwback to the first time he saw her. 

It’s just kinda strange how they include a scene of her singing ages ago in a talent show, she’s mad at her mom for showing him the video, and it’s never really mentioned again. Her singing the same song as the new lead vocalist of the band is a cool full circle moment but that backstory moment comes and goes so quickly that it feels like the writers didn’t feel like giving it more thought.
Also- what's with this movie and non-existent father figures? None of these three characters have their father shown on screen and they're only alluded to as some sort of emotional bagage. With one notable exception.

Charlotte was the most confusing of all. I mean, she’s more approachable and more fun to be around than Rhiannon in “Easy A”. But Sa5m spent a lot of the movie warning Will not to trust her and it takes way too long for that point to be made. We get the impression she’s starting a new band to get back at her old one. She relies on Will’s musical knowledge and advice about what the band needs to improve (including a live drummer, keyboards,a cellist and a horn section). She also spends her time outside school working with little kids in art class and working part-time at a diner. 

At first it sort of feels like they’re making this into a typical love triangle where Will can’t spend time with either of his new female friends without the other getting jealous. I’m glad they didn’t go that path but it was hard buying into his friendships with either girl without worrying that something was going to ruin it.
This isn’t to say her secrets were bad. They were just really poorly executed. Particularly when there’s a dramatic twist and she shuts him out without fully explaining why. Supposedly she was the typical head cheerleader type who didn’t interact with peers she thought were lower on the social ladder than she was. Then her dad got sick with cancer and she was using her senior year of high school to be a better person. This transformation wasn’t just hard for people like Sa5m to understand but also her ex boyfriend. Or at least that’s what’s hinted at.

The actor playing him finished second during the previous season of the masked singer- to Vanessa- and they had no idea the other was on the show. So it was kind of a cool moment when they figured this out. They didn’t interact at all in the movie. But I’m glad his band didn’t win the competition because his character wasn’t very likable. He didn’t just want Charlotte back but he took some unscrupulous steps to make this happen. He leaked the information about Will’s dad to get back at him for hanging out with her. But what he did at Bandslam only served to feed a cliche that was completely unnecessary.

If Emmett Otter taught me anything, if you participate in a talent competition, ALWAYS have a backup plan. In this case, make sure you rehearse more than one song.
“Everything I Own” (originally by Bread, but I first heard it covered by *NSYNC on their first album) was featured in the trailers so I figured it would be the band’s song in the movie. But it was so infuriating that the band had an original song… and the rival band from the same high school performed the same song at the competition. The ex was hanging out with Charlotte a lot since her dad died and she left the band to figure out her life. Somehow during this time, he got a hold of this song and left the band in a very awkward position.
I mean, it does work out in the end. The band goes viral on MySpace (that’s how old this movie is- back when MySpace was still relevant) despite not winning the competition. Neither of the Martin Van Buren high school bands win. But the original song was SO GOOD and it was so sad not getting that same impact from the backup song.

One thing that made this movie worth coming back to all these years later- a David Bowie cameo.
Will spends a lot of the movie sending fan letters to him although I’m not sure if he actually sent them or if Bowie read them if he did. But he was among the people who saw the viral performance of the band’s performance and he contacts Will (i.e. the band’s manager) and it’s a super cool full circle moment. Considering he passed away a few years after the movie came out, it could possibly be one of his final appearances in the public eye. How many people actually saw this movie is hard to say but considering this was advertised with the Twilight series because they’re both Summit Entertainment films— this could’ve introduced him to a whole other generation. The soundtrack isn’t too shabby either, featuring some original songs as well as some older songs from him, Mick Jagger and others. Although as far as being a gateway film to introduce younger generations to great music, School of Rock might be a better choice.

Lisa Kudow as Will's mom was also a nice addition to the cast. Like with Aly Michalka, I liked her character in this movie WAY more than the one she played in "Easy A." She has her various quirks and is a bit of a "smother" (fans of the ABC series The Goldbergs will get the reference) at times. But her heart is undoubtedly in the right place.