Harmless and fairly toothless, "Bandslam" is a teen dramedy for and about Generation i, as in iPod, and a droll meditation on adolescent insecurities and the power of pop as a universal social bridge. It's about music, glorious rock 'n' roll music, and while this cheap-looking, shockingly asexual high school fantasy, climaxing with an annual battle of the bands called Bandslam, snaps here and grooves there, it never musters a soaring, roaring chorus that you can sing along and raise a fist to.
With all its winsome humor and broad affability, you hardly notice how doggone wholesome the movie is. It wasn't until after the show that I realized that it portrays only one or two rather chaste kisses and offers absolutely zero talk about getting the nasty that's so fashionable in raunchier affairs. "Bandslam," then, is that rare, apple-cheeked high school movie, boasting a refreshing dearth of flaring hormones and gnawing sexual aspirations. It's goofy like that.
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And that means there's a dramatic chasm between the viewers who will buy it. Pre-adolescents might well embrace its "High School Musical"-like decency, as might full-grown adults, such as my own mother, who flatly enjoyed this shaggy, not always sense-making movie for its easy rhythms, charming young characters, flashes of poignancy and the realistic interplay between mother (Lisa Kudrow) and son (newcomer Gaelan Connell). My gut, however, tells me that many a high schooler over 16 will find the PG-rated "Bandslam" irretrievably lame.
"Bandslam" was filmed last year mostly in Austin and stars Connell, Aly Michalka (of the pop duo Aly & AJ), Vanessa Hudgens of (you guessed it) the "High School Musical" trilogy and Scott Porter of the Austin-shot television series "Friday Night Lights." (Incidentally, Porter, pushing 30, is extravagantly too old to be playing a high school senior here. When he stands near his 14-year-old bandmates, the movie assumes a brow-crinkling cognitive dissonance: "Now, who is he supposed to be playing? A fellow student? Their counselor? Their dad? The creepy guy who graduated but still hangs out around campus?")
Connell plays the school geek Will, a sophomore who has a secret weapon up his hoodie sleeve: He happens to be a pop music aficionado of the stripe that only loner kids with tons of productive solitude can cultivate. He knows his British invasion from his Clash-era ska, his Sonic Youth from his Velvet Underground, his Thin Lizzy from his Arcade Fire. He knows the music encyclopedically, knows how it works and why.
Knowledge, especially this exotically hip kind, is power, and he's soon discovered by fellow teen music fans as a pretty cool guy. A comely blonde named Charlotte (Michalka), a popular senior, has her own band and taps Will to manage it, which he does with skill and speed. He recruits a drummer, keyboardist, cellist and horn section and proves the visionary arranging chops of a teen Phil Spector. He renames and reinvigorates the band, whose goal is to play Bandslam and win the grand prize of a recording contract. (Will's high school, by the way, is in New Jersey, and Austin does a splendid job of looking grubby and plain in the role.)
How big is Bandslam to the regional high schools? "Texas high school football big," mumbles Hudgens, a tiny, dark teenager with curled lips, jungly hair and a singing voice like salty butter.
And, so, in the tradition of big showdown movies starring youth, be it "Little Miss Sunshine," "Bandslam" makes the inevitable, drama-strewn trajectory to the contest climax, which was shot in Hogg Auditorium at the University of Texas and features a gaggle of young Austin bands, including the Daze, Joker and hip-hoppers Zeale and Phranchyze. (Guess who wins? You're wrong.)
Directed by Todd Graff with a stubbornly anonymous anti-style — the film will win no cinematography awards — "Bandslam" holds together just enough to get the job done. For his first leading role, Connell is fine, evincing a good heart and hangdog humility. He's like a teenage Daniel Stern, with a long neck, weak chin and a mushroom cap of disorganized curls. As his single mother, Kudrow is better than game and affirms her knack for the ace-timed reaction and wry line-reading.
"Bandslam" rides on predictable struggle and ends with schematic exultancy. It's a painless experience, sometimes truly funny and emotionally acute. And any cheap teen comedy that can score the cameo that this movie does deserves its own recording contract.
