Sorry, this movie sucks

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Fantastic!

Best movie ever!

When I first heard of Bandslam, it seemed to be another shallow movie about high school. It came across as School of Rock for a younger generation, but boy was I wrong. It starts out how you would expect, Will, a loner, moving to a new town & quickly getting caught up in this thing called Bandslam. But as the movie progresses, it becomes clear that this movie isn't about Bandslam at all. Yes, Bandslam may be a large part of the plot, but the characters are the main focus. This movie is full of so many genuine moments, great music & awkwardly funny moments that make it a masterpiece in my eyes. I loved watching it the first time & I enjoy watching it even more the fifth time. It's a hidden gem of a movie that deserves so much more recognition.

I really didn't expect much out of the viewing experience as I settled in to watch "Bandslam". Pretty much the only reason I rented it was because of the "Vanessa Hudgens" name and the fact that I thought my younger sister and I would enjoy watching it together. Pretty faces and good music...what can go wrong, right? Unfortunately, the film fell short of even those somewhat less than lofty expectations.For a quick plot summary, the film centers on young high-schooler Will Burton (Gaelen Connell) in the midst of changing schools. Burton, a classic-rock savant of sorts, is quickly befriended/recruited by fellow student and band-leader Charlotte (Alyson Michalka) in order to use his talents to try and win the school's upcoming "Bandslam" competition. Also in the mix is Sam (Hudgens), an unemotional loner who intrigues Will.The biggest problem with this film (besides featuring some of the dumbest exposition in film history) is that, while it markets itself towards children, the subject matter (classic bands, music terminology) is by and large geared towards nostalgic 80s-teens. In this aspect, it suffers from the same problem as 2003's "The School of Rock", although that movie was able to pull through due to the crazy antics of Jack Black. Not only that, but the relationships are so contrived that even young children (like my sister) won't be suckered into them.Further bumping this film down a notch is the poor acting, on the whole. Hudgens (while very beautiful) is by no means a star thespian, while Lisa Kudrow (playing "Mom Burton") plays such an annoying character that it is almost physically uncomfortable to watch. Michalka turns in easily the best performance of the entire piece, with Connell doing a decent job as the lead. Other than that, there's nothing to get excited about.Thus, if you are considering viewing this video due to Hudgens' "High School Musical" reputation, I would recommend the following: Put it down and look elsewhere (as previously mentioned, "School of Rock" would be an excellent same-genre choice). Unless you are easily suckered into the cheesiest of plots/characters, you'll be wondering why you wasted two hours on this.

I watched this movie because I heard it was better than it looked. I remember thinking "eh, it's a good way to turn my head off and I can watch it in the background while i do other things" kind of movie. Listen, teeny rom coms aren't my thing. But i DO love me some live music. I haven't seen any of the Teen musical things that pollute and insult my intelligence. The story has a formulaic outline, that you'll see coming a mile away...but the ride is fun. It's little moments of real angst and just making bad decisions that every teen goes through that actually surprise you, and make it worth your time watching. Everyone knows the quirky weird girl that really has no idea how hot she is, or the dorky kid, hot cheerleader, bad boy, blah blah blah, they are all here. But they actually feel like real people. They make decisions that don't make you roll your eyes. And I gotta say, the music is FAR better than I was expecting. Not all the original songs are good, but the soundtrack is WAY above average. And the scene talking about the Velvet Underground proves that for me. The closing numbers ska/punk riff had me smiling. Because ska was something i loved in high school myself. I'm in my 30's and have no kids, and anyone i recommend this to laughs in my face. I completely understand why, but this movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Got an hour and a half to kill?? I dare you to try and not enjoy it on some level. Plus, I'd rather have this as my guilty pleasure than crappy reality TV, endless reruns of ESPN, or whatever flavor of the week is on.

People ask me what I think makes a good movie and I say simple, tell me a good story and tell it to me well. This movie delivers on both counts. The script is like a great hand of Texas hold em. We've seen stories like this a hundred times from the Karate Kid to High School Musical. That's your hole cards. But each time you know what you got, the "dealer" flips another card and it's a whole new hand. Disney (said in a good way) enough for tweens, edgy enough for teens and adults. And "the river card", the ending, well lets just say it surprised me (more than once) and that's saying a lot. Performances were solid especially when you consider that most of the key roles were played by musicians who act as opposed to actors playing musicians.