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Best movie ever!

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

If you watch this and don't smile cry and celebrate you have no heart. Vanessa and the blond lead are gorgeous Thumbs up 10 times over and then some. This is in my top ten movies of all time and its a sad world when a film like this doesn't receive a lot more praise. Give it a go and let it happen and you'll be presently surprised.

I had heard of and seen the poster for this film in the past, I knew it was a teen targeted movie with singing, I assumed it was going to be similar to High School Musical, so I watched to see what I would think. Basically Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) is a teenage outcast and a music enthusiast, he always writes to singer David Bowie with his thoughts, like a journal, although Bowie never answers. Will's mother Karen (Lisa Kudrow) has found a new job, so he has switched high schools and escaped bullying at his previous one, he soon makes with friends with a girl who writes her name as "Sa5m" (High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens), pronounced Sam, the 5 is silent. Sa5m tells him about Bandslam, an annual music competition in which the winning band gets a recording contract, Will then meets another girl named Charlotte Barnes (Aly Michalka), she is impressed with his eclectic knowledge of music. Charlotte is a talented singer/songwriter, she is forming a band to compete against her egocentric musician ex-boyfriend Ben Wheatley (Scott Porter) in Bandslam, Will agrees to help Charlotte's band, later named I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, which includes members Bug (Charlie Saxton) and Omar (Tim Jo), also outcasts, slowly they create good music, and Will loses his "loser-status". But Will helping with the band gets in the way of helping Sa5m with a project, she teaches him how to kiss at one point, but he stands her up to go with Charlotte to a concert, Sa5m starts ignoring him, but he makes a touching documentary, with the song "Young Folks", about her for a Human Studies project as a way of apology, she forgives him. Will accidentally ruins an Ben's attempt to get Charlotte back, so Ben researches and finds out his father went to prison for killing a child while drink driving, just like his previous bullies Ben and others start calling Will "Dewey", which stands for "DWI" ("Driving While Intoxicated"). Then it gets worse when Charlotte's father dies and she quits the band, she explains that she changed her image and attitude for her father, and be nicer to outcasts, the band members find out this and are hurt, as it means she did not genuinely like them, but they go on, and Sa5m joins as the new lead singer. On the night of Bandslam, Charlotte arrives to apologise to Will, he eventually accepts, before they are due to go on stage, Ben and his band "Glory Dogs" sing the song I Can't Go On, I'll Go On were originally going to perform, forcing them to change their act at the last minute. While the band get their act together, getting the lyrics to the song "Everything I Own", Will buys some time for them going out on stage, the students chant "Dewey! Dewey! Dewey!", he initially walks off, but uses this chanting to make the phrase "Do we wanna ROCK?!", then the band shows up and excite the crowd with an upbeat ska version of "Everything I Own". Although they do not win the Bandslam competition, a YouTube video of their performance goes viral, even David Bowie sees it, he emails Will explaining that he is starting an indie music label and is interested in having the band as one of their first artists, Will is excited, and he and Sa5m are confirmed as dating. Also starring Ryan Donowho as Basher Martin and Lisa Chung as Kim Lee. Connell is convincing as the unaccepted teen, Hudgens is pretty and has a good voice, and Kudrow gets her time as the nerd's mother, the story is simple, I agree with critics there are the odd duff notes in the performances, but there is good music, a familiar but fun music-based romantic comedy. Worth watching!

Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) is an unpopular high school outcast picked on as Dewey in Cinncinnati. His personal hero is David Bowie. His mother Karen (Lisa Kudrow) moves the two of them to Lodi, New Jersey. He is happy to be anonymous. He is a music obsessed kid who discovers that there is a popular competition called Bandslam. He befriends fellow student Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgens), the 5 is silent. Former popular cheerleader Charlotte Barnes (Aly Michalka) sees Will as a project and ropes him in to help with the daycare. They and others form a band to compete against former band mate Ben Wheatly (Scott Porter). These are charming cute characters in a charming cute story with some charming cute dialog. Gaelan is a good lovable geek lead. Both Aly and Vanessa are former Disney stars with a lot of charisma. Lisa Kudrow has some hilarious bits. She's funny whenever she's on the screen. It's always nice when the adults aren't idiots. This is sorta like 'School of Rock' with a couple of dark secrets thrown in. It is adorable and a little awkward at times.

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.