There is really just a lot to like here.
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08/17/09
Bandslam (2009)
90
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:20
Fresh:18
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: Bandslam is an intelligent teen film that avoids teen film cliches, in an entertaining package of music and coming-of-age drama.
Theatrical Release:Aug 14, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $5,205,343
Synopsis: Disney Channel superstars Vanessa Anne Hudgens (High School Musical 1 & 2, High School Musical 3) and Alyson Michalka (Phil of the Future, pop duo Aly and AJ) join Gaelan Connell (Chocolat), Scott... [More]
Starring: Gaelan Connell, Vanessa Hudgens, Alyson Michalka, Lisa Kudrow
Director: Todd Graff
Reviews for Bandslam
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Top CriticThese are characters that make mistakes, they redeem themselves, and they grow throughout the course of the film.
08/17/09
Top CriticBandslam is hardly the definition of a great movie, but it is pleasant and bright and doesn't insult its audience's intelligence. And that's as rare and welcome as a well-crafted three-minute pop song.
08/14/09
Top CriticTidy, heartfelt direction by Todd Graff (“Camp”); astute song references; and a David Bowie cameo transcend the formula underpinnings and keep Bandslam buoyant, gratifying and, yes, rocking.
08/14/09
Top CriticThe movie has a few good tunes and some charming comic dash, at least at first.
08/14/09
Top CriticBandslam consistently exceeds current teen-flick standards thanks to its snarky humour, its strong musical sequences and its ability to convey the excitement the characters feel both about performing and forming new friendships.
08/14/09
Top CriticSimultaneously shiny and retro, calibrated and uncalculated, familiar and unpredictable.
08/14/09
Top CriticThe bonus in this modest charmer? Not a single major female character, including Wills single mother played by Lisa Kudrow, is subjected to the usual Hollywood rom-com demonization.
08/14/09
Top CriticIn a goofily endearing performance reminiscent of the young John Cusack, Connell is charming and relatable. Likewise, Kudrow, as the overprotective mother who both fears and wants more independence for her son.
08/14/09
Top CriticDirector Todd Graff does have a keen understanding of kids in the world of performing arts, as he shows here and in his earlier and better film Camp.
08/14/09
Top CriticIt feels like a missed opportunity, but perhaps is a blessing since Bandslam's dialogue is much more pat than Hughes's quotable writing.
08/14/09
Top CriticRife with spirit-lifting scenes of teens singing their hearts out. And it feels just that good, in a quirky-smart way.
08/14/09
Top CriticInstead of the vapid drivel you'd expect from their Disneyfied crowd, Bandslam turns out to be a charming (and well-soundtracked: Hello, Wilco!) little parable for the tween set about first crushes, friendship and like, duh, the power of music.
08/13/09
Top CriticWithin the context of modern family comedies and the vast enabling wasteland of tweener TV, these people feel almost three-dimensional.
08/13/09
Top CriticYes, the plot is totally predictable. But the smart script consistently tweaks the formula, allowing director/cowriter Graff to pull off the near-impossible: making a movie that neither sells out nor talks down to teens.
08/13/09
Top CriticThis isnt a breakthrough movie, but for what it is, its charming, and not any more innocuous than it has to be.
08/13/09
Top CriticThere's enough of a strong filmmaking backbeat in Bandslam to carry the movie's light tune.
08/12/09
Top CriticTodd Graff's film is written with a desperate cleverness that clamors for attention over the brainless against-the-odds music-competition plot.
08/11/09
Top CriticThis savvy, music-fueled high school comedy really rocks.
08/10/09
Top CriticAn awkward, earnest, almost irresistible indie.
08/10/09
Top Critic1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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August 13, 2009:
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With summer almost out of gas, studios toss five more contenders into the ring in hopes of catching moviegoers that just haven't had their share of multiplex entertainment yet.... More...
August 10, 2009:
Updated: The New Moon Teaser Trailer Teaser; Is 14 Seconds Enough for Fans?
It's one thing to announce a trailer debut and have fans furiously mark their calendars, DVRs and web browsers at the ready. But when a studio can cause a frenzy by announcing a... More...
July 13, 2009:
Check out 8 Bandslam video clips and interviews with Alyson Michalka, Vanessa Hudgens, Gaelan Connell, and Lisa Kudrow 
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