Stuck in the Suburbs

Watching Stuck In The Suburbs I got the feeling that in the end all I saw was one long commercial for the multiple and myriad uses of the cellphone. And the uses seem to multiply monthly.

Danielle Panabaker is your average by Magic Kingdom standards teenage girl from the suburbs who finds her life sanitized and boring there. Not even the arrival of friend Brenda Song from New York seems to lift her spirits.

But then the arrival of pop singing star Taran Killem to Pannabaker's town to do a music video really lifts the whole town's teenage female population. Killem is the latest bubblegum sensation who is concerned that he will not have a career after this burst of popularity when the next teen idol arrives on the scene. Something I'm sure every one of them worries about. He'd like to do more meaningful songs and at least aim at having staying power like a Crosby or a Sinatra.

When they literally collide their cellphones exchange and since they both store all the meaningful and important things on those phones, their lives are irrevocably tangled. At least until the phones get back to their proper owners.

Stuck In The Suburbs is a pleasant enough 90 or so minutes from the Disney Studios and the cast performs well enough. But with technology being what it is, can you imagine the same kind of film done in the future when we have Star Trek like communicators, Tricorders, and transport devices?

If this movie was anything else but a Disney Channel Original Movie it'd be a disaster. I'm not the target audience but I've grown with DCOM like High School Musical and Camp rock which today I still enjoy, so I look at these movies with different nostalgic eyes. But the plot is messy to the point of being confussing and the inconsistencies in regards to many technological and straight up pop-star-world-related misconceptions could be overlooked if not for the abundance of them.

The plot came full circle in many themes and subplots it set up so the ending of the movie does feel like a fulfilling conclusion yet the second act (or middle of the movie) it's completely ridicolous because it doesn't provide reasons for the plot to unravel that way. They are in the same town and yet the celebrity or the assistant couldn't have found the phone sooner? It sure lend to funny and character development moments but it felt too unrealistic. Other movies like High School Musical and Camp Rock don't have that many unrealistic scenarios and work coherently with the development of the plot.

IN CONCLUSION, the movie is a fun movie for kids alone, especially suburban kids. Adults might find beats of it interesting related to being stuck in a boring place, not conforming with social norms and staying true to yourself and your loved ones (a Disney staple). It's not that self-aware of its mistakes because the movie concerns itself in making it work and fun. It could have been a little deeper in its message but it decided to have this clean superficial cut. Again, dumb downed and fun for kids

At the age of 14, Brittany Aarons (Danielle Panabaker) and her friends are very bored with the monotonous life they lead in the suburbs, until they receive an unexpected visit from star Jordan Cahill (Taran Killam). News that her idol, the talented pop singer Jordan Cahill, will film her new music video in a place that, until this moment, was the most boring in the world: her neighborhood! Brittany and her friend Natasha (Brenda Song) can't let this opportunity pass and without thinking twice they come up with a plan to invade the film set to be close to the singer of their dreams. Two hands.

Silly to the extreme, but cute, Brittany's family is beautiful, the teenagers are fans of a standard, normal boy, it represents me at 14... The development is that boring stuff of all the other standard movies, but the family is cute and won me over, cute, silly, cliché, teenager, boring and cool, all at the same time...

Decent watch, probably won't watch again, and can't really recommend.

The movie is good enough. Danielle Panabaker and Brenda Song do a good job carrying most of the movie, but I don't know told Taran Killam he could play a teen pop star.

The ladies look about 5 years older than their schoolmates, and Killam about 5 years older than that, so it's super awkward anytime they share the screen with other actors.

This is "teen drama" mixed with "swapped phones" and a bit of "blackmailed celebrity". The story just doesn't have a lot of substance, there isn't any lesson, and the characters are barely redeemable when it comes down to it.

It's a fun, maybe younger audiences might like it more, but most likely the dated technology is going to be off-putting for them.

Brittany Aarons (Danielle Panabaker) is a squealing teenage girl living in the suburbs. She is in love with pop star Jordan Cahill (Taran Killam). Natasha Kwon-Schwartz (Brenda Song) is a new girl in school after a couple of years in Europe. Brittany is quickly attracted to Natasha's worldly life as she hides her Jordan Cahill love. Brittany accidentally switch phones with Jordan when Eddie (Ryan Belleville) drops the phone during Jordan's video shoot. The girls start to have a bit of fun with Jordan's phone.

There is some attempts at making fun of the unanimity and the lack of originality in the suburbs. There are good barbs that are wasted on this teen girl movie that is practicing exactly that. There is little originality or any interesting characters. Brenda Song is playing the cooler edgier girl which kind of says it all. She and Panabaker are fine as teen girls. Taran Killam is not a pop star and doesn't have that vibe. He's probably the biggest problem ... other than the constant squealing.