Una star in periferia

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...

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.

...if only Disney had stayed away from it. See, I think that this movie has some potential. Well, the main character's situation does, at least. Take out the whole Jordan Cahill thing, and you've got the beginnings of a decent movie! Of course, you also lose more than half of the film, but, oh well. Not that much of a loss.

So, here it goes: you take a typical, preppy, suburban teenage girl (Danielle Panabaker, who's actually a decent actress) whose best friends screech a lot, mostly over a "pop sensation" (I'm assuming it's a direct quote from the movie; movie's like this almost always involve that particular phrase) named Jordan Cahill. Except, of course, TPSTG wants more out of life. Enter Brenda Song's character, a sophisticated individual who is just what TPSTG needs (honestly, I don't care what the character's real name is, I like the acronym better). The two new friends go to see Jordan Cahill (one to drool, one to make fun of the droolers), and they come out of it with his cell phone. Hijinks ensue, and everything turns out alright in the end.

If only Disney, or any major film studio for that matter, didn't have such a low opinion of 8 to 14 year olds. Or maybe if 8 to 14 year olds expected a little more out of the movies targeted at them. It's sugar-coated crap like this that make me more than a little unsure who to be more disgusted with (a little film called 'High School Musical' comes to mind...)

Despite being in his early twenties, Taran Killam's performance as Jordan Cahill feels oddly similar to fellow SNL alum Andy Samberg's Conner4Real (from "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping"). Disney did Drew Seeley dirty-passing on him for the role of Jordan, only to cast him as the Front Desk Clerk.

"Stuck in the Suburbs" main strengths are the early aught nostalgia and the leading Disney girls-Danielle Panabaker and Brenda Song. The power fantasy premise of controlling a pop star's career might still be entertaining for younger viewers, but the plot runs dry before the end, resulting in multiple reflective montages.

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