Movie Review: Standing Ovation
by KYW's Bill Wine
Ah, if only all it took was energy. Or good intentions. Or raw talent. Or hard work. Or determination.
If only any or all of these was all it took, maybe Standing Ovation would have a chance of receiving a standing ovation.
Alas, this high-energy musical -- created in the wake of the success of television's "American Idol" and "Glee" and "High School Musical," and seeming every bit like a TV project making a pit stop on the theatre circuit -- showcases the talent of lots of young singer-dancers, but buries its chief asset in an avalanche of tired scriptwriting clichés, overwrought music video-style editing, and amateurish overacting.
What's left is a "Middle School Musical" that offers itself as if the tweens on screen had actually concocted it. Come to think of it, if that were the case, although it wouldn't make the finished product any more polished, at least it would help to explain both the film's insufferable belt-it-out exuberance and its severe aesthetic limitations.
It's the kind of movie that tries so hard -- and is so ill-equipped -- to be a feel-good tonic that it ends up making the audience feel bad for everyone involved.
Five middle school friends from a South Jersey shore singing group called The Five Ovations enter a national television network-sponsored tween music video competition in New York City in hopes of winning the first prize: a million bucks and a record contract.
They don't have much money or any real resources, but they use their wits and drive and pluck to create song-and-dance numbers that allow them to compete with their rivals, The Wiggies: five ambitious, moneyed sisters who are snooty and mean-spirited and do everything but twirl mustaches to demonstrate their villainy.
Writer-director Stewart Raffill (The Philadelphia Experiment, Mac and Me, The New Swiss Family Robinson, A Month of Sundays) includes 20 original songs, 5 standard tunes, and 14 dance numbers. So much for quantity.
As for quality, well, he seems to be under the mistaken impression that closeups hide rather than highlight inept acting, and that loudness makes unfunny jokes amusing.
Executive producer James Brolin has put together a talent show parading as a movie. And, yes, we're raining on his parade, which offers plenty of musical numbers and pure filler in between.
That it's a kidflick would seem to make the plot contrivances and awkward dialogue less problematic. But the adult creators have built their narrative by putting some truly odd, inverted family values and mixed messages on display, with parenting and grandparenting techniques and behaviors that have to be seen to be disbelieved.
So let's give the youngsters a pass and blame the oldsters working with them for not providing the movie industry's version of guidance counselors to help steer them through their playing-with-the-big-boys project.
As for us, we'll belt out 1 star out of 4 for a pained, strained, and unrestrained tween musical extravaganza. Let the record show that this review of Standing Ovation is offered unmistakably from a sitting position.
