Bandslam

It's crazy how much rock 'n' roll has changed in the past 50 years, and it's crazy how much it hasn't: 45s became LPs became eight-tracks and C-60 tapes, which became CDs and then MP3s. Rebels become royalty who are then overthrown by new rebels. And at the same time, the basic elements of rock 'n' roll (young people who can count to four and play three chords; the hustle and shove of getting your gear from the van to the stage so you can play for a crowd whose members stare up at you hoping to see themselves with new eyes) remain essentially the same. "Bandslam," the new battle-of-the-bands soap opera from director and co-writer Todd Graff, understands why rock endures and why it changes, and how it offers every generation the chance for reinvention and rebirth.

Of course, "Bandslam" also understands that love triangles are awesome and that happy endings are great and that stories in which plucky underdogs achieve in the face of long odds always go down like a cold drink on a hot day. Part of me wanted to shove "Bandslam" aside for being majestically cynical, a teen-exploitation piece of junk about a ragtag bunch of misfits who band together to try to win a battle of the bands. But, interestingly enough, it's just as cynical as I am (if not more so). It's got a band whose members take their name from Beckett, and it's got a wiseass joke about how pretentious that is. It's got a product placement joke. It's got a sacred pilgrimage to CBGB and the observation that the bar that launched a thousand bands is shut down by gentrification and soon to be turned into a T-shirt shop. (Of course, you could argue that "Bandslam" is guilty of what it decries, and not be too far off. "Bandslam" is backed by Summit Entertainment, the studio that brought you "Twilight," and it's interesting how much of its output involves bringing teens Nerf-cornered, kinder, gentler versions of previously-scary things like vampirism and rock 'n' roll.)

And it has likable characters around all these arch observations, like Gaelan Connell's Will, a slightly troubled teen who tries to switch schools to reboot his life with his mom (Lisa Kudrow) in his corner. Or like Vanessa Hudgens' Sa5m -- "the '5' is silent," as she notes -- who becomes Will's social studies partner and could-be-more-than-that friend. Or like Aly Michalka's Charlotte, who ropes Will into managing and directing the band she fronts as it enters Bandslam, the multischool battle of the bands with a $10,000 check and recording deal for the winner. "So, how big is this Bandslam thing around here?" Will asks Sa5m as he witnesses the school's unbridled enthusiasm on the first day. "Texas high school football big." "Bandslam" will be compared to "School of Rock," but "School of Rock" was about kids discovering the rock 'n' roll that was missing from their lives. "Bandslam" is about kids figuring out, and fixing, what's missing in their lives through rock 'n' roll.

Will, who can tell you the history of ska at the drop of a hat and writes unsent pen pal letters to David Bowie as a defense against insanity, wants to be a leader, but knows the spotlight could cast attention on dark corners of his past. Charlotte wants to win Bandslam in part to get back at her old band, but there's something desperate in her drive. And Sa5m is cool, but is she perhaps a little too cool to care? Graff's excellent 2003 "Camp" took a similar look at teens in the world of musical theater, creating a music-filled community of misfits where complicated teens discover that working with others gives them a better sense of who they are as individuals, with a slightly askew view that keeps the messages feeling more tart and snappy than saccharine and soft.

Connell makes a likable everynerd hero, and Kudrow makes for a supportive-but-still-careful mom. The presence of Michalka and Hudgens (both of whom, according to the Internet, are quite popular with people less than half my age and are fine in their roles) should help boost "Bandslam" at the box office, and even if Connell seems a little lumpy to be a point in a love triangle between his tween-idol co-stars, well, isn't rock 'n' roll about dreams? "Bandslam" isn't going to send anyone involved down the red carpet at the Oscars, but it will send audiences out of theaters with a smile thanks to a happy ending that's different than expected and more than earned. More hopefully, it'll send people out of the theaters in the direction of the record shop or the local all-ages venue. And even in the very different world of rock (and rock movies) today, that's not a bad thing at all.

James Rocchi's writings on film have appeared at Cinematical.com, Netflix.com, SFGate.com and in Mother Jones magazine. He lives in Los Angeles, where every ending is a twist ending.