So a friend had me over to watch this a few nights ago, as we both share somewhat of an affinity for bad movies. And I was told that this was made by the same company that made film Snakes On A Train. Now, I haven't seen that movie, but I am assuming that as a copy/parody/whatever of the underappreciated Snakes On A Plane, the way it tried to draw people in was to ramp up the raunchiness factor... that meaning more blood, more sex, more snakes on genitalia. Which might have been an erroneous assumption on my part, but this was what I was thinking nonetheless. So when I heard about this film, I thought it would have been pretty much like my vision of what Snakes On A Train was like: as in, a copy/parody/whatever of High School Musical.... except, you know, more blood, sex, and snakes on genitalia (well... more sex, mainly). I mean, that's a reasonable assumption anyway, right? Low budget production needs something to reel the people in with, so why not put in some sex? Plus, what could make a low budget film any more ripe for crazy Hollywood erotic hijinks than including Sunday school in the picture?
Well, as it turns out, the only thing that would prevent this from being a bad teenage sex romp is a production company called "Faith Films." So yeah... this instead was a bad film that would actually be fit to show in a Sunday school to 7 year olds. Which is OK, I suppose... it just was different from what I was expecting.
Of course, going into the film with that mindset made this film seem a lot dirtier than it probably was. The main result of this was that you sensed this weird sexual tension between the preacher dad and the clean cut daughter. It didn't help that it took its cue from The Graduate and had the difference in age between the dad and daughter seem to be about 8 years or so.
Alas, that daughter has bigger fish to fry... as she obviously had her sights set on getting involved in the TAMEST ON-SCREEN ROMANCE IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA. See, the guy she falls for is the leader of the rival Sunday school choir... except he then has to join the gal's choir when his mother loses her job and has to move in with her sister. So how do they fall for each other? Well... you really can't be sure, because the filmmakers don't want ANYTHING resembling lust. So basically they just smile a lot... not necessarily at each other, but you know... they smile. Oh, and I think they bond over their own struggles, as her mother died recently and his family's poor, except that's bulls*** because aside from her mother she has the f'ing perfect life with an apparently rich as crap pastor dad and popularity and success inside the school. And if I were a city kid that had to move in with my aunt due to money troubles, I definitely wouldn't be hanging with a gal that pretty much epitomizes middle class suburbia. But whatever. At the end, you're pretty much not sure if there's supposed to be a relationship that finally blossoms in the end, so when they do kiss, you're sort of left thinking "oh... right, yeah" while sort of secretly wondering what her Dad thinks of it.
Oh, and it's not even much of a kiss either. It's sort of a light and quick peck. Which sort of adds to the humorous ambivalence surrounding the whole thing. And there's a review on IMDB that actually expresses OUTRAGE over the "immoral" kiss at the end. This... the most inconsequential and tame kiss one can put on film. What?
Anyway. It's good if you like High School Musical, but would like it to be less catchy and more embedded with morals and positive messages and all that crap. I don't, and I'm guessing you don't... so enjoy it for what it is: a movie where white kids learn how to breakdance just by watching the urban city kids do it, and where the only unlikable character (who is also ambiguously gay) goes from dancing and singing with the main characters to yelling at them for ruining things right as the song ends.
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