Former high school musical
Co-writer/Director: Todd Louiso
Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Ben Stiller, Anna Kendrick.
Joey Pizzi ... choreographer
Zachary Woodlee ... assistant choreographer
Watched on AmazonPrime, ok print.
20 songs in the Soundtracks, including versions.
I only know JS from Shopgirl ('05), and the 2 other BS films I've rated both got 5s.
Both characters are underachievers, and JS was NOT the star in HS; we only see him panic onstage and run away screaming. BS is his drama teacher, still at that school 8 years later, producing the same show (The Wiz).
JS has tried to keep the acapella group from HS active (earning some $ at small gigs), but they've shrunk from 9 to 4 members when we meet them, and he loses another during the film. The quartet does not sound pay-worthy.
JS wants to cut a demo reel to help promote the group, and wants BS to produce it based on what BS said to try to calm JS before his runaway non-performance. But he finds out that BS doesn't even know the engineer he bragged about had been fired years earlier for theft.
JS does sort of save the performance by stepping in for the Wiz when he's injured backstage.
AK plays gf to JS, student to BS (yes, she's in HS dating someone who's 8 years gone.)
The whole thing is trying to be funny, I think, but misses the mark. We get very little of AK singing.
Not as bad as the IMDb rating, but not worth a second look.
Rated 4.1 (1,995)
Paramount & more, dir. Louiso; 5
