May 10, 2009
Could be a blue-print for Falls-between-two-stools. The Disney tv show from which this film was spawned is tightly focussed on gags, by means of a combination of most un-Disneyesque 'gross' humour - as when Mylie stridently discusses zits and hairy armpits - with a safe, cosy family ethos (and what could be cosier than having your real father play your father?) in a fictive world of blatant fantasy in which wearing or not wearing a blonde wig is a perfectly effective way of stopping anyone from realising that you're a rock star.
How to translate this to the big screen? It shows all the signs of having been created by a committee, and given that, it isn't a bad stab at a plot, though not startlingly original. The committee may have made an error of judgement in trying to inject some real feelings, some anxiety, some grief even, into the story, because it disconcerted its teen and pre-teen fan-base, who were expecting the gag-every-fifteen-seconds that they get from the tv show.
I have to say that after her extraordinary performance on the Jonathan Ross show the other week (she delivered with the greatest charm the most devastating put-down I suspect he's ever been given, watch it on You-Tube) I am quite impressed with Mylie Cyrus - she is clearly a very intelligent and talented girl, always a pleasure to watch, a promising comedian, a pretty good singer, and not altogether dreadful at acting. She deserves a better vehicle - this was ultimately a mangled piece of work. The new realistic notes of emotional depth are ill-matched with the implausible device of the blonde wig, which they are stuck with, and it doesn't quite come off. But your twelve year old will probably love it - mine did.
How to translate this to the big screen? It shows all the signs of having been created by a committee, and given that, it isn't a bad stab at a plot, though not startlingly original. The committee may have made an error of judgement in trying to inject some real feelings, some anxiety, some grief even, into the story, because it disconcerted its teen and pre-teen fan-base, who were expecting the gag-every-fifteen-seconds that they get from the tv show.
I have to say that after her extraordinary performance on the Jonathan Ross show the other week (she delivered with the greatest charm the most devastating put-down I suspect he's ever been given, watch it on You-Tube) I am quite impressed with Mylie Cyrus - she is clearly a very intelligent and talented girl, always a pleasure to watch, a promising comedian, a pretty good singer, and not altogether dreadful at acting. She deserves a better vehicle - this was ultimately a mangled piece of work. The new realistic notes of emotional depth are ill-matched with the implausible device of the blonde wig, which they are stuck with, and it doesn't quite come off. But your twelve year old will probably love it - mine did.