Raise Your Voice Movie Review:


Raise Your Voice is a Fame wanna-be after school special that is the first dramatic vehicle for teen queen Hilary Duff. The film of course entails elements and objectives that all audiences have seen before, and is told without any substance or class.

Duff plays a high school choir girl named Terri Fletcher, who loves to sing through every facet of her day. Her older brother (Jason Ritter) inspires her to reach for her dreams, as both yearn to leave their small hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona for bigger and brighter things. Their parents (David Keith and Rita Wilson) are loving supporters of both, even though Dad believes that the best things of living in a small town are overlooked by youngsters. However after tragedy strikes, Terri is left lost and frustrated. She is accepted to a prestigious school for gifted musicians in Los Angeles for a three week summer course. Her father immediately says “no,” because big and bad things can happen to a young girl in Los Angeles. Terri’s mother feels otherwise and with the help of her artistic aunt (Rebecca De Mornay), the three scheme a way to get Terri to Los Angeles while keeping her father in limbo.

Shortly after arriving at the Bristol-Hillman Conservatory, the clichéd characters and situations are unveiled. One of Terri’s inspiring teachers is the hippish Mr. Torvald (John Corbett) and her roommate is a talented, but angry token (Dana Davis). There is also of course the cute British guy (Oliver James), who becomes Terri’s love interest and who once dated her moody arch-rival (Lauren C. Mayhew).

So not only having to win the guy, fit in, and bring out the nicer side of the school’s rudest kids, Terri also has to dodge the bullet with her nosy father as well as prove she belongs with all of these musically talented teens.

Director Sean McNamara and writer Sam Schreiber attempt to deliver a teen drama that tugs at the heart, but serve up nothing more than a very bland melodrama. The characters themselves are just embarrassingly hollow with the typical stock of artistic diversity in a school setting. On top of having dreadful dialogue and progression, the main focus of music and Terri’s relationship with her father is left in the dust until of course the musical finale. The British guy enters as a substitution for much of the duration, even though he looks a little too old to be at a high school conservatory. The direction and writing never rises above much of being mild, mostly just enough to maintain focus on the film’s star.

Duff herself is a better icon for young girls than the majority of other teen celebrities in the spotlight. Lindsay Lohan has a lot better range, but Duff attempts to prove her dramatic chops as Terri in this film. However, she is still not comfortable with being a dramatic presence. There are numerous scenes throughout this film where Duff is merely reciting lines and worrying more about her image than her character or performance. An example is a scene in the film when she about to be kissed. Instead of showing the nervousness or anticipation of the upcoming kiss, Duff quickly fixes her hair for the camera. These notions by the young actress are continuously distracting throughout the film. Perhaps if she lands a project with a strict director or an actor’s director, she will be helped in solidifying her focus. The camera loves her, but she has a long way to go before holding her own as an actress. John Corbett delivers the best work of the cast as Terri’s likeable teacher, but he is limited with his character. Rita Wilson delivers an emotional performance as Terri’s mother and David Keith is stern as her father. Rebecca De Mornay also arises as Terri’s loving and equally talented aunt. It seems that since De Mornay, who looks more like Duff than Wilson does, would have been cast as her mother and Wilson as the aunt, but this is just one additional discrepancy in this tarnished film.

Raise Your Voice may find an audience with young girls, but the majority of them will forget the film after a couple of weeks or when the next Hilary Duff movie opens. There is nothing original or fresh at all in Raise Your Voice and Hilary Duff continuously shows inexperience as an actress. Her character of Terri sings a lot and often, which may be a blessing for some, but for others it may be just a waste of time.

Grade:C-

Bailey Henderson

Anyone who’s lost someone close to them will probably be touched deeply by “Raise Your Voice.” It’s the story of a teenage girl dealing with feelings of sadness and guilt when the most important person in her life dies in a car accident. I very seldom cry while watching a movie, but this one had me on the verge of tears during several heartbreaking scenes. Who knew “tweeny” idol Hilary Duff could have such a profound effect on me?

On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised at Duff’s power. Tom Long, of the Detroit News, calls this rising young star “The Duffinator.” Our own ReelTalk critics have been kind to Duff in their reviews of her previous less-than-stellar films. “She’s a cutie pie,” said Adam Hakari (“A Cinderella Story”); Jeffrey Chen called her “bubbly” (“The Lizzie McGuire Movie”); and I praised the “flair of her own” she projected in “Cheaper by the Dozen.”

Clearly, Duff is here to stay. At age 17, she’s already a showbiz veteran. At age 6, according to the Internet Movie Data Base, she and her sister Haylie were touring with a ballet company. Then came television work and her amazing success in Disney’s “The Lizzie McGuire Show,” followed by the movies already mentioned. Her latest venture as a pop singer has added concerts, videos and albums to an impressive resumé.

While “Raise Your Voice” shows off Duff’s dramatic and comedic acting talent, the movie falls short where her singing is concerned. We only hear snippets of songs from Duff until the last scene – and even then the musical accompaniment drowns out her soft voice. The only hint of Duff’s potential comes when her character stands up in a classroom and sings briefly without any background music. It’s a lovely moment ending with passionate, soulful humming by Duff.

Duff portrays Terri Fletcher, a 16-year-old small-town girl who gets accepted into a top-flight summer music program in Los Angeles, primarily because of a DVD her bother (Jason Ritter) submitted as part of her application. Although her father (David Keith) disapproves, Terri finds a way to attend, thanks to her sympathetic mother (Rita Wilson) and understanding aunt (Rebecca De Mornay). While at the summer program, Terri meets a diverse group of budding musical geniuses (a la Fame) and falls for a talented boy from England (Oliver James). Because she’s so different from most of the students and still grieving the death of a loved one, it’s hard for Terri to fit in. Luckily, an unconventional teacher (John Corbett) helps boost her self-esteem.

Not a very complicated plot, I know. However, it’s played out with a great deal of heart. Of course, the camera loves Duff whether she’s smiling or crying – both of which she does plenty of here – but other cast members generate considerable appeal for their characters. Corbett‘s music teacher comes across as someone who could motivate students with just a kind look; Wilson endows the mother with an aura of grace under fire; and Ritter convinced me his character was the world’s best brother.

I also loved the bits of musical numbers interspersed among the film’s many emotional scenes – and wanted them to be played to completion. But, alas, that’s the new way movie musicals are done today, much to my chagrin. Naturally, I was pleased to see an entire number in the finale, which featured Duff and James belting out “Someone’s Watching Over Me.”

If you’ve read this far, you know I don’t consider “Raise Your Voice” to be the fluff I expected. Instead, it’s a substantive film about surviving tragedy, finding yourself and living your dream. Is it also corny at times? Definitely, but sometimes corn is good for you.

Betty Jo Tucker

 

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