Film Review: Hannah/Miley goes country
Shrieks alive! Superstar's alter ego learns tough love
Like Moses in the Book of Exodus or Robert A. Heinlein's Valentine Michael Smith, I have been a stranger in a strange land: I have had my ancient ears assaulted by what can be described, without exaggeration, as the shrieks of an auditorium packed with preteen girls during a preview screening of "Hannah Montana: The Movie," an event that gave me my first extended exposure to the phenomenon of high-energy Disney Channel sitcom star Miley Cyrus and her pop-singing alter ego, Hannah Montana.
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In her tween heartthrob persona as Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus wows the shrieking crowd.
Rated G
Length: 102 minutes
Released: April 10, 2009 NationwideScore: 3.0
Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Mitchel Musso
Director: Peter ChelsomProducer: Alfred Gough
Writer: Daniel Berendsen
Genre: Comedy, Family
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
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Shot in Middle Tennessee, this sure-to-be-a-hit expansion of the TV show's "Best of Both Worlds" teen girl-fantasy premise should do wonders for the Volunteer State's film industry, if not for its reputation for worldliness. Says Miley's real-life and onscreen daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus, after a waiter places a lobster in front of him: "That's a heck of a crawdad, isn't it?"
Another memorable line occurs at a barn-dance fundraiser, where the teen superstar and guest backing band Rascal Flatts introduce "The Hoedown Throwdown," a new would-be dance craze. "If you guys don't mind, I'm gonna add a little hip-hop to this hoedown," announces Miley, contributing a quote to the culture that ought to be sampled, pronto, by Negativeland if not Three 6 Mafia.
Drawing from the traditions of Cinderella (the scullery maid who is really a princess) and Superman (the superbeing who pretends to be a "normal" man), the push-and-pull tension of the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana dichotomy is ingenious: It provides a framework for stories that enable training-bra initiates to fantasize about being a world-famous celebrity ("Everybody can rock out like a superstar," sings Hannah) while also reinforcing the reassuring idea that there's no place like home, even if home -- as in the new movie -- is in rural Tennessee, where Hannah transfers from a private jet to a rusty Ford pickup loaded with hay and a hound dog.
Miley is whisked from Hollywood to the backwoods by her creepy-looking, soul-patched daddy after Hannah hits the tabloids when she gets in a shoe-store catfight with guest star Tyra Banks over a kicky pair of high heels. A time-out for "Hannah detox" is a sound idea: By this point in the film, Hannah already has been called "a star, an icon" and "the most popular teenager in the world." Compliments the director of a music video: "Hannah, as always -- fabulous."
Despite the presence of an age-appropriate cute cowpoke named Travis (Lucas Till -- Johnny Cash's de-armed brother in "Walk the Line"), Miley initially resents life on the farm with lovable Grandma Ruby (Margo Martindale). In fact, Miley's become so alienated from country living she doesn't even recognize her old horse, Bluejeans, and she has no objections to an Evil Developer's scheme to smother her hometown's wide open spaces beneath a shopping mall.
But, of course, Miley eventually regains her love for hen houses, squash patches and Minnie Pearl collector's plates. This leads to a public wig-doffing with the potential to forever alter the ongoing "Hannah Montana" storyline that apparently has generated much consternation in online chatrooms.
SPOILERS AHEAD: The history of cinema is filled with shocking transformations in which a character's alternate identity is revealed to surprised witnesses: Jekyll's reversion to Hyde in any number of horror movies; Jack Lemmon's switch from "Daphne" to Jerry in front of suitor Joe E. Brown in "Some Like It Hot"; even undercover teen "boy" Joyce Hyser baring her breasts in "Just One of the Guys."
In "Hannah Montana: The Movie," Hannah outs herself as Miley onstage, in a heartfelt renunciation of the lies and deceit required by her double life. But when the young fans in the crowd look flummoxed, Hannah's publicist, played by Vanessa Williams (and who's more concerned with the greater good than a publicist?) objects. "You're not gonna destroy their dreams, are you?" she asks her employer. "Because that's what Hannah's all about."
Renunciation? To quote Gilda Radner as Emily Litella: Never mind.
The mixed message of this let's-not-butcher-the-cash- cow finale aside, director Peter Chelsom and writer Daniel Berendson do a nice job of making the characters earn the inspirational lessons we know are coming. ("Life's a climb/ But the view's great," Miley/Hannah sings, in one of the film's many production numbers.) "Hannah Montana: The Movie" is nothing to shriek about, but it earned my respect.
-- John Beifuss: 529-2394
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