Lemonade Mouth (review)

Five social misfits end up in detention one fateful day. As their frightening teacher is seized with a coughing fit and leaves the room for a frozen lemonade from the vending machine, the kids spontaneously perform a riff on an advertising jingle using improvised instruments from around the room. The teacher, formerly a professional musician, returns and recognizes their synchronicity for the miracle it is, and the band Lemonade Mouth is born. The band's alternative sound and cri de coeur lyrics take the school by storm, awakening subversive attitudes, especially when they protest the removal of their precious frozen lemonade machine due to a noncompetition clause specified by the corporation that is paying for the new scoreboard. This title offers a fresh if not wholly original take on the age-old jocks-versus-geeks, mighty-corporation-versus-little-guy dynamic; it stops just short of being an emo manifesto by giving the kids credibly difficult but not insurmountable backstories and keeping them from the darker behaviors associated with the emo subculture. These kids are all squeaky clean, and they're just trying to survive on the social margins of their school, with the ersatz family they form helping each to cope with relatively mild pressures at home. Each band member's story follows the arc of the band itself, moving from shy and misunderstood underdog to reasonably confident and successful young adults, with a few setbacks along the way. Narration alternates between the voices of the five as well as the voices of their fans; the result is a sense of thoroughness in the storytelling and a full understanding of the way a band formed in a school basement can become a phenomenon and how a few friends can make all the difference.