Raise Your Voice succeeds on a surprisingly tolerable and almost recommendable level, given the manufactured and star vehicle vibes it allows to seep through. The film ostensibly appears to be nothing more than an advertisement to young teen girls about how cool it is to be young, blonde, on your own, and possessing a singing voice any girl would envy. On the surface, I was almost ready to declare Raise Your Voice a film Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen should've starred in.
Yet, upon sitting through it, it dawned on me how much of a screen-presence and a good-natured soul Duff is. This is only my second outing with her, after the mediocre girl-power film The Lizzie McGuire Movie proved to be nothing but a forgettable retread of tired teen drama, and while she lacks the career-diversity of some other stars her age, she doesn't feel programmed and micromanaged to hell by executives like the Olsen twins. With Raise Your Voice, Duff has to at least try and be believable and convey emotion, playing Terri Fletcher, a teenager with aspirations of being a singer-songwriter for a living. These plans are wholly disapproved by her overprotective father Simon (David Keith), who takes after his father's work as a restaurant manager.
While her mother Frances (Rita Wilson) understands her dream, Terri is heavily supported by her elder brother Paul (Jason Ritter). After a family barbecue, Simon grounds Paul, who, in turn, sneaks out with Terri late at night to attend a Three Days Grace concert. On the way home, Paul and Terri get into a car accident that leaves him dead and her badly injured. After this, knowing that she's responsible in part for Paul death, loses all interest in singing and shuns off a music program offering a $10,000 college scholarship that she was previously very passionate about.
Frances understands that Paul supported Terri and her musical aspirations and would've wanted her to attend the program in order to have a shot at receiving a hefty scholarship and a networking opportunity for her voice. With opposition coming in the form of Paul, Frances tells him that their daughter plans to live at their aunt Nina's (Rebecca De Mornay) beach-house in Palm Desert over the summer. So now Terri is off to attend this music program to network, perfect her skills, make friends, and raise her voice.
Duff's Terri is forced to show a great deal of unbridled emotion in this film, moreso than I would've expected for a film that appeared to be a cut-and-paste assortment of teen dramas gone past. In addition, don't mistake Terri's emotions for typical sorrow and woe; numerous scenes show the grieving process and how Terri attempts to muster herself up to sing and carry on her potential carry but is simply brought down by the amount of turmoil and tragedy that plagues her emotions.
Despite Duff's capable work here, it's too bad the film at hand has only subpar expectations for her. She is still forced to recite obvious dialog, follow an obvious path of circumstances, to an obvious ending of obviousness. The good news is at least writer Sam Schreiber recognizes pitfalls and certain brutal honesties character must overcome, such as a family death, parental disapproval of a decision, and the struggle to fit in at somewhere you thought you belonged but feel alienated in.
Raise Your Voice was released in 2004 to middling box office returns, when Duff's mainstream movie career was nearing a close and she'd be shifted to blurbs in tabloids and teen magazines rather than being front-page news. It marks a higher point in her career when she seemed to be desperately trying to release an inner-voice of her own, despite evident pressures from studios to keep her young, smiley, and untouchable. The film should be recalled as that, but also one that shows that while Duff may've tried to mature, that doesn't mean the same for her film's story lines.
Starring: Hilary Duff, Oliver James, Jason Ritter, Dana Davis, Kat Dennings, Rita Wilson, David Keith, Rebecca De Mornay, and John Corbett. Directed by: Sean McNamara.
Yet, upon sitting through it, it dawned on me how much of a screen-presence and a good-natured soul Duff is. This is only my second outing with her, after the mediocre girl-power film The Lizzie McGuire Movie proved to be nothing but a forgettable retread of tired teen drama, and while she lacks the career-diversity of some other stars her age, she doesn't feel programmed and micromanaged to hell by executives like the Olsen twins. With Raise Your Voice, Duff has to at least try and be believable and convey emotion, playing Terri Fletcher, a teenager with aspirations of being a singer-songwriter for a living. These plans are wholly disapproved by her overprotective father Simon (David Keith), who takes after his father's work as a restaurant manager.
While her mother Frances (Rita Wilson) understands her dream, Terri is heavily supported by her elder brother Paul (Jason Ritter). After a family barbecue, Simon grounds Paul, who, in turn, sneaks out with Terri late at night to attend a Three Days Grace concert. On the way home, Paul and Terri get into a car accident that leaves him dead and her badly injured. After this, knowing that she's responsible in part for Paul death, loses all interest in singing and shuns off a music program offering a $10,000 college scholarship that she was previously very passionate about.
Frances understands that Paul supported Terri and her musical aspirations and would've wanted her to attend the program in order to have a shot at receiving a hefty scholarship and a networking opportunity for her voice. With opposition coming in the form of Paul, Frances tells him that their daughter plans to live at their aunt Nina's (Rebecca De Mornay) beach-house in Palm Desert over the summer. So now Terri is off to attend this music program to network, perfect her skills, make friends, and raise her voice.
Duff's Terri is forced to show a great deal of unbridled emotion in this film, moreso than I would've expected for a film that appeared to be a cut-and-paste assortment of teen dramas gone past. In addition, don't mistake Terri's emotions for typical sorrow and woe; numerous scenes show the grieving process and how Terri attempts to muster herself up to sing and carry on her potential carry but is simply brought down by the amount of turmoil and tragedy that plagues her emotions.
Despite Duff's capable work here, it's too bad the film at hand has only subpar expectations for her. She is still forced to recite obvious dialog, follow an obvious path of circumstances, to an obvious ending of obviousness. The good news is at least writer Sam Schreiber recognizes pitfalls and certain brutal honesties character must overcome, such as a family death, parental disapproval of a decision, and the struggle to fit in at somewhere you thought you belonged but feel alienated in.
Raise Your Voice was released in 2004 to middling box office returns, when Duff's mainstream movie career was nearing a close and she'd be shifted to blurbs in tabloids and teen magazines rather than being front-page news. It marks a higher point in her career when she seemed to be desperately trying to release an inner-voice of her own, despite evident pressures from studios to keep her young, smiley, and untouchable. The film should be recalled as that, but also one that shows that while Duff may've tried to mature, that doesn't mean the same for her film's story lines.
Starring: Hilary Duff, Oliver James, Jason Ritter, Dana Davis, Kat Dennings, Rita Wilson, David Keith, Rebecca De Mornay, and John Corbett. Directed by: Sean McNamara.