I like high school movies where the main characters aren’t all that crazy about their high school. From my own, long forgotten experiences, it’s always seemed odd to me when you see the school’s geeks and outcasts give a crap about whether the team wins the big game or not. I’ve always said that High School the Musical has poisoned kids to the future reality when they realize that you can’t cross cliques as easily as Zac Efron. Like Saved by the Bell before it, it will crush the innocence of generation. As if Zack Morris would ever be caught dead in the presence of Screetch Powers even if it was just to boss him around. Notice closely on the recent Saved by the Bell “reunion” cover of People magazine and note who’s missing. That’s right, Screetch! Even in adulthood, a geek can’t get no love.

So right off the bat, Bandslam gets points for not positioning the music geek as being outsider cool. Poor Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) is probably the most put upon kid in his Cincinnati High School, like the Pöpli kids Lisa Simpson makes fun of. Will is an indie music buff but since the he refuses to associate with the only other one of his niche on campus on the grounds that he won’t befriend someone that obsessively flattens his dark, greasy long hair, he’s on his own. But in misery, there’s opportunity and Will’s Mom (Lisa Kudrow) has some surprise news: they’re moving to an all new town in New Jersey. Although he’s now an anonymous cog in the New Jersey public education machine, Will is happy. The film is narrated by Will’s e-mail letters to David Bowie, to which Ziggy Stardust never answers (although he does cameo).

Bandslam seems to me suffers from a case of wanting-to-do-too-much, uh, -itis. The title is derived from a high school, battle of the bands competition where the winner gets a $10,000 record contract, but to say that’s what Bandslam is about is only part of the story. Will finds himself manager of an upstart band he eventually christens I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. The band’s frontwoman is the alleged “Coolest Girl in the World” Charlotte Banks (Alyson Michalka), a pretty senior that befriends Will quite out of the blue. But Will’s true object of affection is the quiet Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgens), whom Will is partnered with for a social studies class where they’re assigned to research each other. And because there’s so much room left in the plot, there’s the matter surrounding Will’s absent dad, and the condition of Charlotte’s own father as well as her stalled relationship with Ben (Scott Porter), leader of a rival band.

Despite the appearance by Hudgeons, Bandslam is no idle HSM knock off, and truly is trying to be, and do, something different. There are shades of Say Anything, and maybe some Nick and Norah`s Infinite Playlist, but for the most part Bandslam is a fun conflux of different stories and characters, all coming together to make a coming-of-age movie that’s certainly better than average, and maybe a little smarter than your typical high school movie. I like the characters and their drive, and there’s something about Connell as the anti-high school leading man that manages to meld the overly geekish with the outsider cool factor discussed earlier. Other characters like bassist Bug (Charlie Saxton), who refuses to acknowledge that he wants to be like Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea and guitarist Omar (Tim Jo) who puts on a fake English accent add colour to the cast.

What really makes Bandslam better than average though, is that it allows its awkward teenage characters to be awkward teenagers. Will and Sa5m’s first kiss is perhaps one of the funniest ever put to film in all the coming-of-age movies ever done. The band members are surprisingly astute musicians as well, thanks to director Todd Graff’s insistence on using actors with some musical ability. It can be silly with Sa5m’s whole “the 5 is silent” routine, and the general over-the-top zaniness of Bandslam, but this movie is an example of the sum being greater than the parts. I certainly enjoyed the movie and laughed heartily throughout all the while thinking that this is the kind of high school musical I can get behind. It may not be perfect, but it’s a perfectly friendly little movie.