StarStruck (2010)

Directed by: Michael Grossman | 81 minutes | family, musical | Actors: Sterling Knight, Danielle Campbell, Maggie Castle, Brandon Smith, Chelsea Staub, Matt Winston, Toni Trucks, Abbie Cobb, Beth Littleford, Dan O’Connor, Alice Hirson, Lauren Bowles, Ron Pearson, Hugh Dane, Sunkrish Bala, Harry Perry, Brittani Osborne

Without glossing over them, it’s a safe assumption that most teenage girls swoon over some celebrity. Whether it’s a young popular actor, a winner of a major nationwide star hunt, such as American Idols, or an athlete, many girls’ rooms are covered with posters and their school diaries are overflowing with the cut-and-pasted photos of their idol. The Disney Channel Original Movie ‘StarStruck’ capitalizes on this phenomenon, which is centuries old and will continue until humanity ceases to exist…

However, the main character is not your average teenager who goes completely nuts at the sight of the boy of her dreams. Jessica Olsen (Danielle Campbell) has her feet on the ground. She is wildly annoyed by her slightly older sister who is totally obsessed with the popular young pop singer Christopher Wilde (Sterling Knight, ’17 Again’, “Sonny with a Chance”). Sara Olsen (Maggie Castle, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”) is the founder of the fan club, and when the whole family heads to Los Angeles to visit Grandma, she’s convinced she’s going to meet the pop sensation. However, fate decrees otherwise. Christopher’s friend Alexis (Chelsea Staub) is having a big party at some club. With the paparazzi lurking, Christopher takes the back door. Sara has also managed to work her way inside, while Jessica is waiting for her in the car. When it takes her too long, she goes around the block. In the alley behind the club, Jessica bumps into the door that Christopher has just thrown open. He insists on taking the girl to the hospital and then home. But of course a popular artist like him has quite a few obligations, so the drive home will be one with many stops. However, Jessica takes every opportunity to say that she absolutely does not like Christopher, but already during this evening you notice that her resistance is slowly crumbling. You can actually predict the rest of the story.

It is very unfortunate that the makers of this film chose Danielle Campbell for the lead role. The child is clearly not ready to wear a film yet. Rarely seen an actress act so emotionless. However, the target group will not pay attention to that and will only sympathize with her. What the film does well is working out the theme “Being famous also has its drawbacks”. Young viewers will sometimes think twice before dreaming about a career in the spotlight and if that is a message that you as a parent want to give your child, this is quite a nice family film to watch. It is easy to overlook certain matters, such as the disappearance of Grandma’s car, but that is because the emphasis is on the development of the relationship between Jessica and Christopher.

‘StarStruck’ has – except for the sister who is teetering on the border of ‘trafficking’ and Christopher’s abusive parents – believable and sympathetic characters and the pace is good. Christopher Wilde’s songs also get plenty of playing time and fall into the ‘easy to hear, so forgotten’ category. A number of pluses and a number of minuses for this thirteen-in-a-dozen film.