Hannah Montana: The Movie Should Win Over Target Audience Despite Improbable Plot

It's been years since my family got the Disney Channel, so I was a bit late to discover Hannah Montana. I first heard of her a couple years ago when her calendars started flying off the shelves at the kiosk where I was working. I soon realized that she was the Next Big Thing among tweens, but my own experience with her has remained limited to television guest appearances. This week, I finally got a whopping dose of Hannah when I went to her movie in the company of a very ardent fan. Now at least I have a better idea of what all the hype is about.

Hannah Montana: The Movie is a G-rated adventure with a storyline that Disney and other family-friendly filmmakers have used time and again. Unassuming kid hits the big time and lets it go to her head; by the end of the movie, she's developed a renewed appreciation for her roots. It's nothing new, but it's a logical angle to take for a film about a superstar trying to live a normal life. As the film begins, we find Robby Ray Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) concerned that his daughter Miley (Miley Cyrus) is getting too caught up in her Hannah Montana act. She's starting to act like a diva: ignoring commitments to family and friends, fighting with supermodels over shoes and just generally being rather obnoxious. It's time for an intervention. Can a couple of weeks as plain old Miley in her grandmother's (Margo Martindale) farmhouse in her tiny hometown of Crowley Corners, TN, cure her of her egotism?

The impression I got from what I've heard about the show is that Miley is a pretty grounded young woman; it seems her poor behavior is a recent development. And it's problematic enough to convince her dad to out-fox her conniving agent Vita (Vanessa Williams) and force his daughter to blow off a major awards ceremony in favor of Grandma's birthday party. That doesn't strike me as very responsible, despite his good intentions; it's one of many plot devices that fall just a tad flat. Other eyebrow-raising moments in the first few minutes include a confusing transition from a concert to a video shoot and a bit about Miley's brother Jackson (Jason Earles) heading off to college, though nothing in the rest of the movie seems to indicate that he's doing anything other than working at a small-town zoo.

Jackson's animal antics amused me, particularly because an ostrich is involved at one point, but the character serves little purpose in the film other than to take pratfalls, which include crashing to the ground from the top of a ladder, nearly being bitten by an alligator and trying to shake off a ferret that has wound up entangled in his clothing. Pa Stewart is pretty clumsy too, especially in one wince-worthy scene toward the beginning, but his character has considerably more depth. Much of the film is about his attempts to reconnect with his daughter while navigating a possible new romance with alluring local Lorelai (Melora Hardin). Meanwhile, Miley, who also seems to have inherited the family klutz gene, rekindles a friendship with her childhood buddy Travis (Lucas Till, who doesn't sing or dance but still may find himself the next Zac Efron-like teen dream), now a handsome ranch hand. Travis's aw-shucks manner and dimply grin endeared him to me quickly, making the teen romance angle the most interesting element of the story for me, though I also appreciated the emphasis on the importance of family.

There is, of course, a lot of singing in the movie, most of it done by Miley. Her performances are mostly fun and bubblegumish, occasionally reflective. Her countrified, motion-heavy Hoedown Throwdown, which she appears to have made up off the top of her head, seems destined to be this summer's Macarena. Also popping up in the film are the members of Rascal Flatts doing a down-home, folksy rendition of their hit God Blessed the Broken Road and Taylor Swift with a song that affords Miley and Travis the opportunity for their first slow dance. I found the flashiness of some of the concert scenes annoying - and the instant costume changes inexplicable - but Cyrus's voice is pleasant enough - when she's singing, anyway. While her speaking voice didn't make much of an impression on me, my mom found it grating. I couldn't tell if there was a huge difference between Hannah and Miley's speaking voices; I thought she seemed to have more of a twang as Miley, but I'm not sure that was consistent. As with Superman, I certainly question how nobody realizes that Miley and Hannah are the same person. The main difference between them seems to be that Hannah has a blonde wig and excessive makeup.

In the tradition of many corny live-action Disney flicks, Hannah Montana: The Movie features several bumbling villains. One, a developer named Mr. Bradley (Barry Bostwick) who wants to turn Crowley Corners' bucolic meadows into a megamall, is essentially a retread of Alonzo Hawk from the Herbie movies. British tabloid reporter Oswald Granger (Peter Gunn) is rather like 101 Dalmatians' hapless Horace and Jasper; he even works for a foul woman reminiscent of Cruella De Vil. Needless to say, their threat level is minimal, though Mr. Bradley introduces some conflict when Miley is compelled to bring Hannah Montana to Tennessee for a benefit concert. Though her best friend Lilly (Emily Osment) is on hand to help her be two people at once, complications naturally arise. Their eventual resolution stretches believability beyond reasonable limits, but at least the requisite happy ending is achieved.

I enjoyed this movie well enough, and I imagine that most fans of the show will eat it right up like my friend did. In a movie landscape in which G ratings are increasingly rare, I appreciate how inoffensive the film is. It promotes wholesome values, and the romance between Travis and Miley is sweet and reminds me of the puppy love storyline in Princess Diaries, which I thought was terrific. Yes, just about every aspect of this movie reminds me of another film, usually a better one; Hannah Montana: The Movie is derivative to the max, and screenwriter Daniel Berendsen doesn't seem to give viewers much credit for being able to pick up on plot absurdities and inconsistencies. This movie won't be taking home any Oscars next year. But I bet it'll clean up at the Teen Choice Awards, which should be enough to satisfy the famous songstress and her admirers.

The Office's Shortened Fourth Season Doesn't Fall Short

My brother was home from college for spring break a couple of weeks ago, which gave us the chance to watch the last of the four seasons of the NBC muckumentary sit-com The Office, which he got on DVD for Christmas. While it was considerably longer than the teensy first season, thanks to the strike, the fourth season spanned a mere 14 episodes, making it pretty easy to get through in a week.

The Office spent three seasons getting salesman Jim (John Krasinski) and receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer) together. After all that romantic tension, the season four premiere finds them a couple. Thus, season four marks a fundamental change in the show, much like season eight of Frasier, in which Niles and Daphne finally get together. While Frasier's lovebirds still must clear several hurdles at that point, over the course of the season, nothing really comes along to threaten Jim and Pam's relationship. For them, it's a season of bliss.

Not so much for their office mates, however. Toby (Paul Lieberstein), the human resources representative so reviled by off-his-rocker boss Michael (Steve Carell), always got along well with Jim before, but now he bitterly views him as a romantic rival. Jan (Melora Hardin), Michael's former boss, moves in with him, but their relationship continues to deteriorate as she displays increasingly erratic behavior. Eccentric farm boy Dwight (Rainn Wilson) repulses Angela (Angela Kinsey) when he mercy-kills her cat instead of administering her complex treatments; dorky Andy (Ed Helms) wins her over with a dramatic romantic gesture, but she finds she can't stop thinking about Dwight.

Kelly (Mindy Kaling) is miserable because her boyfriend Ryan (B. J. Novak) dumped her and ran off to be a corporate bigwig. While he loves being able to lord his power over his old officemates, Ryan soon discovers that life in the fast lane has its downsides. Grumpy Stanley (Leslie David Baker) flirts with the idea of transferring to Utica and befuddles Michael with an aggressive show of insubordination. Meredith (Kate Flannery) starts off the season in traction when Michael accidentally runs her down with his car, and lethargic Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) finishes the season flattered by the considerate attention of Holly (Amy Ryan), a new addition to the office, not realizing that she thinks he is mentally challenged.

Although the season is abbreviated, there is still plenty of fun packed into it. Highlights include a fierce salesmanship battle between Dwight and Dunder Mifflin Infinity, the company's just-set-up website; the employees' creative efforts to put together a more interesting television commercial than the one proposed by corporate; Michael's attempt to prove that he can survive in the wild; Ryan's hyperactive antics when Michael and Dwight visit him in New York; Kevin and Andy confronting the other office park bosses about one company's encroachment into Dunder Mifflin's parking lot; and Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) finally getting her big break as head of the party planning committee, leading to the most spectacular going away party the branch has ever seen. Of course, some of the funniest moments still stem from the characters' straight-into-the-camera confessionals.

Obviously, the writers' strike affected the course of this season, but I'm not sure to what extent. The only plot development that feels really rushed is Andy's courtship of Angela, and that seems to be largely a reflection of his overbearing personality. Ironically enough, the season's biggest weakness is probably the unfettered happiness of Jim and Pam; though it's what most viewers were rooting for and it's wonderful to see them so content, that tension drove a lot of the show's comedic conflict. Still, season four is a solidly entertaining chapter in Dunder Mifflin's ongoing saga of silliness.