Lemonade Mouth (film)

Lemonade Mouth is a 2011 musical drama film based on the book of the same name by Mark Peter Hughes.The film was directed by Patricia Riggen and written by April Blair, and stars Bridgit Mendler, Adam Hicks, Hayley Kiyoko, Naomi Scott, and Blake Michael. The Disney Channel Original Movie tells the story of five high school students who meet in detention and form a band to stand up for their beliefs and to overcome their individual and collective struggles. It premiered on April 15, 2011 on the Disney Channel.[1] It has been met with mixed reviews, with some praising it for its many positive themes of honesty, integrity, and self-expression, and for its emphasis on the importance of the arts and of family and friendship.Other reviews have described it as a "typically innocuous Disney channel flick." The soundtrack was released on April 12, 2011.

Plot

Five Mesa High School freshmen:

Olivia White (Bridgit Mendler), Mohini "Mo" Banjaree (Naomi Scott), Charles "Charlie" Delgado (Blake Michael), Stella Yamada (Hayley Kiyoko), and Wendell "Wen" Gifford (Adam Hicks) all meet in detention. The detention administrator and music teacher Ms. Reznik (Tisha Campbell-Martin) rants over the school principal having moved all extracurricular activities to the basement of the school to make room for a new gymnasium. In detention, Ms. Reznik storms angrily out of the room to file a complaint with Principal Stanley Brenigan (Christopher McDonald). While cleaning the music room, the students start tapping out a beat. They begin to pick up instruments and Olivia begins to sing "Turn Up the Music." Ms. Reznik returns just as they finish. Expecting to get in trouble, they are all surprised when Ms. Reznik instead praises them for being a wonderful band. She attempts to persuade them to continue making music as a music group, but all except Wen refuse, and so he reluctantly refuses.

The next day, after being ignored at home, Stella sends a text to each person and they all meet at Dante's Pizza Parlor, where she informs the others that she signed them to perform at the high school's "Halloween Bash." After heavy debate, Charlie flips a coin, which results in forming the band; Olivia as lead vocalist, Stella as lead guitarist, Mo as bass guitarist, Wen as keyboardist, and Charlie as drummer. At a later rehearsal, the band attempts to come up with a band name, to no avail.

During lunch, Olivia gets cornered by Ray Beech (Chris Brochu), lead singer and superstar of rival band Mudslide Crush, Jules (Caitlin Ribbans), and Patty (Elise Eberle), Jules' best friend. Stella spits her lemonade on Ray. Principal Brenigan rides up on his Segway PT and Ray refers to Stella as "Lemonade Mouth." Olivia, narrating, states: "And that is how we got our band name."

Later, they approach the lemonade machine but are shocked to see the sign reading "Scheduled for Removal." They discover that the school is sponsored by another sports drink and the school must get rid of all competing drink machines. Later Mo sees her boyfriend, Scott Picket (Nick Roux), who also plays with Mudslide Crush, with another girl and is deeply hurt.

At the Halloween Bash, Lemonade Mouth performs a song titled "Determinate." The crowd, and even Principal Brenigan, love the song. As they finish the song, Stella makes a speech opposing Brenigan's decisions while Mo and Olivia pass back cans of Mel's Organic Lemonade. They begin performing a song titled "Here We Go," but Principal Brenigan shuts them down. The following Monday, the band are called to Brenigan's office. He compliments their talent as a band, but forbids them from playing at school again. The next day, the band sees posters and banners everywhere supporting Lemonade Mouth. The principal accuses Stella of hanging the posters, and she is unable to convince him that the banners were not the band's doing. Later the band members discover that "Determinate" is playing on the radio.

A little later, bad luck begins to befall the band when all but Stella come down with various afflictions: Mo gets sick, Charlie breaks his fingers, Wen is hit in the eye with a picture frame, and Olivia loses her voice. Stella calls everyone and summons them to the school, where she is protesting the removal of the lemonade machine in the rain. When they arrive, the men removing the lemonade machine try to move Stella out of the way when she won't move, and the band fights them. During the altercation, police arrive and the group is arrested. Since they are minors, they are put in a holding cell to wait for their parents. They begin to fight, but reconcile and agree to perform at Rising Star (an upcoming "battle of the bands" where the winner wins a record deal) even though they realize that they will not win the competition. When each member gets released from the jail, they meet with their families and reconcile. Stella's mother states that she is so proud of Stella for standing up for what she believes in. Mo's Dad agrees to let her be more free, even though she was still in trouble. Wen reconciles with Sydney, his Dad's girlfriend whom he had been opposed to. Charlie's brother surprises him and they agree to be honest with their parents about themselves.

At Rising Star, Mudslide Crush performs "Don't Ya Wish U Were Us." Lemonade Mouth takes the stage and tries to perform "Determinate," but no one except Stella can play due to their mishaps in the days before. Discouraged, they start to leave. Scott tries to go out and help, but Ray tells him he will be out of the band for good if he does. The audience then begins to sing Determinate together in support of the band. Scott, fed up with Ray, tells him he will find another band, goes out, and plays with Stella while the audience sings. Olivia, narrating, reveals that although they did not win the competition, they won "something bigger that night." Later, Mo and Scott get back together. Charlie accepts this and decides to aim his attention at a girl who has a crush on him, and Wen gives Olivia a new kitten after Nancy, her cat, dies. Wen also accepts his new stepmother as he realizes that while she's not his real mother, she cares about him.

At Wen's father's wedding, Stella tells the man next to her that Wen is her band mate, and the man next to Stella tells her that Wen's dad was his old college buddy. Then he says he used to be in a band but now he runs an organic lemonade company that has recently become extremely successful. Stella recognizes him as Mel, the name on the lemonade machine, and he donates a music hall for Ms. Reznik after they talk. At the end of the film, Olivia walks to a mailbox to mail the whole story to her father in prison. The film closes with Lemonade Mouth, with Scott as their new additional guitarist, performing "Breakthrough" at Madison Square Garden.

In the Extended Edition, Moxie Morris, host of The Music Scene, puts Mo and Scott's relationship on the spot in front of Mo's father. To protect Mo, Olivia comes out and says, unassuringly, that her and Wen are kind of dating, which he agrees too. After a statement made by Stella, Lemonade Mouth performs "High Wire" (the title of the song on the soundtrack CD is "Livin' on a High Wire").