Stuck in the Suburbs
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| Stuck in the Suburbs | |
|---|---|
 Stuck in the Suburbs promotional advertisement |
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| Directed by | Savage Steve Holland |
| Produced by | Richard D. Arredondo Richard Fischoff |
| Written by | Wendy Engelberg Amy Engelberg Daniel Berendsen |
| Starring | Danielle Panabaker Brenda Song Taran Killam |
| Music by | Jeff Vincent |
| Distributed by | Disney Channel Original Movie |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 2004 |
| Running time | 82 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Stuck in the Suburbs is a Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) released on July 16, 2004, starring Danielle Panabaker as Brittany Aarons and Brenda Song as Natasha Kwon-Schwartz. Brittany, a regular high school student in the suburbs, accidentally exchanges cell phones with pop singer Jordan Cahill. This was one of the first made-for-tv movies by Disney which was also accompanied by its own soundtrack.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Brittany Aarons (Danielle Panabaker) is one of many 14-year-old girls who has the hots for popular singer and boy-toy Jordan Cahill (Taran Killam). However, she is bored of living a suburban existence and seeks a little something more. She meets the new girl Natasha Kwan-Schwartz (Brenda Song), who looks like an Upper East-sider from the City, except she's not. Upon Natasha's arrival, Brittany slowly starts to make a move towards breaking out of her conformist routines, but not before becoming an extra in Jordan's latest music video, and inviting Natasha to join her and her fangirl friends. When Jordan and his team bumps into Brittany and Natasha after a show, they all collect their stuff, and get each other's cell phones. Once Brittany gets a hold of Jordan's much more sophisticated phone, Natasha convinces Brittany that it'd be fun to mess with his career. They prank call his hair stylist, get her to cut off all his hair, and serve him with raisins, a food in which he is allergic to. Along the way they find that Jordan's life is not the life he chooses, but rather the one his record company wants for him. They won't even allow him to use the original lyrics he wants for his own songs. At first he's terrified that his personal barber gave him a major haircut, but eventually accepts it as the first step towards a break from his manufactured image.
[edit] Cast
- Danielle Panabaker - Brittany Aarons
- Brenda Song - Natasha Kwon-Schwartz
- Taran Killam - Jordan Cahill
- CiCi Hedgpeth - Ashley Simon
- Jennie Garland - Olivia Hooper
- Ryan Belleville - Eddie
- Todd Stashwick - Len
- Kirsten Nelson - Susan Aarons
- Corri English - Jessie Aarons
- Patrick Stogner - Cooper Aarons
- Lara Grice - Soccer Mom (Olivia's Mom)
- Ric Reitz - David Aarons
[edit] Symbolism
[edit] Cell phones
Cell phones demonstrate how technology and widespread mass communication can change a person's life.
[edit] Jordan's Hair
Jordan's hair changes throughout the movie. His long hair represents the moneymaker that attracts his female fans. When he has long hair, he is seemingly happy, because he is making money and lots of people love him, even though he is under several burdens and contracts with his record company. The haircut changes this, however. Short hair represents his inner self, the old Jordan before fame happened, and allows him to remember his roots.
[edit] Suburbs
Suburbs represent the living space of the average middle class American family. Since the Disney film's target audience are children and teenagers living with their parents, this is very relevant. In this case, since every child is raised with this same lifestyle, everyone is living in conformity. Suburbs represent the sameness that we are not responsible for, and have no control over.
[edit] The Old House
Situated in a neighborhood of brand-new houses, the old house in this movie is the only thing that remains constant. Throughout the movie, the characters protest to save the house from destruction. At first Brittany doesn't believe in it, but in the end she supports it. This house represents the sameness that we do have control over, and that it is possible to change for the better yet be constant at the same time.
[edit] Soundtrack
- "A Whatever Life" — Haylie Duff
- "Good Life" — Jesse McCartney
- "Stuck" — Stacie Orrico
- "Over It" — Anneliese van der Pol
- "Stuck in the Middle With You" — Stealer's Wheel
- "Take Me Back Home" — Greg Raposo
- "More Than Me" (Acoustic) — Jordan Cahill
- "On Top Of The World" — Jordan Cahill
- "Make A Wish" — Jordan Cahill
- "More Than Me" (Pop Version) — Jordan Cahill
[edit] Trivia
- When Brittany's brother asks what Jordan's birthday is to break the password to his cellphone, Brittany tells him it is 4/1/82. This is Taran Killam's actual birthday.
- The film was mostly shot on several locations in the Greater New Orleans Area. The school scenes were filmed in the atrium and the front steps of Ben Franklin High School in Lakeview. Lockers were temporarily moved into the atrium to give the appearance of a hallway, and door frames were painted with temporary red paint. Note that no classrooms appear in the film. The music video for "Make A Wish" was filmed in City Park in New Orleans. The other video is filmed at the Piaza d'Italia in Downtown New Orleans. The "Old House" from the film is actually the Otis House from Fairview-Riverside State Park in Madisonville on the Northshore. The house was aged for production, but restored to its actual appearance at the end of the film. The Otis House was originally built in the 1880s, and it actually is located near the expanding surburb of Mandeville.
- That's So Raven co-star Anneliese van der Pol sings a song and has a video for this movie.
- Quite a few items in Brittany's bedroom, such as her bed and the pillows/sheets, are from Pottery Barn Teen. The same goes for Natasha's room (bedspread, lamp, side table).
- Jesse McCartney sings "Good Life" for the movie. He's also in Summerland with Danielle Panabaker's younger sister, Kay Panabaker (and for a time dated Danielle, who guest starred on several occasions).
- In the movie Brittany's phone was a Nokia 3595 with a pink cover, and Jordan's phone was a Palm Treo 600.
- In the scene when the girls are running from the Record Company People, you can see Brenda Song is wearing a blue thong.
- At the end of the 'Make a Wish' video, the girls run and topple the sofa over then fall back onto the back rest of the sofa - this is the same thing that happens in 'Singin' in the Rain' at the end of the 'Good Morning' song and dance number.
[edit] Revealing Mistakes
- There's a quick shot of Jordan's producer using his cell phone and headset, and you can see there's a crack in the screen of his cell phone.
- In the scene where Jordan Cahill sings on the porch of the old house, he is holding the guitar but he is not actually playing it (He's not really fingering on the fingerboard).
- When Brittany's mom takes away her bowl of ice cream and hands it to her father, the whipped cream tilts sideways revealing the cardboard it's resting on.
- When Brittany's brother hacks Jordan's cell phone, the cell phone is off.
- When the girls dance during the premier of Jordan's music video at the beginning of the movie, they fall over the couch and sit on the overturned couch for a couple of seconds. While they sit there you can see the bottom of their soccer spikes. Supposedly the girls just came from soccer practice, yet their spikes have no grass stains, no mud between the spikes, and look like they are brand new.
- When the crowd is waiting outside the old house and they announce that Jordan won't be there, one of Brittany's friends says "I knew Jordan didn't know Brittany Cahill". Jordan's last name was Cahill, not Brittany's.
[edit] External links
- Stuck in the Suburbs on Disney website
- Soundtrack by Walt Disney Records
- Stuck in the Suburbs IMdB profile.
- Stuck in the Suburbs tv.com profile
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