Touches You

Simply Perfect

Awesome Movie

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Hilary Duff is so great in this film and she really gives her all in this performance. I love the heart in this movie and the hope in this movie and that it shows through time, healing, and music that things will get better. The talent and music in this movie is so great as well and it is such an entertaining and fun and energetic movie. I will always love this movie and it will always be a great movie to me.

Raise Your Voice (2004): Dir: Sean McNamara / Cast: Hilary Duff, John Corbett, Rita Wilson, David Keith, Rebecca De Mornay: Bland teen drama about higher standards and setting goals. Obviously the filmmakers didn't have that in mind when making this crap. Hillary Duff plays Terri Fletcher who dreams of attending a performing arts school but her father forbids it. When she and her brother sneak out to a concert they are struck by a drunk driver on the way home and her brother is killed. Terri blames herself and quits singing but her mother and aunt devise a plan where she supposedly stays at her aunt's place while really attending the school. Predictable outcome where the strict father walks in on her concert at the right moment and realizes he was wrong. Formula drab with a minimal performance by Duff who goes by the motions here. Directed by Sean McNamara who provides insight into music academies but characters are stereotypes. Rita Wilson plays the encouraging mother. David Keith is horrible as the strict father who will see the light. John Corbett plays a music professor who will see potential. What potential he saw in this film, I'll never figure out. Rebecca De Mornay as Duff's aunt is also a waste and makes one appreciate her sexy work in Risky Business. For a much better film on the subject see Fame, which brings stronger conviction to these themes. Score: 2 / 10

Yes, this is in fact another one of those movies that preteens, tweens and teens will see, and it will make them feel very bad about themselves because there is no way this will ever happen to them. And yet, they wish it would, so they'll pay money to see it again to pretend to themselves, for those 100+ minutes, that this is THEIR life, and THEY are a talented singer who is in LA on an adventure and must fend for themselves, whilst unwittingly attracting members of the opposite sex and making friends who are initially hostile or else do nothing but play with synthesizers and drums.Hilary Duff stars in this flick as the angelically pure, sugary-sweet Terri Fletcher, a girl who sings for the pure pleasure of it and has song-writing software on her computer. The characters in the movie seem to think her voice is amazing (her brother Paul describes it as "the best voice I've ever heard", which is stretching the truth beyond the breaking point), but in true Hilary Duff fashion, it's mere bubblegum pop princess. This isn't to say that Hilary Duff is all bad - her acting is quite decent in this movie. She is able to cry very well, but her sugary, bubbly personality somehow shines through even when she is crying. Maybe this has to do with her perfectly yellow hair that always frames her face, and her big green eyes that somehow always sparkle. I don't know.Anyway, Terri's best friend is her brother, Paul, who dies in a car accident after Terri sneaks him out to see a concert, even though he was grounded at the time. Naturally, she feels extremely guilty for this, and her hope of attending "the best summer music program on the West Coast" is shattered. This is a moot point, anyway, because her extremely overbearing father refuses to let her go. But somehow Terri's mother and aunt convince Terri to lie to her father and tell him she's spending 3 weeks in California with her aunt. When in reality, she'll be attending Bristol, making her dreams come true! Of course, she's besieged with difficulties along the way, as she immediately attracts the attention of Jay (Oliver James), whose ex-girlfriend, Robin (Lauren Dayhew), can't accept that she and Jay are over. Terri's roommate, Denise (Dana Davis), is initially hostile, until she reveals that she is only focused on the scholarship, since her family is poor, and she doesn't want to get too involved in any personal relationships. Cue the cheesy music. Oh wait! Hilary Duff will do that for you. Somehow, this bubblegum pop princess ends up in a classroom, singing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus in her light, airy, bubblegum pop princess voice. Being an actual music major, this is unacceptable. But that's not really relevant...Somehow, her choir teacher thinks she's very talented, and gives her a solo to sing. Of course, she's still very insecure and recovering from her brother's death, so she flakes out a few times. But don't worry, the not-too-trustworthy Jay is there to try to figure out the puzzle she represents to him, and they quickly start to fall in love, as it were. But wait! Robin is still determined to break them up! OH NO!!!!! Jay and Terri anticipate this, and begin to write a song together, releasing emotion and passion and bonding them together. Of course, somehow Robin manages to seduce Jay with one kiss, and of course Terri sees them kissing and assumes the worst. She has another meltdown, Jay gets drunk in his remorse, and she takes him to the roof of their building so that no teachers will find out. Is this really something we want to be impressing upon teens? I hardly think so.Anyway, so Terri's dad finds out that everyone has been lying to him, and naturally he is very angry and heads for LA to bring Terri home. He gets there just in time for the concert, and Terri manages to convince him to let her perform. She and Jay perform a pop song (of course!) about making dreams come true, and her dad realizes how talented she (within the movie's dimensions, anyway) really is, and how important music is to her. He forgives her for lying to him, becomes proud of her, and she and Jay and Denise (who wins the scholarship, of course, because she was poor, remember?) are all friends and everyone lives happily ever after.Ohhh, teen movies. Yes, Hilary Duff's voice is one-dimensional, and like her voice, she herself is sugary sweet and pure. Her acting manages to be decent, as is the acting of Oliver James, Dana Wilson, and John Corbett as the choir teacher. But don't go into this movie expecting anything much. It's mediocre at best, although it does showcase a few neat scenes where Denise plays her violin with an electric synthesizer to back her up. The plot, character developments and script are all completely cookie-cutter. See it if you want, absolutely. Just don't expect too much. Hilary Duff delivers a bubbly, sparkly performance, and that's about all the merit this film has. Oh well. It's just another teen movie, right?

Well, Raise Your Voice is about a small town girl with a huge dream. Though her father won't let her, Terri wants to go to a prestigious summer music school, and only the best singers and musicians can get in. Terri is later accepted. She goes behind her father's back, and pretends to be at her aunts house. Some find this plot stupid. It the lie that confuses things in the movie. The lie is supposed to make the movie. The lie is why Terri goes to the music school. It's also about a father/daughter relationship, and how rocky it can seem and how much a father can care. You just need to talk and he'll understand. Terri is supposed to find herself in this movie. She wants to get over her brothers death, but it keeps coming back to her. She has to accept the fact that the accident wasn't her fault and that others are there for her. Terri finds friends and then finds herself at the end of the movie. This is one awesome movie. In my opinion, one of the best.