Raise Your Voice

Herald rating: * *

F. A. M. E the album was the first I owned, so, as a fan I was always going to be tough on this F. A. M. E-inspired drama starring tween queen Hilary Duff as wannabe singer-songwriter Terri Fletcher.

After the nice, conservative, church-going Fletcher family suffer a tragedy, Terri is accepted into one of the country's best music schools in LA. Her father is adamant she remain at home, but her mother and aunt, aware of how desperately unhappy she is, concoct a plan to sneak her into the school.

Once there she meets a lot of young adults with issues, quirks and talent who share a love of music, and like to jam out the front of the school building. And no, it's got nothing on F. A. M. E.

Love, individual growth, and peace of mind come out of this experience for Terri, but not before there have been moments of humiliation, intense competition, tantrums and a lot of tears. Cue song about moving on with your life, performed in an uplifting manner by Miss Duff.

While the film is essentially a story about a young woman from a small town pursuing her dream and finding herself, Raise Your Voice does attempt to deal, in a Disney kind of way, with more weighty issues such as death and grief. But it doesn't make a big impact.

This is due to the fact that Duff only smiles or frowns, and although this is adequate to play cutesy Terri (as opposed to emotionally devastated Terri), you do wonder what she will do when she can no longer play a 17-year-old. Let's just hope she doesn't pursue that music career.

CAST: Hilary Duff, Rebecca De Mornay, John Corbett, Oliver James
DIRECTOR: Sean McNamara
RUNNING TIME: 106 mins
RATING: PG (adult themes)
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts and Berkeley Cinemas