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(About Our Ads) "RAISE YOUR VOICE" (2004) (Hilary Duff, Oliver James) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Heavy Minor Heavy Mild None Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild None None Mild Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate None Extreme Heavy *Moderate QUICK TAKE: Drama: Following her older brother's accidental death, a teenager goes to a summer music school where she hopes to find inspiration to sing again. PLOT: Terri Fletcher (HILARY DUFF) is a 16-year-old high school student living in Flagstaff who dreams of being a singer one day. Her older brother Paul (JASON RITTER) thinks she's good enough to do just that. Accordingly, and unbeknownst to her, he sends a DVD showcasing her talents to the Bristol Hillman music school in Los Angeles where she hopes to attend a month-long summer workshop. Unfortunately, her stern father, Simon (DAVID KEITH), refuses to let her go, much to the chagrin of his wife, Francis (RITA WILSON), and sister Nina (REBECCA DE MORNAY). Things then get more strained in the family when Paul is killed in a car accident on the night of his graduation from high school. Riddled with guilt as she was the one who convinced him to sneak out of the house to attend a concert, Terri wants to give up singing, but when Bristol Hillman accepts her application, Francis insists that she go. With everyone lying to Simon about Terri spending the month with Nina in Palm Desert, the teen makes her way to the school. There, she meets Jay (OLIVER JAMES), a charming Brit who's tired of singer and ex-girlfriend Robin (LAUREN C. MAYHEW) hanging all over him. Terri's roommate, violinist Denise (DANA DAVIS), is cold and standoffish toward her, as is the sullen pianist, Sloane (KAT DENNINGS), who's unaware that the nerdy but eager Kiwi (JOHNNY LEWIS) is interested in her. Under the tutelage of Mr. Torvald (JOHN CORBETT) and others, Terri begins her classes, but the memories of Paul's death continue to haunt her. As the month progresses and she eventually befriends various students at the school while keeping up her lie to her dad, Terri tries to get over her grief and find her singing voice once again, all while competing for a $10,000 music scholarship to be handed out at the end of the summer session. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of Duff, it's a good bet they probably will. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For thematic elements and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: HILARY DUFF plays a teenager whose dreams of becoming a singer are shattered by her older brother's accidental death. Filled with guilt, she doesn't want to attend her dream music school, but does just -- and lies to her father about doing so -- with her mother's encouragement. OLIVER JAMES plays a singer/songwriter at the school who befriends and then falls for Terri. He's drunk in one scene. DAVID KEITH plays Terri's stern and restrictive father who doesn't want her to attend the music school. RITA WILSON plays his wife who does want her to go and thus conspires to lie to him about their daughter's whereabouts. REBECCA DE MORNAY plays her sister-in-law, an artist who's also in on the lie. She drinks several times. JASON RITTER plays Terri's older brother who does what he can to make her a success, but dies before he gets to see that happen. DANA DAVIS plays Terri's standoffish roommate who's trying to remain focused on winning the music scholarship. KAT DENNINGS plays a sullen and socially awkward pianist at the school. JOHNNY LEWIS plays the nerdy musician who's fallen for her. LAUREN C. MAYHEW plays Jay's ex, and Terri's rival, who's a snob and repeatedly puts her down. JOHN CORBETT plays one of the instructors at the school who encourages his students to grown as musicians and singers. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-rated drama. Profanity consists of a handful of expletives, while some colorful phrases and non-explicit, but sexually related comments and a song lyric are present. Two teenage couples are briefly seen making out, while some revealing attire is present. Other fashion styles (hair, piercings, etc.) might be enticing for some kids to want to sport. A teenager is killed in a car accident (we don't see the impact), resulting in additional tense family material for a grouping where that's already present due to a stern and restrictive father. Family members repeatedly lie to him about his daughter's whereabouts, while other bad attitudes are present. Some drinking is present and a high school student shows up quite drunk. A girl kicks and pushes a boy on separate occasions. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Lyrics from "Joy to the World" include lines about helping him drink his wine. Nina has a beer and later holds a glass of wine. We hear that a drunk driver killed Paul. After a close call with Simon nearly discovering their ruse, Nina states that she needs a drink. Miscellaneous people have drinks in a club. Upset that Terri won't see him, Jay shows up at her place drunk. The next morning he appears to have a bit of a hangover. BLOOD/GORE We see Terri with a bruised face (following a bad car accident) as she wakes up in a hospital. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Simon puts down Terri's music dreams and then states that she can't attend the music school. That creates some tense family moments between the two of them as well as between Simon and Paul. Despite him being grounded, Terri encourages Paul to sneak out of the house to attend a concert (which is her graduation gift to him). Terri and her mom and aunt lie to Simon about where Terri's going for the month of August (to the music school rather than staying with Nina) and then repeatedly do so (including via conference calls where the lies continue) to keep up the ruse. A person steals Terri's jacket at a train station. Robin and another girl at the school look down at Terri, with Robin referring to her as a stray. Throughout the movie, Robin repeatedly puts down Terri for any number of reasons and then tries to steal Jay back after seeing that he's interested in Terri. Denise isn't happy to see that Terri is her roommate and is quite cold to her (she later explains that it's not personal, but that she's focused on winning the scholarship). Robin states that she deserves a singing part more than Terri does. FRIGHTENING SCENES We suddenly see the lights of an oncoming truck toward the car Paul is driving. We don't see the impact, but hear that he was killed and Terri injured. We later see several quick flashbacks of those approaching lights. GUNS/WEAPONS None. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Call me a dork," "Oh shut up," "That would suck," "Are you nuts?" "Turn out the damn light," "Total jerk," "Gonna drive you nuts," "Pain in your butt," "Capeesh," "Was he macking on you?" "Weirdo misfit thing," "Screw" (nonsexual), "Freaking," "What the hell?" "Go away you jackass," "Drive me nuts," "What in God's name is wrong with you?" and "Jerk." Paul squirts lighter fluid into an already lit grill, purposefully causing it to flame up. Several singers in a band sport Mohawk style haircuts. Various students have multi-colored hair (including Jay), some sport tattoos (including Jay), and others have various facial piercings. Terri wears a midriff-revealing top. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) None. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) Lyrics from "Joy to the World" include lines about "make sweet love to you." PROFANITY At least 3 damns, 1 crap, 1 hell, 7 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use of "For God's sakes." SEX/NUDITY Lyrics from "Joy to the World" include lines about helping him drink his wine and "make sweet love to you." Terri's friend jokes that after a nerdy student shook Terri's hand that he's going to be worrying about getting her pregnant (from such contact). Denise shows some cleavage. We briefly see some miscellaneous women in bikinis or bikini tops at the beach. Jay and Terri nearly kiss and then do so, passionately, as the camera pans away from them and the scene ends. A miscellaneous woman shows some cleavage. Robin wears a top that's low cut on one side, showing part of the top of her breast (nothing explicit, but it is revealing). Kiwi and Sloan do some passionate kissing where they comically bump into things and knock other things over. They then slink down out of the camera shot as they continue kissing. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Simon puts down Terri's music dreams and then states that she can't attend the music school. That creates some tense family moments between the two of them as well as between Simon and Paul. We suddenly see the lights of an oncoming truck toward the car Paul is driving. We don't see the impact, but hear that he was killed and Terri injured. Paul's death obviously creates a great deal of tense family material (there's a brief shot at the funeral as well as the family's grief-filled reactions later). Terri sees her mom crying in Paul's room while going through his clothes. Jay briefly mentions his parents having a nasty divorce. Terri cries over Paul's death again and has related responses later in the film. Simon is upset with Terri and the others for lying to him. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Simon puts down Terri's music dreams and then states that she can't attend the music school. That creates some tense family moments between the two of them as well as between Simon and Paul. We hear that a drunk driver killed Paul. Dealing with a death in the family. The comment that some people hang on when they should just let go. VIOLENCE We suddenly see the lights of an oncoming truck toward the car Paul is driving. We don't see the impact, but hear that he was killed and Terri injured. We later see several quick flashbacks of those approaching lights. Terri accidentally trips over Kiwi. After seeing Robin kissing Jay, Terri is upset with him and pushes him down to the sidewalk. Terri kicks Jay in the leg. Reviewed October 5, 2004 / Posted October 8, 2004