She brought me to tears twice in the first twenty minutes of the movie.
I am more and more impressed with her with every movie I see her in. That was an unexpected surprise, although I suppose I'm partially biased since I like the band. The film starts well the Three Days Grace concert helps set the musical tone for the movie. After a little persuasion, she makes it there, and the movie is more or less about her exploits therein. Hilary Duff stars as Terri Fletcher, a 16-year-old anxious to explore her musical talent at a performing arts academy in L.A.
So while it's nowhere near the fluff-piece that her first big series was, it makes you wish there were more parts out there that are better for her. And if you DON'T believe she can play anyone else but Lizzie McGuire, you should've seen her in a highly publicized episode of Joan of Arcadia from the Spring of 2005. Yes, she's a better actress than a singer, but both of these aspects of her are far superior to the movie. Because regardless of the cookie-cutter plot line, Duff is still outstanding. Having said all that, I must reiterate that I don't want my criticism of this movie to be interpreted as another Duff-bashing tirade. Too much about this movie is predictable The overbearing father, sympathetic avant-garde artistic aunt, the tragic car wreck, the boyfriend with an ex-girlfriend who won't let go(who Terri catches putting the moves on and thinks is unfaithful to her), and yes even the triumphant concert at the end. And the rest of the movie involves Terri trying to make friends in the big city, cover-up her lie to her father, and deal with her own fear of bright lights, courtesy of that random drunk driver. Of course, the only reason she doesn't want to go is because she's afraid to face the wrath of Dad, so Mom(Rita Wilson) and Aunt Nina(Rebecca De Mornay) tell Daddy she's going to spend time with her aunt, while smuggling her off to that school. But just when she thinks she's going to have to spend the rest of her life at the bottom of the barrel, along comes that scholarship to the performing arts school she didn't even know she entered. Her brother dies, she survives and is left with crippling flashbacks and survivor's guilt.
After she and her brother sneak out to go to a concert one night, some drunk driver plows into them on the way home.
But her father(David Keith) wants her to stay at home and wait tables at the family diner. She also thinks her singing can make her a star, and so does her brother Paul(Jason Ritter) who secretly recommends her for a scholarship to a school for the performing arts in Los Angeles. Terri Fletcher(Duff) sings in a local church chorus, and for her own personal enjoyment.
But the way things are looking now, she couldn't break out of the Disney universe if she did hardcore pornography. Make no mistake though - Hilary Duff *IS* a talented actress and singer(in spite of corporate punk pretensions), and even with this formulaic material she proves it. The fact that this movie was a Brookwell/McNamara Production, a staple of the cable network that made her famous may be another obstacle from that typecasting. In my review of "Cheaper by the Dozen"(2003), I mentioned the difficulty Hilary Duff is going to have breaking away from typecasting as Lizzie McGuire.