Friday, 2 July 2010

Starstruck

The film opens with a clip of popstar Christopher Wilde (Sterling Knight)'s performance ("Starstruck"), then we follow Jessica Olson (Danielle Campbell), a down-to-earth girl from Michigan, as she visits her grandmother in Hollywood, California, with her sister Sara (Maggie Castle) and her parents. Obsessed with Christopher Wilde, popstar and celebrity sensation, Sara takes Jessica to "Club under 21" in the hopes of meeting Christopher, forcing Jessica to wait in the car and leaving her for several hours by herself ("Shades"). Finally fed up, Jessica leaves the car and goes to search for Sara in the club, and runs into Christopher (he knocked her over while opening a door) as he tries to leave without being spotted by the paparazzi, as he must remain out of the tabloids in order to prove that he is mature and serious enough about a new movie role.

Christopher is then forced to bring Jessica to the hospital as she is feeling sick after being hit. After finding out that she is fine, he brings her to his house in order to make an appearance for the director ("Hero"). As he brings her home, he realizes that the paparazzi have followed him and hides in Jessica's garage for the night.

The next day, Jessica and Sara head to Malibu beach, where Jessica finds Christopher hiding out, still in the disguise he had put together the previous night.Jessica and Christopher head out towards L.A., where they spend a fun-filled, perfectly "normal" day together ("Something About The Sunshine").

However, this comes to an end when they are tailed by a paparazzi van and are forced to shake it off by going off the main road and eventually into a pile of mud, where Jessica's grandmother's car sinks to the bottom of the mud pool. In a bout of frustration, Jessica calls Christopher's life "not real" and "fake", and by extension calls him fake too. After they both cool off (both figuratively and literally), Christopher confides that just hanging out with Jessica was nice, because she wasn't actually asking for anything from him, and they bond again.

Here, we see Jessica begin to fall for Christopher.They finally get back to the beach, and have a romantic walk. Then, Christopher informs Jessica that "no one can know what happened today", and that this was the end of whatever they had together ("Hero (Reprise)") Jessica leaves, heartbroken, and Christopher is thrown into a rough situation as he is immediately surrounded by fans and paparazzi alike, one of which discovers the connection between Jessica and Christopher, and starts following Jessica around as well.

Later, when Jessica returns to Michigan, she hears Christopher tell a talk-show host that he never met her and denied knowing her. Christopher expresses his feelings for Jessica while playing his song ("Got To Believe"). Angry and fed up with the way the paparazzi have forced Christopher to lie and hide himself from the real world, she confronts the paparazzi camped outside her house, and tells them that she "never met [the Christopher that they were all so obsessed with]."

After his actress-girlfriend Alexis Bender (Chelsea Staub) dumps him, he realizes that he is free to pursue Jessica. His best friend Stubby convinces him that he has to start making his own choices for once. Christopher then proceeds to fire his parents as his managers and turn down the movie role that made him lie and lose himself in the tabloids. Later, when Sara's equally Christopher-obsessed friend A.J. viciously insults Jessica for what she said on TV and Jessica overhears, Sara sends A.J. home in a rage. Then, in a surprisingly kind and somewhat uncharacteristic move, Sara comforts Jessica and offers to take Jessica to the school dance with her. Jessica accepts, and Sara helps her get ready for the dance.

Later at the dance, Christopher makes an appearance and apologizes to Jessica through song. When the paparazzi appear at the dance and film Christopher's apology after the song ends ("What You Mean To Me"), he takes the microphone and tells the paparazzi that he was the one that lied and says he is "crazy" about Jessica and that he will never do that again. She smiles and accepts his apology, as well as an invitation to go on a "real" date (with no pretenses or disguises) with him. Amazingly, the paparazzi immediately leave on Christopher's orders afterwards. The movie ends with them dancing together while Stubby (Brandon Mychal Smith) sings ("Party Up") while the credits roll.

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