BANDWAGON

Not as fun or as innocent as THAT THING YOU DO, nor as audacious and daring as THE COMMITMENTS, BANDWAGON tells the story of four North Carolina lads who form a rock band called Circus Monkey and take their act on the road. Ultimately, they must decide to give up some of their artistic achievement in exchange for a lucrative recording contract.

The movie begins with two young men losing their jobs. Confused but gifted lyricist, Tony, is 12 minutes late getting to his office job and is promptly fired. Intense Rick, bassist, gets fired at his auto mechanic store for mouthing off at a customer. The laconic guitarist, Wynn, merely spends his days fishing. His nights have recently become free because he was ousted from the glam, hard rock band Spittle. Happy-go-lucky, Charlie, the drummer, works at a record store and seems the most well adjusted of the bunch. When Tony and Charlie get together for a jam session, Charlie almost demands that they form a band.

Soon, Wynn comes enters the act, and Rick enters after he convinces Charlie to help him steal his guitar back from a low-life marijuana salesman. After being laughed out of a fraternity party, the boys buy an old van and hit the road, slowly building a listening audience. Throughout the tour, the fellows fight, get bored and genuinely question their worth. Tony is particularly hurt when Charlie spends the day with a woman, named Ann, who is a source of inspiration for almost half of Tony’s songs. A final conflict arises when a representative from Rhino records appears and offers Circus Monkey a lucrative perk-filled deal. Tony must decide if the music or the money is most important.

Noticeably low budget, this is a movie that should have used hack-style shooting and editing to compliment the hack-style music group. All of these fellows are losers to a certain degree, and their lack of charm fits the grainy quality of the film stock. (A good example of this type of pairing was evidenced in the movie SLACKER.)

Praised at the Sundance Film Festival, it may have been welcomed because it isn’t excessively violent or objectionable. Morally, it would seem to stand apart from the usual shocking fare, now popular at film festivals since the success of PULP FICTION. Southern musicians may want to take a look at BANDWAGON to identify with the musicians, but most entertainment seekers will do better renting THAT THING YOU DO. Not only is the story more innocent, it is also more entertaining and insightful about the question of artistic integrity. The further problem with BANDWAGON is that the audience never cares for the characters. Their misadventures seem quite disjointed. When they fight about breaking up, the audience almost wants them to do it.

BANDWAGON is little more than a good effort by a first time filmmaker who captured the attention of a distributor at a film festival. It is a fair example of a low budget film for first time filmmakers, but as a piece of entertainment for the general public, it hits a sour note.