Lemonade Mouth (film)

Lemonade Mouth is a 2011 American teen musical drama television film, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Mark Peter Hughes. The film was directed by Patricia Riggen and written by April Blair, and stars Bridgit Mendler, Adam Hicks, Naomi Scott, Hayley Kiyoko and Blake Michael. The film tells the story of five high school students who meet in detention and form a band to stand up for their beliefs and to overcome their individual and collective struggles.

Lemonade Mouth was released on Disney Channel on April 15, 2011, and received 5.7 million views on its premiere night, making it the third most-watched Disney Channel Original Film (DCOM) premiere of its year. DVR viewing raised the number to 7.1 million. The film's soundtrack of the same name enjoyed commercial success, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. The tracks "Breakthrough", "Determinate" and "Somebody" were released as singles and charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The film and soundtrack received positive reviews from critics and audiences, with many praising the direction, performances, and themes. It is often considered one of the best DCOM films.

Lemonade Mouth won the Popstar! Poptastic Award for Favorite TV Movie in 2011. Riggen was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs in 2012, and sound editor Amber Funk was nominated for the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in a Long Form Musical in Television.

Plot
High school freshmen Olivia White, Mohini "Mo" Banjaree, Charles "Charlie" Delgado, Stella Yamada, and Wendell "Wen" Gifford meet while in detention. When Miss Reznick, the music teacher supervising detention, leaves briefly, they tap out a beat and play instruments, with Olivia singing along. Miss Reznick returns and encourages them to enter the upcoming Rising Star music competition, which popular band Mudslide Crush is also slated to perform in.

The band forms with Olivia on lead vocals, Stella on lead guitar and backing vocals, Mo on bass and backing vocals, Wen on keyboards, keytar, and rapping vocals, and Charlie on drums. At school, Stella spits lemonade on Ray Beech, lead singer of Mudslide Crush, when he ridicules Olivia for her stage fright. He refers to her as "Lemonade Mouth", giving the band its name. The band later discovers the school's lemonade machine is being removed to their horror. Stella enters the band in Rising Star as well as the upcoming Halloween Bash, much to Olivia's chagrin and begins to feel anxious.

Mo breaks up with her boyfriend Scott Picket, Mudslide Crush's guitarist, after she catches him flirting with a cheerleader. Prior to performing at the Halloween Bash, Olivia disappears. The band eventually finds her in the bathroom, where she is feeling nauseated and suffering a panic attack. They tell her that they all believe in her. This encourages her to perform, after which Stella speaks to the crowd, objecting to the removal of the lemonade machine and encouraging her fellow students to freely express themselves. The principal, Stan Brenigan, angrily bans them from playing at school again, though he says they are extremely talented. The next day, banners in support of Lemonade Mouth are posted around the school, raising their spirits.

When Olivia is absent from school one day, the band gets worried. They later visit her and learn that her cat Nancy, her only remaining memory of her late mother, has died, which has left her in a depressed state. They begin to grow closer to one another, opening up about each of their struggles. They also learn that their song "Determinate" is being played on the local radio. Shortly after, however, things begin to go downhill for the group; Mo contracts the flu, Charlie breaks his fingers, Wen injures his eye, and Olivia loses her voice during an argument with Wen.

The members of Lemonade Mouth join at the school to protest the removal of the lemonade machine. After being detained by police and contemplating the future of the band, they agree to perform at Rising Star. As each of their parents and guardians come to retrieve them from the police station, they reconcile their individual problems at home; Wen finally accepts his dad's girlfriend, Olivia gains the courage to send a letter to her incarcerated father, Mo gets her dad to accept her for who she is, Charlie realizes he doesn't have to live up to his older brother's prowess, and Stella realizes she doesn't have to be a genius to fit in with her family.

While performing at Rising Star, Olivia and Mo's respective injuries begin to resurface in the middle of their performance. Dejected, the band is about to exit the stage when the audience begins to sing their song to support them. Scott, fed up with Ray's hostile treatment towards Lemonade Mouth, leaves Mudslide Crush and plays his guitar alongside the audience, bringing Lemonade Mouth back onto the stage to successfully finish their performance.

Sometime later, things get better for the band: Mo and Scott have gotten back together, Charlie (who had developed a crush on Mo while forming the band) takes an interest in a new girl, Wen accepts Sydney, Stella meets Mel, the original owner of the organic lemonade machine, who helps donates a new music auditorium to the band's school with Principal Brenigan's approval, and Olivia regains her voice. Wen also gives her a new kitten and apologizes to her about their fight. This gesture touches Olivia and the two reconcile. Later, Olivia mails the entire story to her father. The film closes with Lemonade Mouth performing at Madison Square Garden, with Scott as their new rhythm guitarist.

Cast

 * Bridgit Mendler as Olivia White
 * Adam Hicks as Wendell "Wen" Gifford
 * Hayley Kiyoko as Stella Yamada
 * Naomi Scott as Mohini "Mo" Banjaree
 * Blake Michael as Charles "Charlie" Delgado
 * Nick Roux as Scott Pickett
 * Chris Brochu as Ray Beech
 * Tisha Campbell as Miss Jenny Reznick
 * Christopher McDonald as Principal Stanley Brenigan
 * Scott Takeda as Stella's Father
 * Ariana Smythe as Sydney
 * Judith Rane as Brenda
 * Isaac Kappy as Mel
 * Ryan Montano as Tommy Delgado
 * Lauren Poole as Moxie Morris
 * Bob Jesser as Mr. Gifford
 * Leedy Corbin as Georgie Gifford
 * Lance Capaldi as Ticket Taker
 * Shishir Kurup as Mr. Banjaree
 * Thomas Sanchez as Cop
 * Johnie Hector as Coach
 * Paul Clark as Andrew
 * Caitlin Ribbans as Jules
 * Phil Luna as Charlie's Dad
 * Chiara Brokaw as Alex
 * Lora Martinez-Cunningham as Charlie's Mom
 * Jayna Sweet as Victoria
 * Nicholas Martinez as Freshman Singer
 * Tom Romero as Mr. Prichard

Author Mark Peter Hughes makes a cameo appearance as an extra dressed as a bee at the Halloween Bash.

Production
In 2010, Lemonade Mouth was announced by Disney Channel initially as an upcoming musical franchise. Bridgit Mendler, Adam Hicks, Naomi Scott, Hayley Kiyoko, Blake Michael, Nick Roux, Chris Brochu, Tisha Campbell-Martin and Christopher McDonald were announced as the principal cast of the film. Production began in August 2010, and filming took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film was Scott's first American production, who in an episode of Collider's Ladies Night podcast said that "I [also] remember being introduced to craft services for the first time. And for me, it’s this US production and I was like, oh my gosh, they have a trolley of candy that just came around! And to me I just thought, I’ve made it. This is what I’ve wanted. This is what it’s all about. It’s all about candy on a trolley."

The names of five characters in the book were changed for the film; the character of "Olivia Whitehead" was changed to "Olivia White", "Wendel Gifford" was changed to "Wendell Gifford", "Stella Penn" was changed to "Stella Yamada", "Mohini Banerjee" was changed to "Mohini Banjaree", and "Charlie Hirsh" was changed to "Charlie Delgado".

Music
Lemonade Mouth features ten original songs, and was released by Walt Disney Records as a soundtrack album on April 12, 2011. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200, number three on the US Top Digital Albums, and topped the US Top Soundtracks and US Kid Albums. In September 2012, the album was reported to have sold 402,000 copies. The tracks "Breakthrough", "Determinate" and "Somebody" were released as singles, all of which appeared on the Billboard Hot 100.

Mendler was once open to the idea of Lemonade Mouth becoming a real band. In an interview with Christopher John Farley of The Wall Street Journal, she said that singing with the cast was "really fun, it's possible, we can do it. At this point in time because we haven't had any time to practice it, I'd say we'd need some backup assistance, but down the road it's something we'd be able to do on our own."

Reception
Lemonade Mouth was watched by 5.7 million viewers on its premiere night, ranking as the No. 1 TV Telecast among Kids 7–11 (2.3 million/9.4 rating) and Teens (2.1 million/8.5 rating), and cable's No. 1 original movie of 2011 among Total Viewers. With DVR viewing included, its total was 7.1 million viewers. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of critics' reviews are positive. Family-oriented reviewers at Common Sense Media praised the film for its themes of honesty, empowerment, overcoming adversity, self-expression, standing up for what one believes in, and for its emphasis on the importance of the arts and of friendship and family.

Writing for publishing-platform Medium, Jaime Ryan called it "one of the best movies the Disney Channel has put out." He praised the "Superb music, talented cast, good script, a well used production design budget — this one hit the nail on the head. More than that, we love the spirit of Lemonade Mouth. The outcasts fight for equality with the cool crowd and stand up against the powers that be with music." Brandon King of the media website Odyssey lauded the film, similarly calling Lemonade Mouth one of the best DCOMs and writing that "For what it's allowed to be, there's actual depth and heart at work here, anchored by a diverse cast of characters, good pacing and a soundtrack that, for the most part, still kind of slaps." Alan Ng of the online publication Film Threat opined that the "protest music" and narratives gave the film an edge, but believed that it ultimately "played it safe in the end." H.F. Chacon Jr. of The Tartan gave the film seven out of ten stars, writing that "the plot is not as sappy and childish as DCOMs are often thought to be, and can be respected for attempting to speak on the topics that children maturing into young adults have to deal with." Khalid McCalla of The Oberlin Review lauded the cast, describing Mendler and Hicks as "likeable and amazing" and Michael, Scott and Kiyoko as "equally amazing. These five leads are expertly cast and do a phenomenal job taking their characters from a group of misfits and loners to a Madison Square Garden-booking band."

The soundtrack of the film was received positively by critics. Christopher Monger of AllMusic praised the film for tackling "the usual teen subjects" through its music and called it a blend of "the dewy-eyed romanticism of the Jonas Brothers and the quasi-rebellious angst of early Avril Lavigne, resulting in a winning, if not entirely original, collection of new High School Musical-inspired homeroom anthems." McCalla called the music "magnificent" and singled out the songs "She’s So Gone" and "Determinate" for praise, writing that "Scott absolutely crushes it. … Hicks is a better rapper than your favorite rapper. Argue with yourself." "She's So Gone" was featured on Billboard 's list of "The 100 Greatest Disney Songs of All Time" and Rolling Stone's "Fake Bands, Real Songs: The 50 Best Tunes by Made-Up Musicians".

Lemonade Mouth has often been considered one of the best Disney Channel original films, appearing high on several media lists ranking DCOMs.

Cancelled sequel
In 2011, the author of Lemonade Mouth said that he had been working on a sequel. Actor Blake Michael said: "It's all up to the fans, it's in their hands. If people enjoy it and they love it and they want more, they'll get it. I think Disney is just a great organization in general and they're always one step ahead of the game. So you never really know what's gonna happen." On June 15, 2011, it was announced during the 2011 Licensing International Expo that Lemonade Mouth 2 was in the works.

On April 6, 2012, Brochu announced on his Twitter account that the sequel was no longer going into production. In interviews with Kidzworld Media and BSCKids in May 2012, Mendler confirmed that a sequel would not be produced, noting that "they tried to figure something out for a sequel, but everyone at Disney felt like the movie had completed its story in the first movie."