Starstruck

Plot synopsis:
Christopher Wilde (Sterling Knight) is a famous pop star and teen idol, whose music is very successful all around the world. Sara Olson (Maggie Castle) of Kalamazoo, Michigan is an obsessive fan of Christopher Wilde who seeks to use her family's trip to Hollywood, California to visit her widowed grandmother as an opportunity to meet him (Starstruck) for spring break. Christopher, meanwhile, is on the brink of landing a movie deal and has agreed to remain out of the tabloids in order to prove that he is serious about landing the role.
Once in California, Sara convinces her younger sister Jessica (Danielle Campbell), to accompany her to a nightclub where he is rumored to be delivering a surprise performance for his pseudo-girlfriend Alexis Bender (Chelsea Staub). Sara leaves Jessica outside the club to watch the car while she goes inside in a futile attempt to meet Christopher (Shades).
Fed up with waiting, Jessica leaves the car in search for Sara and meets Christopher when he hits her in the head while opening a door. Eager to avoid being caught by the paparazzi, Christopher takes Jessica to a hospital to be examined, then brings her to his house so that he can make an appearance for the film director (Hero). He then brings Jessica home, and Jessica allows him to stay in her grandmother's garage for the night when he learns the paparazzi have followed him.
The next day Sara brings Jessica to Malibu in the hopes of running into Christopher there. Sara goes off to sit down on the beach, but Jessica recognizes Christopher's disguise and sits down with him. The two are forced to make a quick exit from the beach when the paparazzi arrive; once they get away, Christopher shows Jessica around Los Angeles (Something About The Sunshine).
While attempting to return to Malibu, they are again spotted by the paparazzi, but manage to elude them by driving off the main road, losing Jessica's grandmother's car in a mud pool quicksand in the process. While walking back to Malibu, they get into a heated argument, with Jessica calling Christopher's life "fake". He tries to convince her his life is real. Christopher drags Jessica into a river and they forget their argument. Eventually, Christopher confides that he enjoyed hanging out with Jessica because she was not actually asking for anything from him. She agrees that it was fun having him alone.
When they return to the beach they almost kiss, but are interrupted when Christopher panics about being recognized. Christopher tells Jessica that no one can know what happened between them that day, telling her that the paparazzi would ruin her life as well as his (Hero (Reprise)). Heartbroken and angry, Jessica returns home to Kalamazoo with her family, but not before the paparazzi establish a connection between her and Christopher.
Back in Kalamazoo, Jessica watches Christopher tell a talk show host that he had never met her. Angry with the way the paparazzi forced Christopher to lie and hide himself from the real world, she confronts the paparazzi camped outside her house, and tells them that they destroyed him and that she "never met [the Christopher that they were all so obsessed with]." Christopher's best friend, Stubby (Brandon Mychal Smith) convinces Christopher to make his own choices. Alexis finds out that Christopher has been with someone who is not famous, and she breaks up with him. Christopher realizes that he is free to pursue Jessica. 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.
After Sara's equally Christopher-obsessed friend A.J. (Abbie Cobb) viciously insults Jessica for what she said on television, Sara kicks A.J. out of the house and offers to take Jessica to the school dance with her. Jessica accepts, and Sara helps her get ready for the dance. At the dance, Christopher makes an appearance and apologizes to Jessica through a song (What You Mean To Me). She wants more than just his apology though.
When the paparazzi appear at the dance, he tells them that he was the one that lied and says he is crazy about Jessica. She smiles and accepts his apology, and he becomes her boyfriend. He gives her a pair of "Christopher Wilde" sunglasses (Party Up). Starstruck is a disney movie

Tags: paranormal, satire, entertaining

Review:
I saw this movie when it was originally released in America in the early 1980's.
I enjoyed the film quite a bit and eventually bought the soundtrack.
I just rented the film on video and it still holds up for me after all these years.
The characters are well drawn and very unique and the dance numbers are just as quirky as the rest of the movie.
The "Body and Soul" number in the pub literally gets everyone in on the act and it is a highlight of the film for me.
I read where director Gillian Armstrong said the reason she made the film after scoring with a period piece like "My Brilliant Career" is because she wanted to do something unusual and little unexpected.
The soundtrack has 1980's style new wave influenced pop.
Whether you enjoy the rest of the movie will probably depend on whether you enjoy that style of music.
If you do, give this movie a look, if you do not, then pass on it..
a beautiful, feel-good film!.
i had the pleasure of seeing this as a child when living in Australia, and now as an adult i tracked the film down on DVD.
25 years of rose-tinted looking back to it was astute, as watching it again now was just as joyous as watching it back then.the story of the film, in short, is that of an aspiring singer and her ambitious cousin and their attempts to break out of the mundane suburban life and hit the big time.
desperate times, to a degree, expedite the need to hit the big time, but this under no circumstances stops them having fun along the way!
fans of 80's new wave / new romantic music will love her singing style, and it's difficult not to tap your feet and sing along with it all.
the rest of the cast is equally impressive, in particular the young lad playing cousin Angus.Star Struck is an eloquent, fun and enjoyable way to spend 90 or so minutes of your time.
along with the great soundtrack, you get as many bitter sweet moments as you do outright funny ones, and you would have to work very hard to dislike it..
Sparkling little gem of a movie!.
Australian film maker Gillian Armstrong's delightful gem traces the path of two Aussie teens trying to make their break in show biz.
This is a classic fairy tale story that includes such amusing scenes as young star Jo Kennedy practising tight-rope walking across the bar of her grandmother's pub.
This film treats its teen subjects with respect rather than condescension and the finale is a showstopper.
Great soundtrack of obscure 80s music, as well..
I was fortunate to be standing in a cinema in Sydney city when Gillian Armstrong approached a group of us kids and asked if we would like to see a preview of a new Aussie movie.
We didn't know who Gillian Armstrong was we were about 16 at the time.
We arranged time and day with her and attended the raw cut of Starstruck.
We loved it, we left excited and privileged that us teens got to see it before anyone else and gave Gillian a big thumbs up.
We met the cast and talked for a long time to come about our chance meeting.
This is such a fun movie, great music, JO Kennedy and Ross O'Donovan were fantastic.
One of the best musicals of the time, clean, honest, well written, well directed and a wonderful change from the classic Australian period piece..
Edited from original release, but still fun.
The director of "My Brilliant Career", the Production Designer of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", a choreographer working without trained dancers, several script writers and many composers bring a low-budget post-punk vitality to Sydney Australia.As the commentary on the DVD mentions, the prints of Starstruck seem to have been severely cut in different releases, and this print has at least one song hacked out of the release I saw in 1982.
Awesome Australian musical!.
A Wonderful new wave camp classic,i normally don't really like musicals,but when i saw this back in the eighties i loved it.
beautiful sexy Jo Kennedy plays an aspiring singer in Australia.
her little cousin Angus,is her agent.campy fun movie with lots of great new wave musical numbers.pokes fun at the MGM musicals from the 40s and 50s.this was a little known,under-appreciated effort from down under.
and seldom shown on TV.i don't think its out on DVD yet.but its a great movie.with colorful zany characters,its a cult film.Australia's greatest import since mad max.a must see for everyone even if your not into musicals like me.more then likely you will enjoy.10 out of 10..
One of the best original rock musicals!
I have just seen the DVD release, having not seen the movie in about 20 years and it holds up very well.
Casting really makes the film.
Great chemistry between the two cousins Jackie (Joe Kennedy) and Angus (Ross O Donovan).Although the plot is somewhat thin, as is typical for this type of movie, it moves along quite nicely and has good light-hearted humor.See the movie, you will not be disappointed..
I saw this film on first release at the cinema in true-blue Sydney fashion.
It is still a haunting favourite after all these years and is, in fact a love song to a city and her people and places.
But that's another story...This movie is absolutely fabulous Sydney in all her early 80s glory.
A time of innocence and fun, ridiculous clothes, a special cousinhood, 'wannabe-in-show-biz', Mickey Rooney & Judy Garlandesque tribute to the talents and humour of our own people.
I saw this during the Australian wave of films.
Many times tunes written for movies that are rock or pop oriented turn out to be lame, musically incorrect, or both.
This is not the case here.Gillian Armstrong shows an airy touch, while still maintaining that solid control of characters and visually precise scene setup she has demonstrated in other films, such as "My Brilliant Career" and the sadly overlooked "Oscar and Lucinda".
She is fun to watch, as are Ross O'Donovan as her cousin Angus, the guitarist with the glasses that dances, Pat Evison as Nana - everyone, really.
The music is, of course, integral to the experience.
This movie just has a way of making me smile as I watch it..
Who would have guessed that Australian director Gillian Armstrong would follow the acclaimed period piece "My Brilliant Career" with this wildly colorful and outrageous New Wave musical?
As it turns out, both films are about independent and talented young women who overcome their limited means and family struggles to triumph as artists -- in this case, barmaid Jackie (the delightful Jo Kennedy) gets to sing at the big New Year's show at the Sydney Opera House and make enough money to save the family hotel.Visually inventive, "Star Struck" features a terrific, energetic cast and lots of great music (buy the soundtrack, it's worth it).
Something of a cult film in the U.S., it's a movie that deserves discovery..
PLEASE release on DVD!.
I LOVE this movie!
I would be endlessly happy if this would be released in the US on DVD, and also a CD for the soundtrack which is amazing.
I had my cousin in Australia buy me the LP years ago, but no longer have the means to play it.
I did put a couple of the songs on a walking tape I made years ago, and I never got tired of them.
I've never seen Jo Kennedy in anything since, which is surprising, because I thought she was quite good.
This is a very fun movie, full of great performances and quirky characters.I think this was the start of my love for quirky Australian films.
Great movie.
This movie is awesome.
I have watched this movie many times and it never gets old.
A lost gem of a movie that very few people have ever seen..
First rate movie musical!!!.
This is one of my all-time favorite movie musicals - I've seen them all and have most of them on laserdisc.
This one is exceptional in that it mixes all the best elements of classic musical comedies: plot, melodies, humor, characterization, sets and costume with the best of modern pop/rock music.
I must have seen it 30 times and I always look forward to seeing it again.
When a teenagers, in the early 1980's, one friend spent a few weeks convincing the rest of us, that her mother's best friend made a movie for herself and her sisters, as surrogate daughters.
Before she had me convinced, the film clip of one of the songs was on Countdown, the most watched Australian pop music show of those years.
And it didn't sink in what a big thing this film is, until my friend said that Gillian Armstrong also directed "My Brilliant Career".
I would have loved this film anyway, without knowing my friend and her sisters needed this much love in their world.
"Starstruck" is like 'Rocky Horror Picture Show', meets 'The Princess Bride', and they hit the sack right away before a first date.
It is testament to Gillian Armstrong's ability as a director, and producer, that such an ambitious script gets the treatment it deserved, despite the obviously low budget.
Yet somehow, the low budget just served to make it feel all the more Australian, as though it all happened just over every Aussie's back fence.
Definitely worthy of joining the lists of what student film makers need to see, for the value of how to treat the script with respect to the writer's concept..
More Fun In the New World.
I have not seen Starstruck since it's original run in the theaters but I love this movie and hope to see it again soon.
I was really into new wave music at the time, especially what was coming from Manchester and Birmingham, and Dublin.
I liked some Aussie bands like the Sharks but mostly I liked Aussie movies which were just starting to make an impact in America in the early 80's.
Movies like Breaker Morant, Mad Max, Walkabout, Young Einstein, Gallipoli, and Starstruck.
Although I have never been to Australia I have been intrigued by the quirky sense of humor I find in Aussie films.
It seems that there are many Australian actors like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe who take themselves so seriously and mostly act in Hollywood films playing non Australians.
Even Peter Weir is no longer making Australian movies.
The Most Fabulous Aussie Movie Ever!.
This movie is so utterly feel-good fantastic enjoyable and delightful I still get tears in my eyes every time I see it, or even play the Soundtrack!
It deserves a DVD release.
The batty characters and fun relationships.
This film doesn't take itself seriously for a minute, but it somehow manages to make you howl with laughter, burst into tears, and feel a great kinship with the zany madcap characters who abound.
It is ageless, and an entire new generation would love this film.
It is the equal best (with Muriel's Wedding) movie to ever come out of Australia.
I was astonished to learn that this mess of a movie was the 11th film Gillian Armstrong directed.
Everything about it is clumsy and hackneyed; it feels like a just-graduated-from-film-school offering from a bright (but ADHD afflicted) young woman.
Of course, this is a musical and I must admit that the pop tunes sprinkled throughout are enjoyable--and instantly forgettable..
Without hesitation I give Starstruck my vote as one the the all-time great movie musicals, right up there with the best of Warner Bros of the 30s, Fox of the 40s and MGM of the 50s.
Possibly, it's the only movie to perfectly integrate (original & terrific) rock music with a funny, compassionate & inventive plot.
Jo Kennedy is marvelous, Ross O'Donovan & all the rest are first-rate.
They will never make another movie like this.
Excellent Film.
Starstruck has long been a favorite of mine as I am Australian & to my opinion not many really good work came out of Australian movies till the 80's.
The film is very quirky with an excellent soundtrack & sense of Australian humor without being over the top.
I love this movie & never get sick of watching it over & over & I too wish the soundtrack would come out on CD but you can get it now on DVD.
I highly recommend this movie & have just bought the LP soundtrack on Ebay so its still not impossible to find it thank you for reading..
The music movie at the dawn of MTV.
I saw this movie three times in the theatres during it's initial USA release.
I was in my early twenties and this movie really captured something that really spoke to me at the time.
I was just so charmed by the infectious good feelings engendered in this movie and so delighted by the many visually stunning moments brought to life in vivid, brilliant and eye-popping color and the backdrop of the music was especially effective in reaching me at the time.
The musical numbers were really strong, like, right from the first few moments, the first number by (the real Aussie band, headed up by former Split Enz member and total musical genius, Phil Judd) The Swingerz, "One Good Reason"/"Gimme Love", performed "live" in a club setting, with the edgy look and startling dancing going on, hit me like a punch in the gut and then I never looked back, once on the wild ride!
In a way it was, just a year or two later, Australian culture would storm the shores of the U.S. with INXS, Men At Work, Midnight Oil, Hoodoo Gurus, Mental As Anything and a host of other bands would put Australia on the map as a vibrant hot-bed of cool music and edgy culture forever.
But, for me, it started with this movie, Star Struck.The design and the look of this film, from the great look of the "Lizard Lounge" for the first couple of numbers, the kitchy and cool Harbor View Hotel, where Jackie and Angus lived, the awful disco scene of the "Wow!
Show", the brilliant homage to the Busby Berkeley "By A Waterfall" number, in the roof-top swimming pool water ballet, the wonderful choreography of the "regulars" who drank at he Harbor View in "She's Got Body, She's Got Soul", to the against-all-odds guerrilla taking of the stage at the Opera House and the wonderful finale - I thought this truly original film was as visually stunning as it was musically forward-reaching.
This film, first released in 1982, has held up pretty well.
The heart and soul invested and genuine enthusiasm captured in following some young teens in their journey from starry- eye dreamers languishing in obscurity to their amazing triumph, awash in hysterical screams by the end, is so irresistibly infectious that I don't see how anyone could NOT love this movie!
My VHS copy had become pretty worn out and I was so glad to see that it was finally issued in the USA on a nice, two-disc DVD edition, with some wonderful extras, worthy of original.
I will say that it took me the longest time to understand all of the dialogue, what with the heavy Australian accents and slang which was unfamiliar to me, but it was such a pleasure to view it over and over that I was happy to decipher every morsel!.
Not A 'Hard Day's Night', But Still One Of Cinema's Best Musicals After Almost Thirty Years..
definitely one of cinema's best and under-recognized musical classics.
i've loved this movie dearly since i first had the pleasure of seeing and hearing it back in 1982.
throughout the decades i have always raved and tried to discuss this movie with cinema fans and fans of film musicals.
even to this day, there are only twenty reviewers of it on IMDb. compare with the hundreds of reviewers of say, 'High School Musical'.
and the music and dance numbers in 'HSM' aren't nearly as clever or good.Jo Kennedy and Ross O'Donavan give some of the best performances i have ever seen by teen age actors.
the 14 year old Donovan is hilarious and brilliant, giving a performance that is wise beyond his years, and the unexpectedly versatile Jo Kennedy is a marvel.
the opening scene with O'Donvan encouraging Kennedy to walk a tight rope over a busy intersection wearing a bare breasted body suit, is so immediately engaging and side splittingly funny.
i've seen few movies get this funny this fast.anyone new to the musical 'Starstruck', may be surprised to find that this isn't just a cute and amusing film musical, but is also really good, low budget Aussie cinema.
it often feels like what a musical would be like if it were directed by Peter Wier.
it's musical numbers are extremely funny and in the example of the dance number "we all live like ants", very unconventional and innovative.in fact this is one of the most unconventional musicals ever made.
and it still continues to be more original than most, some thirty years later.
most large budget fiasco's would do best to study how this simple film, on a very low budget, manages to be as clever and innovative and so charming with very little resource except inspiration..
This may very well be THE most bizarre movie I've ever seen, and definitely the most fun!
I didn't realize how much of the movie had stayed with me.
From the Australian accents so thick they need subtitles to the synchronized dance number with inflatable sharks, STARSTRUCK is so blissfully over-the-top that it NEVER gets old.
The real icing on the cake here are the song and dance numbers.
If you enjoy having fun at all, treat yourself to the rockiest 80s new wave musical ever made!
If only STARSTRUCK would be released on DVD in the states...