Lemonade Mouth

**Lemonade Mouth** is a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released on April 15, 2011.

The film was written by April Blair and directed by Patricia Riggen.

## Plot

High school students Olivia White, Mohini "Mo" Banjaree, Charles "Charlie" Delgado, Stella Yamada, and Wendell "Wen" Gifford all meet after ending up in detention for different reasons. Miss Reznick, the music teacher supervising detention, leaves to argue with the principal Mr. Brenigan about his decision to move all extracurricular activities to the basement to make room for a new gymnasium. The five then tap out a beat and play instruments, and Olivia sings "Turn Up the Music." Miss Reznick returns and says that they would make a great band, and encourages them to enter a music competition called "Rising Star," in which a popular band, Mudslide Crush, planned to enter.

The following day, Stella sends a text message to the members stating that they need to meet. The group agrees to chat at Dante's Pizza where Stella reveals she signed the band up for Rising Star and the Halloween Bash.

The band forms with Olivia as lead vocalist, Stella as lead guitarist/backing vocalist, Mo as bassist/backing vocalist, Wen as keyboardist/keytarist/rapping vocalist, and Charlie as drummer. At school, Olivia gets cornered by Ray Beech, lead singer of Mudslide Crush. Stella spits lemonade on Ray in defense. Ray refers to Stella as "Lemonade Mouth", giving the band its name. The band later discovers the lemonade machine is being removed.

When Mo sees her boyfriend Scott Picket, the guitarist of Mudslide Crush, flirting with another girl, Jules, she leaves him. At the Halloween Bash, Lemonade Mouth performs "Determinate." After the performance, Stella makes a speech opposing Brenigan's decisions and encouraging self-expression to the supportive crowd. Angered, Principal Brenigan forbids them from playing at school. The next day, the band sees posters and banners all around the school supporting Lemonade Mouth, raising their spirits. Mo sings "She's So Gone" at the regular gig they have. They also discover that "Determinate" is being played on the local radio. Shortly after, however, things go downhill: Mo gets sick, Charlie breaks his fingers, Wen injures his eye, and Olivia loses her voice, leaving only Stella, who doesn't have an injury.

Stella calls the band to the school, where she is protesting the removal of the lemonade machine. The group gets into a heated argument with the men removing the lemonade machine. Police arrive and they are brought to a holding cell to wait for their parents. They slowly come together singing "Turn up the Music." The band agrees to perform at Rising Star, after contemplating quitting.

At Rising Star, Mudslide Crush performs "Don't Ya Wish U Were Us." Lemonade Mouth unsuccessfully performs "Determinate." The audience begins to sing "Determinate" in support of the band. Fed up with Ray, Scott leaves Mudslide Crush and joins Lemonade Mouth. Mo and Scott get back together, Charlie begins talking with a girl who likes him, Stella and her mother become close again, and Wen accepts his new stepmother.

At Wen's father's wedding, Stella recognises the man sitting next to her as Mel, the owner of the lemonade company. He donates a music hall to the school, which Mr. Brenigan accepts. Olivia mails the entire story to her father, who is in prison. The film closes with Lemonade Mouth performing "Breakthrough" at Madison Square Garden, with Scott as their new rhythm guitarist.

The extended edition includes an interview with Moxie Morris on "All Things Musical", in which Mo and Scott's relationship is nearly exposed by Moxie in front of Mo's father, but is stopped by Olivia, who says that she and Wen are dating. The band then performs "Livin On A High Wire".

## 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-Martin 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, Mo's dad
* Thomas Sanchez as Cop
* Johnie Hector as Coach
* Paul Clark as Andrew
* Caitlin Ribbans as Jules
* Phil Luna as Charlie's Dad
* Ryan Montano as Tommy
* Chiara Brokaw as Alex
* Lora Martinez-Cunningham as Charlie's Mom
* Jayna Sweet as Victoria
* Isaac Kappy as Mel
* Nicholas Martinez as Freshman Singer (Nick Martinez)

## Music

See Also: Lemonade Mouth (Soundtrack)

The soundtrack for Lemonade Mouth was released on April 12, 2011 by Walt Disney Records.

## Production

In 2010, Lemonade Mouth was announced by Disney Channel initially as an upcoming musical franchise (though it was released as a standalone film), and it was announced that Bridgit Mendler, Adam Hicks, Hayley Kiyoko, Naomi Scott were cast in the film, as well as actress Tisha Campbell-Martin and actor Christopher McDonald, were cast in the film. The names of eight 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".

Production began in August 2010, where filming took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

## Release

### Ratings

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.

A local premiere was held in the author Mark Peter Hughes's town of Wayland, Massachusetts. It was broadcast live by the town public access station, WayCAM.TV, by local students.

### Critical Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 4 reviews listed, 3 are positive and 1 is negative.

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. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media wrote: "... Lemonade Mouth" is an uplifting celebration of the human spirit." Online publishing-platform Medium wrote "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." Reviewing site Plugged In wrote: "The message is as clear as the Disney castle is colorful: Stand up for what you believe in - no matter what that may be. (And get famous in the process!)"

## Awards and Nominations

 Best iTunes Song
 2012
 2013