Lemonade Mouth

**Lemonade Mouth** is a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released on April 15, 2011. The film was based on the book of the same name written by Mark Peter Hughes.

## Plot

Five high school freshman 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 a pizza shop called 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 defence, and he refers to Stella as "Lemonade Mouth", giving the band its name. The band later discovers the lemonade machine they love is being removed from the school.

When Mo sees her boyfriend Scott Picket, Ray's best friend and the guitarist of Mudslide Crush, flirting with one of the cheerleader girls Jules, she leaves him. At the Halloween Bash, Lemonade Mouth performs "Determinate." After the performance, Stella makes a speech opposing Brenigan's decision to remove the lemonade machine 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 every Thursday night at Dante's Pizza. They also discover that "Determinate" is being played on the local radio. Shortly after, however, things go downhill: Mo gets the flu, Charlie breaks his fingers, Wen injures his eye, and Olivia loses her voice, leaving only Stella that 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. As each of their parents come to pick them up from the police station, all members of Lemonade Mouth and their parents sort out their various problems at home. Wen finally gets to like his Dad's girlfriend, Olivia gets the courage to send a letter to her Dad in prison, Mo gets her Dad to let her be herself not the perfect Indian daughter he wants, Charlie's older brother picks him up and Charlie finds out that his brother isn't as perfect as his parents always make out, and Stella's Mom makes her realize that she doesn't have to be a genius like the rest of the family to fit in with.

At Rising Star, Mudslide Crush performs "Don't Ya Wish U Were Us," but Lemonade Mouth unsuccessfully performs "Determinate" because Olivia's stage fright comes back, and Mo's flu gets worse. Lemonade Mouth is about to walk off the stage when the audience begins to sing "Determinate" in support of the band. Scott gets his guitar and is going to help them when Ray threatens that he will never be in their band again if he helps Lemonade Mouth, but he goes onto the stage anyway and plays the guitar alongside the audience, which makes the Lemonade Mouth members come back onto the stage again and finish their performance. The next day at school, Mo and Scott get back together, and Charlie who had liked Mo during the time together, accepts that she is with Scott and begins talking with another girl who likes him.

At Wen's father's wedding, Stella recognizes the man sitting next to her as Mel, the owner of the lemonade machine company. He donates a music theatre 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 and Characters

* 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 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
* 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
* Nicholas Martinez as Freshman Singer
* Mark Peter Hughes as Bee

## Music

See Also: Lemonade Mouth (Soundtrack)

The movie features ten original songs, and was released by Walt Disney Records as a soundtrack album on April 12, 2011.

## 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, and filming took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

## Release

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.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 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. 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 colourful: 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