Though it’s full of young Disney regulars, Todd Graff’s musical comedy about a high-school rock band who enter the annual Slambang competition isn’t nearly as dire as you might think.

There’s a sharpish screenplay, suggesting the perils of adolescence, and a very good central performance from Gaelan Connell as the misfit Will.

He is not an ebullient sort, being painfully shy with girls. He also regards half the bands about to enter the competition as making a noise “like a Nuremburg rally produced by MTV”. But he knows a lot about rock and when the school flirt (Alyson Michalka) asks him to manage her band, he begins to live easier. She also teaches him how to kiss singer Vanessa Hudgens, who calls herself Sa5m (with the 5 silent).

Gradually, Will gets the new band to play properly and Sa5m to like him better. The grand finale is the competition. Guess who wins?

Bandslam is too long and its music doesn’t exactly reach the standard of David Bowie, Will’s hero. But the characterisations are just a little unorthodox and the whole thing, despite a soggy middle during which nothing much happens, goes with an above average swing.

Graff clearly knows what he’s doing better than most of those who venture into the high-school genre.

Film Trailers by Filmtrailer.com