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Australia 2005
Directed by
Geoff Bennett
99 minutes
Rated PG

Reviewed by
Greg King
2.5 stars

Hating Alison Ashley

Synopsis: A story of teenage angst and growing pains involving the rivalry between teacher's pet, Erica Yuken (Saskia Burmeister), and Alison Ashley (Delta Goodrem), the new girl in school who seems set to usurp Erica's place in the pecking order. Erica is something of a loner and a misfit, who grows more suspicious of the seemingly perfect Alison, and is intent on undermining her at every turn. Events come to a head during the school camp at the aptly named Camp Desolation, where Erica expects to be the star of the traditional final night performance.

Hating Alison Ashley, based on the popular novel by Robin Klein, explores familiar themes of the rites of passage of troubled teenage girls from a comic perspective. It is teen friendly fare that will mainly appeal to audiences who love the sort of lightweight fluff regularly churned out by Hollywood - usually starring Hilary Duff or Lindsay Lohan - in which the misfit heroine learns to come to terms with who she is and who her friends are amongst the often cruel social cliques of high school.

Director Geoff Bennett manages to maintain a good balance between comic moments and the more emotional aspects. Whilst the film contains a few pleasant surprises, the principal cast seem far too old to be convincing as fourteen year olds. Despite her previous experience in front of the camera in neighbours, Goodrem seems uncomfortable here and delivers a one-dimensional performance. Craig McLachlan hams it up wonderfully as the clumsy and vain PE teacher, while Jean Kitson is superb as the brassy teacher, Miss Belmont, a role which has been beefed-up from the original novel. However it is Burmeister, in her first leading role, who delivers a solid and mature performance that carries the film over its bumpy patches.

While it has some moments that work a treat, Hating Alison Ashley ultimately fails to satisfy. Given that the book is a staple of school curriculums, one would have expected more effort to have gone into producing a polished and insightful film of the same standard as the superb Looking For Alibrandi.

 

 

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