Fame meets fiction

Hannah Montana: The Movie keeps
Miley Cyrus in the spotlight

TEEN TIZZY: Hannah Montana: The Movie

by SACHA JACKSON

Sometimes a pop star gets too big for her wig. Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) is a superstar with sold-out stadium gigs, a high-powered publicist (Vanessa Williams) and access to a private jet. But when a shoe fight with Tyra Banks (in all her crazy, loveable glory) makes it into the headlines, and she upstages her BFF at her Sweet 16, Dad (Billy Ray Cyrus) takes her home to Tennessee for rehab: “Hannah Rehab.”

Hot on her trail is Oswald (Peter Dunn), a sneaky British tabloid reporter sent to find out her “secret.” What he expects to be typical celebrity dirt, however, turns out to be simply her secret “Miley” identity. In fact, for a 16-year-old Cyrus gets into very little trouble— even when she meets Travis (Lucas Till), a baby-faced cowboy, who also happens to be her grandmother’s farmhand for the summer, things stay, thankfully, PG.

Yes, it’s Hannah Montana: The Movie. Till works well as the down-to-earth foil to Cyrus’s L.A. diva, and though he’s not as dark and brooding as Twilight’s Edward, his appearance on screen still sent girls giggling. Theirs is the only relationship that really develops, and I use the term loosely, in the film. And it’s Till we have to thank for Cyrus’s de-Hannahfication.

The acting isn’t going to blow any minds, but it’s not terrible either, and when Cyrus has to tackle something emotional, she sings about it. The film features a slew of new songs (too many for this reviewer) everything from a hip hop hoedown to an orchestra-backed ballad.

When Hannah Montana first hit TV screens in 2006, it catapulted to success by mixing fantasy and reality. Cyrus was the regular kid by day, pop star by night, hiding her real identity in order to enjoy “the best of both worlds.” Three years later, and Cyrus’s fame just about eclipses that of her alter-ego.

This “best of both worlds” life is what both Hannah Montana and Cyrus are built on, but as she grows up, it’s become evident that Cyrus is just a regular teen, suggestive iPhone photos included. It’s only a matter of time before she sheds the Hannah wig completely. In many ways, the movie is working towards this separation: it’s not so much about the character anymore as it is about Cyrus and who she’s becoming

HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE
OPENS THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 10