Stuck in the Suburbs

This DCOM is filled to the brim with teenage fangirling and miscommunications. What fun!

Stuck in the Suburbs is a 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie that follows a teenage girl who, as the name implies, is stuck in the suburbs. Her and her friends are obsessed with a popular singer, who, believe it or not, also gets stuck in the suburbs. They really nailed it with the name on this one.

image from Disney+

Our main character Brittany Aarons, played by Danielle Panabaker, is a typical teenage girl who can’t wait to move out of the suburbs and finally have an exciting life. She, along with all of her friends on the soccer team, is completely obsessed with pop star and teen icon, Jordan Cahill (played by Saturday Night Live alum Taran Killam.) Brittany befriends the new girl Natasha, played by Disney Channel star Brenda Song.

When Natasha enters Brittany’s world, Brittany is immediately intrigued by Natasha’s interesting and eccentric life. She’s lived in places like New York City and Europe, all while Brittany has been stuck in this nondescript suburbia. Natasha, unlike everyone around her, couldn’t care less about Jordan Cahill, and Brittany decides to hide her obsession from her new, cool friend. That is, until it’s announced that Jordan will be filming his new music video in their town.

We first meet Jordan and his long hair on set while he’s telling his best friend/personal assistant Eddie about how much he doesn’t want to sing this song. Apparently Jordan wrote lyrics, but his music producer and label changed them to better fit his brand. Also on set are Brittany, Natasha, and about a hundred screaming girls. Brittany and Natasha approach Jordan and Eddie after the video, resulting in the two groups colliding. Eddie and Brittany scramble to get their phones, and, boom, the story begins.

In case it wasn’t obvious, Brittany ends up with superstar Jordan’s phone, while Eddie is stuck with Brittany’s. Once Brittany realizes exactly whose phone she has, she and Natasha decided to wreak a little bit of havoc. They call his hair stylist and tell her to cut off his famous long hair. Everyone is upset by this- the record label, the fans, Jordan’s girlfriend. Everyone except for Jordan, who sees it as an opportunity to rebrand himself and break free from his image. They also give Jordan a brand new wardrobe, and ultimately end up accidentally breaking up his relationship.

Eddie tries many times throughout the movie to convince Brittany to return Jordan’s phone in return for hers, but she consistently refuses. She genuinely thinks she’s making Jordan’s life better, and honestly she’s having too much fun holding the power to give it up. After she causes the breakup, though, she starts to realize the consequences of her actions and agrees to return the phone if Jordan agrees to attend her mom’s protest rally.

The record company finally figures out what’s been happening and starts to track Jordan’s phone (which no one thought to do to this point.) They don’t want Jordan to perform at the rally, and they’re hoping to regain control of their rebellious popstar as soon as they can retrieve his phone. Brittany, Natasha, and Jordan plan to meet without the record company knowing, and the phones are finally returned to their owners. Not before Brittany leaks Jordan’s version of his new song, though. Jordan performs his own song at the rally with the support of his best friend Eddie, and the rest is history.

I genuinely think that this movie could be used to have a real discussion about the struggles of fame and the difference between public perception and reality, but, at the same time, it’s still a 76-minute Disney Channel Movie for kids. I think that these big, important topics could be fleshed out more within the same story to achieve a more effective message, but I also don’t believe that that was really the intention. I will say that this movie is better equipped for these conversations than Starstruck, but there’s still only so much you can do within the structure of the DCOM medium. (Read my thoughts about Starstruck here!)

Stuck in the Suburbs is one of my favorite DCOMs, but I don’t think I can articulate why. It’s not particularly good compared to some of the others, but it is still super fun to watch. I’ve always been interested in celebrity culture, so movies like Stuck in the Suburbs are perfect for me. It’s interesting to watch how fangirl culture has evolved over the years, even if this movie is exaggerated. When Jordan’s hair gets cut we see a news anchor saying things like, “the golden mane is gone,” and, “let’s hope his fans don’t go with it.” These lines seemed like jokes until I remembered when Harry Styles had a new haircut and “HE CUT HIS HAIR” trended on twitter for hours. This exaggerated-but-not-too-exaggerated approach to fandom culture makes this movie a lot of fun to watch. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to watch some teenage girls fangirling or who wants to see Taran Killam play a teen popstar for some reason. Check it out on Disney+!