Ally (Nina Dobrey) is there all the time either in her mom's music shop or practicing her music after hours. She's determined that she is going to have a music career now that she's out of high school. Even though her mom couldn't make it in music, Ally is sure that she can. Joey (Rob Mayes) is there all the time because he is a janitor. He and 3 other janitors have their own band and are determined to become rock stars. Of course, Ally and Joey are destined to meet each other. Madison (Autumn Reeser) spends most of her time there for a different reason. Her father owns the mall. She wants to make him proud of her by opening a successful boutique. Unfortunately, she is a total witch with a capital B, walking over everyone she perceives to be in her way for no reason at all. She has a total hatred of Ally. There are several others friends of Ally's that work in the mall and spend most of their free time there as well.
While The American Mall was a decent movie, there were some glaring problems with it. The dance scenes seemed shoved in. Only a few of them were transitioned into well. One other problem was the lack of back story. It left us questioning why Madison was such a horrible person, why her father was so inattentive to Madison, and how long Ally's mom was in music, among other things. But, the acting was great; the dance scenes were good, so overall it was a decent experience. We really enjoyed seeing that our favorite dancer from last year's So You Think You Can Dance, Neil Haskell, plays one of the janitors. He's quite humorous.
The DVD also has some entertaining special features. We thought that at least one of the deleted scenes should have been left in there. It would have explained at least one of the things that we felt was left out, namely part of why Madison hates Ally. There are also some amusing bloopers, music videos, and extended dance performances, not to mention commentaries.
If you liked High School Musical or even the classic movie Grease, you should check out The American Mall on MTV or DVD. Even with its problems, it's still an entertaining movie.
