Stuck in the Suburbs

Stuck in the Suburbs is a Disney Channel Original Movie. It was released on July 16, 2004, and stars Danielle Panabaker as Brittany Aarons and Brenda Song as Natasha Kwon-Schwartz. Brittany, a regular middle school student in the suburbs, accidentally exchanges cell phones with pop singer Jordan Cahill. This was one of the first made-for-television movies by Disney which was also accompanied by its own soundtrack. The film gathered 3.7 million viewers which made the film the most-watched telecast in its time period in the kids 6-11 and 9-14 demographics. The film's soundtrack entered the U.S. Billboard 200 and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio charts.

Plot
Brittany Aarons (Danielle Panabaker) is one of the many girls who has a crush on popular singer and boy-toy Jordan Cahill (Taran Killam). However, she is bored of living a suburban existence and seeks a little something more. She meets the new girl Natasha Kwon-Schwartz (Brenda Song), who looks like an Upper East-sider from the City, except she's not. Upon Natasha's arrival, Brittany slowly starts to make a move towards breaking out of her conformist routines, but not before becoming an extra in Jordan's latest music video, and inviting Natasha to join her and her fangirl friends. When Jordan and his team bump into Brittany and Natasha after a show, Eddie (Jordan's assistant) and Brittany collect their stuff, and accidentally take each other's cell phones.

Once Brittany gets a hold of Jordan's much more sophisticated phone, Natasha convinces Brittany that it would be fun to mess with his career. They prank call his hair stylist, get her to cut off all his hair, and have someone serve him raisins, which he hates. Along the way they find that Jordan's life is not the life he chooses, but rather the one his record company wants for him. They will not even allow him to use the original lyrics he wants for his own songs. At first he is terrified that his personal barber gave him a major haircut, but eventually accepts it as the first step towards a break from his manufactured image. Eventually the girls attempt to force him to do a concert to save a historic house but he runs away.

He calls Brittany (who had previously been dealing with his best friend Eddie) and explains everything to her. She and Natasha (who had a falling out) make up and go to meet up with him while being chased by the record company who are tracking his phone. They send his lyrics for one of his songs "More Than Me" to everyone through Brittany's phone, ditch his phone and get a ride to the concert with Brittany's sister. At the concert Eddie tries to stop him but ultimately supports him and they save the house. Brittany, Natasha, and Brittany's fangirl friends become dancers in the music video he was making at the beginning of the movie with Eddie replacing Jordan in it. It is shown that Brittany and Jordan keep in touch, and although he invites her to go to New York with him (over the phone), she declines, saying things are really exciting in her suburban town.

Cast

 * Danielle Panabaker as Brittany Aarons
 * Brenda Song as Natasha Kwon-Schwartz
 * Taran Killam as Jordan Cahill
 * Ryan Belleville as Eddie
 * Amanda Shaw as Kaylee Holland
 * Cici Hedgpeth as Ashley Simon
 * Jennie Garland as Olivia Hooper
 * Todd Stashwick as Len
 * Kirsten Nelson as Susan Aarons
 * Corri English as Jessie Aarons
 * Patrick Stogner as Cooper Aarons
 * Lara Grice as Soccer Mom (Olivia's Mom)
 * Ric Reitz as David Aarons
 * Drew Seeley as David (Desk Clerk at Hotel)

Production
The film was mostly shot on several locations throughout the Greater New Orleans Area, in particular St. Tammany Parish. The school scenes were filmed in the atrium, front steps, and the courtyard of Ben Franklin High School in the Lakefront area. Lockers were temporarily moved into the atrium to give the appearance of a hallway, and door frames were painted with temporary red paint.

The music video for "Make a Wish" was filmed in City Park in New Orleans. The other video is filmed at the Piaza d'Italia in Downtown New Orleans.

The "Old House" from the film is actually the Otis House from Fairview-Riverside State Park in Madisonville on the Northshore. The house was aged for production, but restored to its actual appearance at the end of the film. The Otis House was originally built in the 1880s, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1998, and it actually is located near the expanding suburb of Mandeville. When Brittany is riding through the suburbs on her bike she is actually riding through Lafreniere Park.

Soundtrack
Walt Disney Records released a soundtrack for the album to promote the television movie with the original movie promotional poster. The songs below are included in the first edition of the soundtrack:

Songs

 * 1) "A Whatever Life" - Haylie Duff
 * 2) "Fade Away" - Whitney Minson
 * 3) "Good Life" - Jesse McCartney
 * 4) "Stuck" - Stacie Orrico
 * 5) "Over It" - Anneliese van der Pol
 * 6) "Stuck in the Middle With You" - Stealers Wheel
 * 7) "Take Me Back Home" - Greg Raposo
 * 8) "More Than Me" (Acoustic) - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam
 * 9) "On Top of the World" - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam
 * 10) "Make a Wish" - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam
 * 11) "More Than Me" (Pop Version) - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam

Collectors edition
The enhanced golden collectors edition included the following songs with the same promotional movie poster:


 * 1) "A Whatever Life" Remix - Haylie Duff
 * 2) "Good Life" (Acoustic) - Jesse McCartney
 * 3) "Stuck" - Stacie Orrico
 * 4) "Over It" Remix - Anneliese van der Pol
 * 5) "Stuck in the Middle With You" - Stealers Wheel
 * 6) "Take Me Back Home" - Greg Raposo
 * 7) "More Than Me" (Acoustic) - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam
 * 8) "On Top of the World" - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam
 * 9) "Make a Wish" - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam
 * 10) "More Than Me" (Pop Version) - Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam

Contributions
"Good Life" and "Over It" was featured in several DisneyMania and Walt Disney Records albums and complaition soundtracks. "More Than Me" by Jordan Cahill / Taran Killam was featured in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Haylie Duff's "A Whatever Life" was in 7th Heaven.

Viewership and ratings
The film received 3.7 million viewers at its TV premiere, including top rankings in the time period in the kids 6-11 and 9-14 demographics.