Kat and the Band

Available on several streaming services.

Directed by E.E. Hegarty and starring Ella Hunt, Kat and the Band is the story of 17 year old Kat Malone, a schoolgirl with dreams of being a manager of a band and when she sees potential in struggling act Dollar Days she decides to take them on by pretending she is already an established manager and she has a plan to make them stars.

It’s certainly not the most original conceit (very similar to the recent How to build a girl) and is a very odd film to judge.

Let’s start with the negatives, there is a lot of this film that just isn’t very good, the story is unsurprising, the script very clunky and some of the performances horribly wooden although they are limited by that clunky uninspiring dialogue and there is very little depth to the character’s, from the odd bumblings of her wise gran, to the strange strained but never explored relationship between Kat and her best friend Jane.

But that said it would be wrong to claim this is a complete write off. There is an offbeat home spun charm to it and in Ella Hunt’s Kat we at least have a character to cheer on and hope to see her come good. Around her this is a couple of other enjoyable performances Idris Debrand and Sevan Stephan particularly bring some warmth and humour.

All that said, it’s certainly not a great film or to be fair even that good, but there is something there and if you are prepared to forgive its many failings then there is some pleasure to be had, but if you’re not, then there isn’t!