Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

An 8th grade boy loves to play the drums. His 5 year-old brother is sooo cute, but can be such a pain. One day things change. The younger brother comes down with cancer. This brings all sorts of struggles to the family. With the struggles, the older brother learns that he really loves his younger brother. There are also a couple of girls, the girl that he has a crush on, and the "friend" that he ignores. Of course, he ends up with the friend as a "girlfriend". (But the "crush" girl does eventually become a human "friend" instead of being dumped in the mud.) A big climax event is a benefit concert, organized by the two girls. It helps raise money for the family, and allow the jazz band to stay together. (Really, people would drop band just because of a public service requirement? And they would allow a benefit concert to fulfill the requirement? Ok, it's a little far out, but you have to have a climax, right?) He plays the first half of the concert, but his brother gets sick for the second half. They have to run to the ER, but luckily, everything turns out ok.

Yeah, it is pretty much all cliches. (You can just see it as a "heartwarming" movie.) So, it just comes down to the storytelling. Luckily, the writing is well executed. I also enjoyed the details on drummy. (Hey! He got it right!)