Jem and the Holograms (film)

Jem and the Holograms
General information
Genre	Musical, fantasy, drama
Musicy by	Nathan Lanier
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Producer(s)	Jason Blum Scooter Braun Jon M. Chu Stephen Davis Brian Goldner Bennett Schneir
Starring	Hayley Kiyoko Aubrey Peeples Stefanie Scott Aurora Perrineau Ryan Guzman Molly Ringwald Juliette Lewis
Running time	118 minutes
Released	October 23, 2015

Jem and the Holograms is a 2015 American musical fantasy drama film co-produced and directed by Jon M. Chu, written by Ryan Landels, and starring Aubrey Peeples (as the title character), Stefanie Scott, Hayley Kiyoko (as Aja Leith), Aurora Perrineau, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald, and Juliette Lewis. Borrowing elements from the 1980s animated television series Jem by Christy Marx, the film was produced by Hasbro Studios and Blumhouse Productions.

Plot

Teenaged songwriter Jerrica Benton and her younger sister Kimber live with their Aunt Bailey and two foster sisters, Aja and Shana. The four girls frequently videotape themselves playing music and wearing colorful '80s outfits just for fun, but Jerrica is too shy to sing on camera. Jerrica learns one day that due to Aunt Bailey's financial problems their house will be auctioned. She vents her emotions by recording a song with the video camera Kimber uses to post blogs. She disguises herself by calling herself Jem, her deceased father's nickname for her.

She is interrupted just before deleting the video and an Internet-obsessed Kimber posts it onto YouTube. The video attracts millions of views in a single day. Jerrica is offered a record deal by Starlight Productions and travels to LA with her sisters. They meet music producer Erica Raymond and her son Rio. Erica is polite and courteous with the four girls but shows particular interest in Jerrica, who she sees as a potential superstar.

The girls settle down in LA and discuss their next move. They've brought along a small robot called 51N3RG.Y (pronounced synergy) built by the Benton sisters' deceased father, Emmett. The robot suddenly activates itself and leads them on a scavenger hunt. Each clue represents something Jerrica did or wanted to do with her father. The objective is to find several missing pieces designed to fit into the robot so that it can be fully activated. The girls find the first piece in the Santa Monica Pier. They find the second clue in a guitar once owned by Jerrica's father when, by coincidence, the band plays a concert.

Rio and Jerrica begin to develop feelings for each other, much to Erica's dismay. Erica signs Rio off to another singer in an attempt to keep him away from Jerrica. Aunt Bailey tells Jerrica via FaceTime that their house is going for auction in a few days. Desperate to save the home, Jerrica asks Erica for an advance. Erica says she will oblige if Jerrica agrees to leave her sisters and start a solo contract. Jerrica relents, believing she is doing it for the family. Her sisters discover the truth about the contract, denounce her for leaving them out of the deal, and leave. After a dull solo performance, Jerrica becomes depressed over her mistake and goes to visit the LA house where she used to live with Kimber and her father.

Her sisters arrive to visit her at the old house and make amends. They vow to help her finish the scavenger hunt and Rio goes along too. Jerrica realizes that the last piece is the earrings her dad told her to wear, but Erica made her take them off when she first went to Starlight. The earrings are now stored in Erica's office. Rio and the girls break into Starlight headquarters, almost getting caught by Erica, but succeed. The reward for finishing the hunt is a final hologram message from Jerrica and Kimber's father. They also discover Rio's late father's will, which gives him a majority of shares in Starlight and effectively puts him in control of the company.

With the house safe, Jem and her sisters play in their concert together. Rio chats with a woman called Lindsey Pierce at the concert. She offers to give the band the cover of Rolling Stone, and asks Rio what to call the band; he suggests "Jem and the Holograms".

In a mid-credits scene, Erica, now terminated from Starlight, arrives in a seedy junkyard, where she attempts to recruit a group of punkish young women into a band to rival the Holograms. They decline, saying that Erica dropped them the first time they were signed with Starlight. They change their minds when the leader, Pizzazz, discovers that Rio is dating Jem, and take Erica inside. The graffiti on the side of their trailer reveals their name as the Misfits.

Cast

Aubrey Peeples as Jerrica "Jem" Benton Isabella Rice as young Jerrica Stefanie Scott as Kimber Benton Hayley Kiyoko as Aja Leith Aurora Perrineau as Shana Wynter Perrineau as young Shana Juliette Lewis as Erica Raymond

Ryan Guzman as Rio Raymond Molly Ringwald as Aunt Bailey Nathan Moore as Zipper Barnaby Carpenter as Emmet Benton Ryan Hansen as Stephen the Guard Quddus as VJ Kesha as Pizzazz Hana Mae Lee as Roxy

Katie Findlay as Stormer Eiza González as Jetta Jimmy Fallon as himself Dwayne Johnson as himself Alicia Keys as herself Chris Pratt as himself

Controversy

Footage of celebrities and fans talking about the Jem animated series was edited into the film in such a manner that the fans appeared to be talking about the film's version of the characters. The fans who submitted the footage were not informed as to how it would be used in the film, resulting in many being upset by the manipulation of their perspectives on the character and series.