MOVIE REVIEW : ROCK ‘N’ ROLL, R&B; SHARE A HEARTBEAT IN ‘JOEY’

A couple of suburban Manhattan high school kids who have their own rock band are practicing very late at night when the widowed father of one tells them it’s time to break it up. When 17-year-old Joey (Neill Barry) starts to resist, his dad (James Quinn) snatches up the boy’s guitar and smashes it.

“Joey” (at the Monica 4-Plex) is as unexpected as the angry act that sets it in motion. Like “Lucas,” another teen movie that takes its title from its hero’s name, its young people are not only believable but actually likable.

Writer-producer-director Joseph Ellison, whose sole previous feature credit was the gory “Don’t Go in the House,” matches his ability to take us into Joey’s world with a solid sense of structure that gives his film substance and tension.

Quinn’s display of anger results in Joey’s running away. In a sweetly comic sequence he’s given shelter for the night by his girlfriend (Elisa Heinsohn) under the very nose of her tipsy, domineering mother. Then he has a skirmish with a gang of bullies, ending up with the cops on his tail while he struggles to keep a date with his group, playing backup at the upcoming doo-wop show at Radio City Music Hall.

Meanwhile, the show’s promoter (Frankie Lanz) is trying to locate Quinn, once a top rock ‘n’ roller but now a hard-drinking mechanic, and who’s gradually admitting to himself that he smashed his son’s guitar out of jealousy.

It’s easy enough to guess how--and where--the film is going to finish, but the getting there is fun and its sentiment is well earned. Based on a story by Ellen Hammill (who also plays Quinn’s loving but sensible partner at their garage), “Joey” has lots going on to keep it moving, which allows some compassionate observation of teen-age emotions and aspirations, plenty of rock music (old and new) and an engaging portrait of an estranged father and son coming to terms with themselves and each other. And Barry and Quinn are convincing and believable as musicians.

In “Joey” the parent-and-child anguish is deftly counterpointed with amusing auditions for Lanz’s show. There’s a very funny sequence in which Joey and his pals struggle to mesh their accompaniment with a gaudily attired group of vintage singers--a real group, by the way--as they pour out a syrupy, ‘50s-perfect “Unchained Melody.” Even Screamin’ Jay Hawkins shows up to do a raucous “I Put a Spell on You” in a witch-doctor routine amid dry-ice clouds. And when Joey does end up in jail briefly, a couple of excited girls from school come to visit him, bringing, among other surprises, a harmonica--because “all those convicts in the movies play a harmonica.”

It would be misleading to oversell “Joey” (rated an appropriate PG), a determinedly modest, low-budget undertaking. It has no glitz, no big production values, but it does have a good-natured sense of caring, a quality not exactly in abundance on the screen these days.

‘JOEY’

A Satori release. Executive producer Frank Lanziano. Writer-producer-director Joseph Ellison. From a story by Ellen Hammill. Camera Oliver Wood. Original music Jim Roberge. Associate producer Jeffrey Silver. Created by Frank Lanziano. Film editor Christopher Andrews. With Neill Barry, James Quinn, Elisa Heinsohn, Linda Thorson, Ellen Hammill, Rickey Ellis, Dee Hourican, Dan Grimaldi, Frankie Lanz.

Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes.

MPAA rating: PG (parental guidance suggested; some material may not be suitable for children).