Lemonade Mouth

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Disney Channel Original Movie Based on a book of the same name by Mark Peter Hughes. It premiered on April 15, 2011, and was decidedly Better Than It Sounds.

Five high school students meet in detention and discover a shared love of music and organic lemonade. Despite a rocky start and constant interference from an arrogant, self-important rival band and a Jerkass principal, they manage to form an anti-establishment rock band that takes off like a rocket.

It's about making friends, growing up, and saving a lemonade vending machine.

Not to be confused with Mountain Dew Mouth.


Tropes used in Lemonade Mouth include:
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: The whole band, beside Mo.
  • Adorkable: Wen, and to a lesser extent Charlie, but mostly Wen. You should hear him rap.
  • Adrenaline Makeover: The outfits that Mo wears on stage with Lemonade Mouth are not something you'd arguably see her wearing anywhere else.
  • Aloof Big Brother: Charlie's brother, although he actually turns out to be a Broken Ace (Type 2).
  • Angsty Surviving Twin: Charlie, in the book (see "Disneyfication" below).
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Played with; she doesn't say it outright, but Olivia makes it clear to Wen that her feelings for him are the reason she's with Lemonade Mouth.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Someone stuck gum underneath a bleacher seat in the new gym, and the principal is not amused.
  • Asian Airhead: Blown all the way to hell and back by Stella, who is visionary, leader and driving force of not only Lemonade Mouth, but in the effort to give the students a voice, and the one who gets Mel to build the music hall for the school.
  • Badass Creed: Be Strong, Be Heard, Be Proud!
  • Berserk Button: Doing anything that defaces the school, or the new gym, will put you in hock with the principal, whether you did it or not. (See the "Lemonade Mouth banner" incident in the cafeteria.) Also, "a school dance is no place for a political tirade."
  • Bishonen: Scott, and hinted at with Charlie.
  • Blondes Are Evil: Disneyfied so that it's Lighter and Softer, but Jules comes across as this (as well as the Alpha Bitch).
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: Played straight with Ray, and averted with Scott.
  • Boastful Rap: Wen's vocal contribution to "Determinate".
  • Bollywood Nerd: What Mo's father wants her to be. She isn't.
  • Break the Cutie: In a nutshell, life for Olivia - almost to the point of Deus Angst Machina.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Believe it or not, Naomi Scott (Mo) is actually Indian, despite how she looks.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Wen (Adam Hicks) is the only guy who even approaches Hollywood Nerd levels - and the show strongly insinuates he's going to hook up with Olivia.
  • The Cast Showoff: The actors that make up the band (and how!)
    • Actually probably the entire cast as when they all sing "Determinate".
  • Chaste Hero: Charlie, who doesn't understand that girls really do like him, and not just the band. Stella also qualifies.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The lemonade machine, arguably.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The 'Rising Star' audience, as Lemonade Mouth begins to self-destruct on stage.
  • Cool Loser: The members of Lemonade Mouth, especially Stella.
  • Cute Kitten: Wen gets Olivia a kitten to replace her pet cat.
  • Dark Horse Victory: Played with, as Lemonade Mouth doesn't win at Rising Star (or even play) but ends up becoming a successful band that plays Madison Square Garden.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Stella embodies this trope.
  • Determinator: Stella embodies this trope; inverted in that Olivia has to be coaxed by the others in order to do everything. Hilarious in Hindsight when you consider that Olivia wrote "Determinate".
    • All of them when they attempt to sing even while the main vocalists have sicknesses. Again, consider the song they were singing.
  • Disneyfication: Compared to the book, it is less edgy.
    • Example: Movie!Charlie's big brother is away at college for most of the film. In the book, he's Charlie's twin and died in childbirth with the umbilical cord around his neck.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: So much so, that this could also be a secondary theme of the film.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Ms. Resnik.
  • Elaborate University High: A plot point in both book and movie, the latter was shot on location in several with Ms. Resnik's actress commenting that she'd never seen such nice high schools before coming to Albuquerque.
  • Establishing Character Moment: the scene where the kids sing "Turn Up the Music" neatly defines the members of Lemonade Mouth and their personalities.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Played Lighter and Softer with Scott, as Ray's antics towards the band (and Mo) makes him leave Mudslide Crush.
  • Expy: Lemonade Mouth themselves are expies of the detention gang from The Breakfast Club, especially Charlie and Wen.
  • Failed a Spot Check:

Stella's Brother: When did you become a vegetarian?
Stella's Dad: Yeah, uh, when did this happen?
Stella: (looks down at shirt reading "Vegetarians Rock!") ...four months ago?