Not liking to feel older than I am (which is not that old), I decided to see HSM3 for myself, to find out once and for all what the fuss is about. I convinced two adult male friends to join me, one of whom wore a chimpanzee mask during the entire film. But that’s a story for another column. Perhaps I’ll write about that soon.

The action, for anyone else unfamiliar with the property, takes place in a New Mexico high school where the characters from the previous movies are now entering their senior year and realizing that the future will take them in different directions. Basketball starburgeoning musical theater-lover Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) has to decide whether to pursue the hoops scholarship his father wants him to accept or the Julliard scholarship he secretly desires. Girlfriend Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), meanwhile, has accepted that she needs to let Troy go in order to fulfill her own college dreams, thus putting their relationship in jeopardy.