Fame

Fame


Directed By: Kevin Tancharoen
Reviewed by: gothiclolitamaiden, 16
Rating: It was alright...


When I went to see this movie, I was skeptical. After seeing it, I’m still skeptical. I’ll make this clear from the outset: this movie was not my first choice, and if I’d had my way I would have seen Half-Blood Prince again, but I saw Fame instead. Nevertheless, my lack of enthusiasm shall not affect my review. Much.

I will sum up Fame in one sentence: It’s just a bunch of pretty girls and boys dancing and singing. Period. To elaborate on that statement, this movie was Hollywood-ized, which made it less believable. I did some research on the original film, which was rated R, and it confirmed my suspicions that the remake had been sugar-coated (with a PG rating) for the tween crowd (who are just now starting to grow out of High School Musical, I might add). The filmmakers sacrificed a realistic portrayal of teen life in inner-city New York (which, I imagine, is R-rated for various reasons) to make a PG-rated High School Musical-esque crowd pleaser.

The movie constantly jumps from character to character, trying to tell each of their stories in about 2 hours, which doesn’t work. The cast of characters is far too large, so large that I don’t remember any of their names (except for Kevin, because my friends and I were yelling “Don’t do it, Kevin!”). You will get attached to some characters (though you may not remember their names), but because of time restraints, and the screenwriter’s refusal to concentrate on a couple of key characters, you never get to know any of the characters. There are too many characters and not enough time, which makes the movie a bit hard to follow at times. My thinking during the movie: Hey, wasn’t that girl going out with that guy? Which pretty boy is that, I got him mixed up with that other pretty boy…. Wait, who’s she? The teachers were all very entertaining to watch, but because no one in the movie really gets any quality screen time, we don’t see much of them.

The acting was mostly average. I kind of like Kay Panabaker (though I can’t remember her character’s name), she’s pretty, but almost has a plain-jane appeal, and her acting was alright in Fame. Malik’s (one of the names I do remember) actor, Collins Pennie, was pretty good too. The other actors, in all honesty, don’t do a lot of acting. They’re either dancing or singing (though they do that well). Naturi Naughton, Denise’s (I looked her name up) actress, was a pretty good actress, but again, not a lot of opportunity for acting.

The music’s really good though, despite all my complaints about everything else. My foot was tapping almost constantly, and there’s something for everyone. Little bit of classical, rock, hip-hop, soul, and just about everything else you can think of. And there is one broadway-esque musical number, for those of you who like that sort of thing.

Fame is a good movie to see with friends, once it’s out on DVD it’ll make a great party movie. But Fame is not the most profound of movies. It scrapes the surface of inner-city life, but it mostly sugar coats that surface for the tweens.

This movie is good for teens, tweens and adults, but not for kids. In one scene, a girl gets drunk (and I’m sure inner city kids do more than get drunk, but I’ll overlook it because I’m tired of ranting about this movie). This may be reminiscent of Disney and its High School Musical (the directors of which I’d like to burn at the stake) spawn, but there is some content, including some moments of pure teen hormones. So no little kiddies at this movie, and no adults and teens who (like me) find sugar-coated movies distasteful. See this movie if you like to drool over hot guys (or girls) or if you like music. If you’re looking for a realistic movie with a great plot, look elsewhere. There are probably better movies out in theaters right now (not that I go too often, I prefer the company of a good book, since a movie plus snacks typically costs more than a good novel).


Recommended to: Older children, teens and adults, as long as you don't mind fluffy movies.