Movie Review - Fame (2009)

Starring Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Asher Book, Charles S. Dutton, Megan Mullally, Bebe Neuwirth, and Kelsey Grammer
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen

There's some talented young actors here in this movie, but there's far too many of them in order to make this movie work. We follow a group of teenagers at a performing arts school in NYC from their freshman through senior years. The point is that we get to know these kids, care about their problems, learn about their dreams, and hope for their success in the end.

Unfortunately, the problem is that there are way too many kids here. The screenwriter spread everything too thin. We learn a tidbit about this kid, a nugget about another, but none of these kids are fully realized characters.

And that's unfortunate because there are some decent performances here. Naturi Naughton, who I thought was great in Notorious earlier this year, is quite a find. She can sing, she can act, and I look forward to seeing her in other things. Naughton plays Denise, a young classically trained pianist who really just longs to sing. Kay Panabaker is Jenny, an actress who is too shy for her own good. Asher Book is Marco, a singer with a great voice. These descriptions that I'm giving of these kids may seem overly simplified, but that's all we get to know about them. There's nothing there...and it's a shame. [In addition to some decent performances, there's also a really bad one from Kherington Payne who was apparently a dancer on "So You Think You Can Dance." She should stick to her day job because acting is not her thing.]

The director has an annoying tendency of juxtaposing two scenes against one another -- for example, the Asian girl is speaking to the principal at the same time the rapper is revealing the reason for his anger. The scenes really don't relate to one another, but they're played off of each other in a ridiculous manner.

And I'm not gonna even get into the first "musical" act of the film where all the kids in the cafeteria come together and spontaneously break into song. It would be one thing if the movie was a musical -- if the characters were supposed to break into song, okay...I'll suspend disbelief. However, this film isn't a musical. It's a movie with musical elements in it. It was a ridiculous scene and it started the movie off on a bum note.

The screenwriter and director did a disservice to the kids here. There may have been something here, but the writing is too bland and the direction is too tv-movie-ish to rise above the standard movie clichés.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Notorious (2009)

Starring Jamal Woodard, Derek Luke, Anthony Mackie, and Angela Bassett
Written by Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker
Directed by George Tillman, Jr.

It's tough for me to get behind a movie that idolizes a drug dealer. Yes, he "rose above" the drug trade and decided to rap about his difficult life, but he still is known and revered for being part of the infamous East Coast/West Coast rivalry. The sole purpose of this movie is to appeal to youth and I'm not really sure that Christopher "Biggie" Wallace is someone that they should deify.

Despite my generalized misgivings, I actually thought the film was decent. The biopic is probably my least favorite genre, and while this didn't break the mold, it wasn't boring which is my major issue with these types of films. Still, I went into this knowing not a whole lot about the life of Notorious B.I.G. and I came out (at the very least) interested in the guy, despite the fact that I will never download a song by him (or his friend-turned rival Tupac).

The film is helped by some good performances from the supporting cast. Naturi Naughton as Lil' Kim was the stand-out to me -- quite appealing, exuding sex appeal, while at the same time, holding her own against the larger-than-life "characters" onscreen. Derek Luke's Puff Daddy was a notch above his co-stars, as well, although a little spastic and jumpy (although, I simply took that as the way Puffy actually is). I also liked Angela Bassett as Biggie's mother -- Bassett is always a strong presence onscreen and it really was no different here. If anything, the performance I was most disappointed in was that of Jamal Woodard's Biggie. This was his first (and as of now, only) role, but something didn't click for me with his performance. Not that he ruined the film for me, but I just felt like he was overshadowed by some of his costars, and he should've been the one that towered over them.

The film is full of incredibly corny dialogue -- "We can't change the world unless we change ourselves" is just one example -- and this is especially evident towards the end. Try as I might, I just can't seem to shake the thought that the movie paints Biggie as this saintly figure who just wants to follow the "Why can't we all just get along" mantra which I find incredibly unbelievable. And it still boggles my mind that this guy who released one album prior to his death at age 24 (with another that was to be released mere days after his death) was such a major figure in the rap scene during the 90s.

Despite these problems, the film looked good, flowed well, and helped me "learn" about something/someone that I really knew nothing about in an enjoyable manner. And while rap is a genre of music that I'll never get and probably never like, this flick was certainly better than I ever expected it to be.

The RyMickey Rating: B-