It's Always the Same...FAME

I was attempting to change the words to the song and give a cute snappy title with this blog's title, I can admit defeat! Anyways, I'm glad that I can finally talk about the re-make/re-invention of the early fall movie musical of 2009. My mom has now given me her opinion, so it is free for me to talk about!


The beauty of the storyline is that if you are an artist, know an artist, or ever had any interest in becoming a performing artist the story is universal throughout the decades. Fortunately, we escaped the bad spandex (trust me, there can be a good kind!) and haphazard dance sequences that the 80's were famous for, AKA Jennifer Beal's 18 edited pirouettes that were actually done by...A MAN!

The new FAME has an unknown cast with the added bonus of vibrant supporting characters such as Megan Mullally, Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth. The beauty in these unknown artists was that they were actually talented. In the typical fashion of dance oriented movies the actors usually can't...act, but I was pleasantly surprised in the capabilities of these young artists, especially Kherington Payne and Paul McGill. I think it did help the newcomer Kherington, who was first noticed on the 4th Season of SYTYCD, that her prominent acting moments were short and sweet, but when there are as many short stories going on that were in this film it's to be expected.

Some of my highlights:

*Megan Mullally takes her voice class to a karaoke bar, she hops up on stage! I love her voice, but I was disappointed in the song choice and the simple fact that I couldn't actually understand the lyrics.

*I was impressed by newcomer Naturi Naughton, who is the prominent female powerhouse who breaks out from behind the comforts of her piano to be in the spotlight. Best part about her was that they didn't make her actually sing 'Fame' IN the movie!

*I really enjoyed the Halloween Party/Dance. It was a great way to add some quirk to the movie, and give us another fabulous dance sequence.

*And of course there is the famous music/dance break in the cafeteria where everyone starts dancing on the tables and the dancers just so happen to have on their tap shoes. This totally happened in my High School! Yea Right. But I'll admit, it still makes me smile.

I'm sad to see that the response to the movie hasn't been all that exciting. I am basing this on word of mouth and the fact that I was sitting in the theatre alone opening day (it was 11am). I know to most it is a cheesy story with a bunch of kids bopping around the streets of New York City. But that is the immature eye. This movie represents those early and formative years of hope, passion desire, naïveté, heartbreak and those little bits of success that you hold onto in those days that make you question everything around you. for the two hours that I spent in the theatre watching these people doing not only what I want to do (dance, make movies) I was reminded why I do it... because if you can help it, why would you do anything else?!