Movie Summary of Fame by Michael the Moviegoer.
FAME = **
“Lame”
As the theatre lights come down and the movie begins, over the soundtrack we hear the word “remember” repeated over and over. OK… I will!
“Fame” is a film that follows a group of talented students through four years at New York’s High School Of Performing Arts. In almost documentary-like style, the movie is divided into chapters from audition day to graduation.
I remember in my review of “High School Musical” recalling that the original 1980 “Fame” was the ‘real’ “High School Musical”. It was raw, realistic and R-rated, the way high school really is. This new PG-rated “Fame”, with a running time nearly 45 minutes shorter than the original film, feels artificial and clearly only exists because of the success of “High School Musical”. It’s like an amusement park attraction based on a popular movie. “Fame – The Ride”!
Every scene seems designed only to help us remember the original 1980 Oscar-winning classic. This is obvious right down to the casting of many look-alike actors. Why is Charles S. Dutton the drama teacher? Is it because he’s bald and black? The ballet teacher looks so much like the original actress from thirty years ago that I wonder if it might actually be her daughter! However, there’s no way to explain the casting of Kelsey Grammer as the music teacher.
The freshest new face here among the young actors belongs to Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. But perhaps she should have enrolled in a class that teaches how to select a stage name!
Following the success of the original film, “Fame” became a TV series. This new “Fame” seems like a movie version of that TV series. It’s an odd combination of a remake AND a sequel! It’s a sequel in that it’s set 30 years later with different characters. It’s a remake in that some of the new characters find themselves in repeat situations of the characters from 30 years ago. Even the old song “Out Here On My Own” is performed by Naturi Naughton, this film’s Irene Cara. Couldn’t they have found anyone out there to write a new song for her to sing in this film?
Alan Parker directed the original 1980 “Fame” following his Best Director Oscar nomination for “Midnight Express”. So that movie looks like it’s been made by someone with substantial experience. This new “Fame” is the feature debut by newcomer Kevin Tancharoen and it feels like it was his own high school class project made by a lazy C-grade student.
It would have been nice if Parker had been hired to re-visit and direct a remake of his film, turning it into a franchise-style series that follows a new generation of kids through this school every four or five years. Kind of like Michael Apted’s “Up” series documentaries. Each new film could be a launching pad for new young talent and new hit songs. “American Idol: The Movie”?
But this wrong-headed approach seems destined to prevent “Fame” from ever being an on-going franchise. Maybe in another 30 years they’ll get it right.
The finale is far from “I Sing The Body Electric”. The new graduation song is so forgettably bland, I can’t even remember its name. I just left the theatre with memories of the original film’s ending, which felt like a burst of orgasmic excitement when the song ended and the film abruptly cut to the end credits. In attempting to re-capture that feeling, the new “Fame” ends the same way, but it feels more like someone just ran up to the projection booth and yanked the plug out of the wall.
DVD Double Feature: “Fame”, the 1980 original . Duh!
Michael The Moviegoer
