Movie Review - Fame

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That ‘80s TV and movie gem Fame is back on the big screen in what the creators are calling a “reinvention.”  For those of you that don’t recall, Fame followed the lives of students and teachers at New York City High School for the Performing Arts.  The school was founded in 1936 and served as a forum for NYC’s most artistically talented students to master their craft without forsaking a traditional education.  It’s like Hogwarts for theater nerds.  Famous alumni include Robert De Niro, Dom DeLuise, Ellen Barkin, Jennifer Aniston, Hal Linden, Liza Minnelli, Al Pacino, Paul Stanley (yeah, that Paul Stanley) and many, many more.  So there’s your history lesson.  The film opens with the well-known Fame quote: You got big dreams? You want fame? Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying ... in sweat.  Interestingly, early in the film Principal Simms (original Fame cast member Debbie Allen) gives a similar speech to incoming freshmen.  Only this time it’s more cautionary.  Thirty years ago, “fame” was the carrot to Debbie Allen’s dance instructor stick.  Today we live in a world where fame can be had for a variety of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with talent.  Now “fame” is presented as a byproduct; the result of some ineffable combination of talent and luck.  “Fame” is no longer proof of success, working is.

When the original was released, it had a behind-the-scenes, Inside Baseball quality about it.  Most people had never thought about where the singers, dancers, actors and musicians that entertain us actually came from let alone how or where they learned their craft.  It was a gritty (for its day) look at the entertainment industry.  But in an age when programs like American Idol show us weekly just exactly how the sausage is made, why should we care?  A film like this can feel superfluous (at best) or condescendingly redundant (at worst).  While the stories are different, the lessons are the same: some will succeed, some will fail and some will be taken advantage of. 

The film has a four year structure beginning with Auditions/Freshmen Year.  As the students funnel through the try-out process, we see many big fish from little ponds testing new waters.  The story again follows a myriad of students.  Jenny (Kay Panabaker) who is talented but shy.  Denise (Naturi Naughton), the classical pianist with the strict father.  Malik (Collins Pennie) trying to pull himself out of the “mean streets.”  And on, and on.  Throw in teachers played by people like Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, Bebe Neuwirth and Charles S. Dutton and you have a film that is, at times, crushed under the weight of its own supporting cast.  The film tracks no fewer than nine students over four years.  When all that’s compressed into an hour and forty-five minutes, it becomes virtually impossible to keep up.  By the time the film introduces all of its characters (and their respective storylines) the film is half over.  The whole thing plays more like a TV pilot than a feature film. 

Additionally, the film has been stripped of its predecessor’s more controversial elements.  Gone are subplots about abortion, sexual assault and homosexuality.  Instead, we get strict parents that don’t like hip-hop and a single mother that doesn’t want her son to reach for the stars.  These sorts of storylines wouldn’t make it out of a High School Musical 4 brainstorming session.

The production numbers, while good, never match the energy of the original.  While it’s not always fair to compare films so directly, the new Fame invites just such comparison when it attempts to recreate the original’s joyfully frenetic “Hot Lunch Jam,” Irene Cara’s soulful solo rendition of “Out Here on My Own” or its graduation ceremony production number.  And while it’s easy, in the light of a new millennium, to mock a song like “I’m Gonna Live Forever” nothing here approaches it grandeur.  The film never captures the joy of performance or the pride of artistic creation. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Fame (1980) and 1 being Dance Flick, Fame gets 4.

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