Though this one felt like every other teen musical/dance movie that is out right now, I enjoyed Fame. I never saw the old one, which I heard people loved, so I can’t compare it to that, but the new felt very much like something that will never be spoken of again. There were some good songs, especially the 2nd to last song featuring the piano playing girl who wants to be a r&B singer. The movie should have ended after this one. I totally wanted to start performing on stage after this one (not gonna happen). The last song was one of those lame, “let’s have everybody sing together because it’s graduation” numbers. And it didn’t include the hot dancer chick (Kherington Payne of the show So You Think You Can Dance) cause she dropped out. This wouldn’t have made up for the fairly bad acting and cliche characters that exist in every teen movie, but it would have helped a little.
On a more personal note, the characters in this film reminded me of the people I competed with in high school. Allow me to explain. I came from a very small high school (like 200 people in entire HS) and I was very involved in the performing arts (particularly in music and drama/public speaking). Whenever I made it to the state level of competition for any of the organizations I was in, I always had to compete against the Detroit School of Fine Arts kids, so basically students whose main purpose in school was to be great at whatever they were performing in, whereas students like me basically did everything and therefore, did not spend as much time. Many of them were nice enough people, just from a very different place. Some did act a bit pompous, as they were much more highly trained from pros instead of from the English teacher or mom. I enjoyed beating them more than others as it felt like a victory not just for myself or my school, but for the small town life in general. I think I wanted to show them that the best can come from anywhere. I also think I wished I had some of the opportunities they had.
