Fame (2009)

  Man this remake sucked.  I wasn't even a fan of the original but at least it had something to say.  It dealt with uncomfortable subjects and the seamier side of the arts industry.  A dancer had to choose between giving up her career or an abortion.  A singer is pressured to strip for a producer.  It was difficult to watch but it was very illustrative of the lengths people will go.

This one is very pretty, very flashy, and completely flat.  Dance 10, Looks 3 for sure.

All of the kids are stock characters.  There's the kid whose parents want her to pursue classical piano while she wants to branch out into hip-hop.  There's the rich girl dating some kid from across the tracks to piss off her parents.  The ghetto kid attending this performing arts high school who is hiding it from his mother so he can pursue his dream.  The kid from the middle of nowhere who wants to make it in the Big City.

It might have been better, had there been any semblance of a plot stringing this together.  Instead, all the money was blown on a "Halloween CarnEVIL" dance showpiece that, while impressive, furthers the story not one whit. 

There are no tough decisions for these kids.  The middle of nowhere kid gets told that he's just not good enough to ever make it as a dancer and that his future will involve returning to Iowa so he tries to walk off a subway platform...and gets stopped by his friends.  Not that I would advocated teenage suicide (Ed. note:  I do not in any way advocate teenage suicide), but come on!  A little pathos would have been nice.  Even the "casting couch" experience is glossed over.  Jenny the way-too-serious-kid falls for some sleazy douchebag's line about meeting a casting director but leaves before he does anything but attempt to make out with her.  And the worst fallout from that is that her way-more-talented boyfriend dumps her...and then takes her back in time for senior year.

Oh, that reminds me.  WTF is up with the timeline in this movie?  The auditions to get in the school last precisely as long as the opening credits, freshman year about 2 minutes past that.  I realize that it's probably hard to squish four years into 1 hr and 41 mins of running time but there's no sense of growth or progression for the characters. 

If you want a coming of age story about young performers, watch Center Stage or A Chorus Line.  Skip this one at all costs.