Fame, The Remake Won't Live Forever

[logisticslad]

Finally saw the remake of Fame this weekend. The original remains one of my favorite movies. It told the story of artistically talented kids attending the High School of Performing Arts and grappling with all sorts of coming of age issues. It dealt honestly with teenage sexuality (and I saw it at the time I was exploring similar issues) and had wonderful performances and memorable music. The remake told a similar story, but by virtue of not spending enough time with each character, lacked the emotional depth of the original. The performances were entertaining, but I didn't find the music particularly memorable (except for the new version of Out Here on My Own). The teachers were wonderfully portrayed (thank you Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Megan Mullaly, Charles S Dutton, and Debbie Allen as the Principal). The students each had promise, but their various storylines were handled so superficially that it just didn't resonate for me. I believe that the male ballet dancer was supposed to have the gay storyline, but that was never developed. Most of the student storylines were not satisfactorily resolved - are we supposed to believe that the angry black kid is now well adjusted because he could express himself in his music? or that the talented singer with the need to express herself despite her father's controlling expectations is now fully self actualized? Various scenes from the original were redone in this movie (for example, the hot lunch jam, the Rocky Horror-esque dressing room, the stepping in front of the subway scene), but none of them really added anything new to it. It was fun to see the So You Think You Can Dance alumna perform, but her storyline was even more painful to watch than some of the others. All in all, it was entertaining for the performances, bit not a must see.