24 hours before walking into the 2009 remake Fame I sat down to watch Alan Parker’s 1980 original, which was surprisingly well received by critics and not-so-surprisingly went on to win two Oscars for original score and original song on top of being nominated for four other Oscars including screenplay. While the Kevin Tancharoen-directed remake won’t come close to following in those footsteps, it didn’t grate on me as much as the original, if only because it was 30 minutes shorter.
Toned down from the 1980 edition’s R-rating to a PG-for-everyone-rating in an effort to make sure the “So You Think You Can Dance” audience will have reason to leave their couches, Fame 2009 centers on a freshman class of performing arts students ranging from dancers, singers, actors and the like as they begin a four-year program at an anonymous New York City High School of Performing Arts. All the standard cliches are fulfilled with an obsessive introvert, the angry black man, the girl with the controlling parents, the talented and bored rich girl, and so on and so forth. You can fill the cast out in your own mind and I would bet you have it nailed. However, cliches in this kind of film are a given, it’s what’s done with them that matters. And even though not much is accomplished here I still believe the characters’ storylines went much farther than they ever did in the original.
However, I’m not sure how fair it is to compare the two films seeing how 29 years separate them. Then again, I’m sure that’s where the film’s audience will be divided. This is a dumbed down, PG, for-the-masses film hoping to benefit from those that loved High School Musical and think it will be Step Up 2 the Streets. As a matter of fact a couple of friends surprised me by showing up to the screening and when asked why, they told me because they love the Step Up films. Too bad this isn’t Step Up or Step Up 2 the Streets, and strangely enough, that’s a negative and one that will undoubtedly lead to disappointed audiences. In turn, the Disney Channel, easily pleased by made-for-TV audiences should be satisfied, but I can’t imagine anyone coming out overly excited.
The biggest failure this film suffers from is its old fashioned idea of what it means to be famous. Sure, those looking to be professional dancers, ballerinas and classical musicians are following the right path, but when it comes to the desires of the core group involving a wannabe rapper, a hopeful music producer and a confused daddy’s girl we aren’t talking about the fame of nearly 30 years ago, we are talking about the attitudes of today and in that sense the original was more fitting for its time.
A movie titled Fame in 2009 shouldn’t be focusing on high school students working hard to fine tune their talents at a prestigious school, at least not one set to an upbeat hip-hop soundtrack. Instead it should focus on high school dropouts competing on the latest MTV reality show or competing for wooden idols on “Survivor.” The idea of fame and celebrity has changed to the point a film like this is no longer relevant. It’s not about talent any longer, it’s about looks and self-promotion. It’s about how many people you can piss off and how rich you can get off that agitation. Even those that do work hard look for cure-all, short-cuts such as “American Idol,” which have become the preferred way to go. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m saying it’s reality.
Each scene in Fame is a cliche of a cliche, but lowered expectations allowed me to tolerate it more than I would have had I not watched the original the night before. Fame is by no means a good movie and outside of couple of uses of the word “shit” it has been watered down to the point it could play as an after-school special, which is really all it is.
