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Fame (2009)

Director: Kevin Tancharoen

Time Out rating

Average user rating

28 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

If you’ve ever felt a strong urge to take a trip through Simon Cowell’s dream archive, then you might want to catch this lifeless and entirely unnecessary modern-day remake of Alan Parker’s grubby '80s relic, ‘Fame’. In fact, this film makes even the most gaudy of Saturday night TV talent contests look like Dostoyevsky in comparison. ‘Fame 2.0’ ditches the shackles of character, story, realism, surprise and logic to deliver a flavourless paste of a movie – one which offers a sample of student life in a tastefully shabby New York performing arts academy.

We're introduced to a sprawling ensemble of jazz-handing go-getters – played largely by wide-eyed newcomers – in a flashy opening montage: there’s the insular hip-hop thesp who scowls and says ‘shee-it’ a lot; there’s the timorous emo waif who needs to come out of her shell; there’s the classical pianist who discovers a talent for soul singing (much – for reasons unexplained – to the chagrin of her father); and there’s the zany, fast-talking ‘film buff’ who, whenever he’s on screen, you pray the filmmakers would have the good grace to kill off in a some kind of wacky prescription mix-up.

The one big name here is Kelsey Grammer, who dons his best tweed waistcoat as the world-weary classical music tutor charged with drumming the joys of Bach into a class of students weened on the Black Eyed Peas. With his omnipresent rictus grin and lacklustre dialogue delivery, Grammer gives a performance that looks like he’s just repeating the word ‘pay cheque’ over and over in his head whenever he’s on screen.

The one sequence in the entire film that rings true is when a lantern-jawed hopeful is being told that he hasn’t got what it takes to be a professional ballet dancer and may have to seek other employment, while at the same time a troupe of lithe, suspender-clad strumpets are trotting out a brassy pole-dancing routine. The irony, you feel, has been lost on the filmmakers.

Indeed, while the film is completely devoid of humour, the thing that irritates the most is the its shameful attitude towards the classical arts. In this world, you can’t perform a piece on the cello unless it segues into heart-on-sleeve MOR pop. Nor can you recite Shakespeare unless someone is beat-boxing in the background. There’s also no sense of the genuine competitiveness in the showbiz industry. By the end, it feels like one big light entertainment indoctrination video and if I'd heard the words ‘smile’, ‘dream’, ‘hope’ or ‘success’ just one more time, I might have been inclined to two-step right off a suspension bridge.

Author: David Jenkins 2009-09-25 10:27:06

Time Out London Issue 2040: 24-30 Sept, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Sara said...

Posted on Oct 19 2009 16:41 Well I'm awesome and I thought it was awesome!
Dance movies in general are normally very weak but this one made me well up :) I got attached to the characters and would like to give it 5*****!
Go see it people!
Best film right now is definitely away we go - see that first!

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flubba said...

Posted on Oct 19 2009 13:17 OMG! they killed kenny!! XD

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flubba said...

Posted on Oct 19 2009 13:15 crap

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alex the great said...

Posted on Oct 18 2009 17:57 errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........it were borin:<

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Ant said...

Posted on Oct 13 2009 17:11 Next time my older sister tells me that a film is awful, I may well listen to her. I can't believe I wasted over an hour of my life watching this rubbish. Only thing I liked was looking at the female dancers!

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Gemma said...

Posted on Oct 13 2009 17:09 Music was bearable but the storyline and acting left a lot to be desired. I won't be rushing out to get this on DVD

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Georgie said...

Posted on Oct 13 2009 17:06 What a waste of money and time!!! I would rather have sat talking to my sisters gerbil !!!

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Steve said...

Posted on Oct 13 2009 17:05 Major let down. Ok if you're too young to remember the original and don't care about the lack of story, bad acting and have money to waste.

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samantha said...

Posted on Oct 11 2009 14:15 help me here people! half of you are saying rubbish dont see it and the other half are saying you loved it, im a 14 year old girl who likes that sort of dancing theme so do you guys think theres a point in seeing it ?

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Oct 10 2009 10:45 infamy at it's tasteless worst with no relief in any perspective from music to performances to the plot which is a pastiche of parker's original and as monotonous as a one chord musical note itsel- a huge failure in entirety

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Jeff said...

Posted on Oct 07 2009 17:13 Don't worry too much about the story. Just enjoy the dancing (and the singing) and tap along with the beat.

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Pixster said...

Posted on Oct 06 2009 15:57 To be fair i think it is an awesome remake of our day... the film made it the 80's was fitting to that time era and this remake is fitting for our time zone. People who have never made a film should not critisise because they have no idea the amount of effort that went into making it... It is great for a girlie night out and is worth it but if you are not sure wait till it comes out on DVD... It is fab and loved the actors and actresses....!!!!!
Fame is great and what an awesome remake!!

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Stace said...

Posted on Oct 06 2009 12:56 This film was so dissapointing. I did not feel anything for the characters or their 'success'. It skips huge parts and doesn't engage people as there is no storyline. I would suggest if you want to see this wait for DVD as its not worth going out to the cinema to see. I thought the the end 'show' would be an amazing climax and its probably the worst part of the film.
Fame DOES NOT live forever. The film resembles an old outdataed star attempting to make a comeback by trying to be 'cool' n 'hip' and failing embarassingly!

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Alex said...

Posted on Oct 04 2009 23:43 Don't waste your money seeing this. The film rushes through the 4 years way too fast and without any real emotion. You feel no empathy for the characters whatsoever and you get no feeling of who they are or what they are about. And I think it was all shot in the winter time - I didn't spot anyone not wearing scarves and hats.

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Mike N said...

Posted on Oct 04 2009 23:32 Went to see this on the spur of the moment having enjoyed the original film years ago. I wish I hadn't bothered. It was superficial. The characters were two-dimensional and very sugary. Little grit or realism. I'm giving this one star because I can't give it zero. A totally pointless re-make. Seek out the 1980 original for 3 quid on DVD. Much MUCH BETTER!!!!!

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