This is truly NOT your parents' 'Fame'
f as much attention had been spent on the story as was spent on the singing and dancing, "Fame" could have won me over — again. But if you spend half of the film time musically (which is fine), then you only have about five minutes per character to get to know them — and that part is woefully missing. Everybody wants to go to the New York Academy of Performing Arts. At least that’s what Principal Simms (Debbie Allen) says to the 200 or so who are chosen out of thousands who audition. Then they separate the kids into their various specialties — Kelsey Grammer teaches piano, Bebe Neuwirth handles the dancers, Megan Mullally works with the singers, and Charles S. Dutton coaches the actors. These are the spotlighted performers: Denise (Naturi Naughton) is an accomplished classical pianist thanks to her parents, but would prefer to sing. Malik (Collins Pennie) is an angry young man who takes it out on his acting. Jenny (Kay Panabaker) is the mousy wallflower who can’t find her true voice. Marco (Asher Book) is a happy-go-lucky guy who also has the best male voice in school. Then there’s Walter, the keyboard guy and music producer; Neil, the budding filmmaker; Alice, the modern dancer; Kevin, the ballet hopeful; and Joy, the "Sesame Street" walk-on. That’s a lot of different people to get to know, and on top of that, the story gets even thinner as it takes place over the four years of high school. I’m surprised they had time to say their names, much less remember them. Denise probably gets the most screen time, and it’s richly deserved. The young lady can really belt it out. She sings "Out Here on My Own" (an Oscar nom from the original 1980 film) that’s quite remarkable. Also, the Marco character had a couple of songs, "Try" and "Ordinary People," that were anything but ordinary. Plus, there was one modern dance piece with Alice that was rather spectacular. But the big finale number, instead of being the famous title song and Oscar winner "Fame," is only played over the closing credits, like it’s some kind of afterthought. I guarantee that most of the audience members who saw the original came to hear an updated version of that particular song, and it’s slapped onto the end of the movie like, "Oh yeah, we’d better throw that thing on there!" Unfortunately, this new "Fame" version is all about PERFORMING the arts, but little thought went into CREATING the art of the screenplay, which is too spread out and superficial. Therefore, new "Fame"? I won’t remember your name, and it’s the script I blame.
