It’s not a good sign when the first few minutes of a movie about singing, dancing, rapping, video-camera-wielding teenagers reminds you of a certain grimy horror franchise. But from the minute the camera drifts toward a series of light bulbs arrayed around a single word -- “Fame,’’ done up in the iconic font of the 1980 film -- you could be forgiven for asking yourself how you wound up in a “Saw’’ movie. We hear only the imperative lyrics of the original movie’s title song (“Re-mem-ba! Re-mem-ba! Re-mem-ba!’’) and the famous taunts made by Debbie Allen, who played the dance instructor: “Right here is where you start paying in sweat.’’ This is usually how the serial killer in “Saw’’ introduces his death games.
Original ‘Fame’ is the one to remember
Lives are spared in this sugarless new version of Alan Parker’s movie and the TV show it spawned. But innocent songs and unsuspecting dance routines are hacked to bits. Like its predecessors (there was also a season of “Fame L.A.’’ and an NBC reality contest inspired by all of this), the 2009 edition is also set at the New York High School of Performing Arts, or “the P.A.,’’ where a clan of fresh young faces descend for four years of - well, that’s part of the problem.
In Parker’s movie and on the TV series, we were handed a batch of talented New York kids with wild energy, neon personalities, and just enough self-belief for you to believe in them. And over the course of the school year and a television cycle, we watched the school’s staff hone skill into art. In the film especially, you could see the work. You could see the skill. Parker really showcased them, sometimes to ridiculous but memorable effect. I don’t know what we’re supposed to admire about this new cast of enrollees. They’re all camera-ready but mostly unremarkable. Written by Allison Bennett and directed as a music video by Kevin Tancharoen, the movie sees something in them in that I can’t.
We’re told that of the 10,000 people who apply to P.A. only 200 are accepted. Frankly, I’d like to see the other 9,800. Kay Panabaker, who plays an uptight drama student named Jenny, is nice and all, but the object of a movie like this is to show us how four years of intensive training can turn this meek little girl into a great actor. Her stammering line delivery and timid demeanor promise only the next Neve Campbell. Forget P.A., Jenny’s attending the “Party of Five’’ Academy.
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