Movie review: “Dance Flick”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. 1 of 4 stars with special props to Paramount Pictures just for having the guts to even screen this horrid excuse for a film.
Movie Review: ‘Dance Flick’ dips into adolescent humor
During the first showdown of “Dance Flick,” a competitor shows off his signature move – by literally planting his head up his backside.
Another pulls off a one-handed handstand – the better to pee in the faces of the competition.
This type of so-called hilarity sets the tone for the latest cinematic venture from the Wayans family.
For the good of humanity, someone’s got to stop the Wayans clan from procreating – or at least from using their offspring, siblings and other relatives to make bad movies. Perhaps it’s some consolation that they haven’t made another film about disgraced FBI agents going undercover as “White Chicks” or about a “vertically challenged” convict masquerading as a child a la “Little Man.”
The Wayans’ new film boasts two key strengths: 1. It’s short, though the dearth of humor makes it feel much longer than 83 minutes. 2. Paramount Pictures was brave enough to screen the film in advance for critics, which is rare for this type of dumb comedy. Usually, the strategy is to make as much coin as possible before people find out the movie has no redeeming comedic value.
“Dance Flick” represents the latest in a seemingly endless stream of over-the-top spoof films seeking to mock genres that practically parody themselves. No matter how eye-catching the dancing or solid the performances, films like “How She Move” and “Stomp the Yard” don’t need a Wayans brother (or Carmen Electra or any other spoof movie regular) to make fun of them. There’s something intrinsically laughable about tough-talking, hip-hop-loving modern teens solving disagreements by facing off like they’re about to audition for “West Side Story.”
Nevertheless, The Wayans – I counted 10 of them in the credits – plumb virtually every dance movie cliché to make “Dance Flick.” Damon Wayans Jr. stars as Thomas, a dancer whose crew, led by thuggish A-Con (Affion Crockett) loses a big contest and gets in debt to grossly obese gangster Sugar Bear (David Alan Grier).
Thomas falls in love with Megan (Shoshana Bush) an aspiring ballerina forced to move to the city after a tragedy. Megan develops a rivalry with fellow dancer Nora (Christina Murphy) and a friendship with Thomas’ sister Charity (Essence Atkins), a teen mom who stows her baby in her locker at school and takes him clubbing at night.
Besides recent urban dance films, “Dance Flick” pokes fun at “Hairspray,” “High School Musical,” “Fame” and, in one of the funnier bits, “Twilight.” The spoof also scores consistent albeit guilty laughs with Amy Sedaris as a dance teacher aptly named Ms. Cameltoe, but, naturally, the Wayans eventually push the sight gag too far.
Besides a few topical jokes, the humor in dance flick is aimed squarely at 9- to 13-year-old kids who will feel like they’re getting away with something naughty when they’re watching it.
Not that I’m recommending it for them; if you want to lower your adolescent’s IQ, just drop him off a high cliff onto a hard surface. I promise it will be less painful than watching David Alan Grier break dance in a fat suit.
- BAM
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