When Christopher Gore's "Fame" premiered in 1980, it garnered massive critical acclaim, winning two Oscars for its depiction of the cutthroat world of young students in the performing arts. Almost 30 years later, the movie industry has decided that it is time to take advantage of dancing reality shows such as "So You Think You Can Dance" (2005), and has updated "Fame" for a modern audience. Where the old "Fame" pushed the boundaries by exploring the darker side of life as an artist, the new remake sweetens that world up until it's a giant ball of cotton candy — candied fluff with little substance that gets boring after the first couple of bites.
"Fame" (2009), directed by Kevin Tancharoen, follows several students — including a wannabe actress, her boyfriend, a classical pianist searching for meaning, a rapper from a low-income community and a naive filmmaker — through their entire four years at a performing arts high school. All are looking for some way to share their work with a broader audience.
There is no unified, coherent plot, as each student has his or her own separate story. One girl copes with disappointing her parents by choosing to embark on a singing career. She aspires to be the next Alicia Keys rather than follow the classical music track that is expected of her. Another student struggles with his inability to keep up with the talent in his ballet class.
With this approach to a movie, the filmmaker has to tie each distinct plot into a coherent whole, something that never happens. The only scenes the stories have in common are the musical numbers. Storylines are chopped up and then music and dance scenes are interspersed seemingly at random in a failed attempt to connect characters to each other.
All of the actors who play students are unknowns, but the teachers offer a couple of notable cameo roles, including Megan Mullally as a voice coach and Kelsey Grammer as a music teacher. Using unknowns would have been a brilliant decision, except that none of the young actors have any talent or pizzazz. This is especially ironic as both are usually required to achieve fame.
The one exception is Naturi Naughton, playing Denise, who has an amazing voice but isn't onscreen enough for her performance to save the movie. Mullally also has a movie-stealing scene in which she sings karaoke to the old Rodgers and Hart song "You Took Advantage of Me." The rest of the movie, despite the singing and dancing in fabulous costumes, is boring enough to make viewers leave the theater.
The musical numbers are the only interesting part of the movie, but even these moments are less than satisfactory because there's no motivation behind them. These kids live in a fantasy world where they think all of their dreams will come true just by singing and dancing.
This sort of cloyingly sweet bubblegum take might have worked if the first "Fame" hadn't been so heavily laden with serious discussion about the perils of seeking fame. The original "Fame" touched on drug abuse, sexual activity and pregnancy, abortion, suicide, failed careers and homosexuality. The remake seems content to present viewers with a sappy, Disney-ized rendition of the artistic lifestyle and each artist's quest for celebrity.
The darkest moments in this new rendition are when a young man gets swindled out of $5,000 and a ballet dancer contemplates suicide after being told he will never reach a professional level. Yet these somewhat traumatizing occurrences are a breeze; both teenagers move on with their lives. The movie makes no serious attempt to explore how failure and the harshness of society affect young artists.
This remake ultimately fails to live up to its predecessor. There's no contemplation of what it means to want to become famous, and there's no emotion attached to any of the characters. This is what makes "Fame" so forgettable.
