Word: fame
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There is no simpler way to entertain an audience than to let us in on auditions; we just love to watch the cream rise to the top. I'd have been pleased if Fame, the updated version of the 1980s hit movie about a New York high school for the performing arts that spawned the long-running television series, had just been one long string of good, bad and ugly auditions. Anything to prolong the pleasure of watching disapproval spread like an ink stain across the face of Lynn Kraft, the dance teacher played by Bebe Neuwirth, as she spies...
...appreciated Principal Simms laying down the law, thereby letting us know that this Fame would be a direct descendant of the original, rather than something more in tune with what the pursuit of youthful fame actually looks like in 2009, i.e., aspiring to be the next Miley Cyrus, or playing the kind of miniature version of despicable grown-ups you see on Gossip Girl or, worst of all, starring in a reality show. The kids in this Fame are sexy, cool, smart and wholesome; they may mislead their parents into thinking they are dutifully honing their classical music skills rather...
...Moreover, the talents they're supposed to have match the skills they actually do have, also in keeping with both 1980s versions of Fame. Take the school's best dancer, Alice, played by Kherington Payne, who was a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance and has enormous, slinky appeal. You're just starting to see her as the perfect girl to cast in the remake of Flashdance (how far away can that be?) when you realize that Payne's acting talents stop with her smile. But she can sure dance...
...these kids are in and out of this four-year program in under two hours. Why not have more faith in what could have been a fresh franchise? Start this group off as freshmen and keep them that way for the duration of the film? Then you've got Fame 2, and maybe in Fame 3 we'd get to see Frasier and Lilith reunite, and bingo: first-time feature director Kevin Tancharoen, making his crossover from the world of choreography, has a whole new career. As it is, the years whip by far too quickly. "Already?" the woman behind...
...below, with Archerd) in her dressing room, Charlie Chaplin in the director's chair and nearly every other star in Tinseltown. For nearly 50 years, he also served as the official greeter at the Academy Awards--a role that helped earn him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame...