I grew up watching Fame on TV, catching a few episodes here and there. I am not big on remakes but I thought maybe it could be more modern and exciting 29 years later so I was willing to give it a chance. I was so wrong.
I rented the DVD for my wife who had seen neither the original nor the TV series. My next mistake was choosing the director's cut version, adding nearly 20 more boring minutes to our watch time. Halfway through I hit the 50% speedup option to get through the movie faster. It was still insufferably long. The only enjoyment we got was watching the clips in the end credits where the actors were finally able to show their talents. We also enjoyed the music video.
Spoilers: Too many main characters with nothing to do but show how 4 years of working your butt off really gets you nowhere, including a lack of any real growth. Most of the characters peter out, get taken for a ride, drop out, or find other ways to end the suffering.
I can usually relate to any movie and any character, but this time I just could not care about any of them. There seemed to be a lot of wasted talent, waiting for their next cut-scene.
There was almost one tense moment when one of the characters contemplated throwing himself in front of an approaching subway train. I was so bored by that point that I would have pushed him myself just for my chance to be next in line. At least that would have been dramatic or helped the audience feel something. Alas, the only thing I felt was regret. That is two hours of my life I won't be getting back. And another 30 minutes to warn people not to make the same mistake.
I rented the DVD for my wife who had seen neither the original nor the TV series. My next mistake was choosing the director's cut version, adding nearly 20 more boring minutes to our watch time. Halfway through I hit the 50% speedup option to get through the movie faster. It was still insufferably long. The only enjoyment we got was watching the clips in the end credits where the actors were finally able to show their talents. We also enjoyed the music video.
Spoilers: Too many main characters with nothing to do but show how 4 years of working your butt off really gets you nowhere, including a lack of any real growth. Most of the characters peter out, get taken for a ride, drop out, or find other ways to end the suffering.
I can usually relate to any movie and any character, but this time I just could not care about any of them. There seemed to be a lot of wasted talent, waiting for their next cut-scene.
There was almost one tense moment when one of the characters contemplated throwing himself in front of an approaching subway train. I was so bored by that point that I would have pushed him myself just for my chance to be next in line. At least that would have been dramatic or helped the audience feel something. Alas, the only thing I felt was regret. That is two hours of my life I won't be getting back. And another 30 minutes to warn people not to make the same mistake.