Drumline (2002)

A band director recruits a Harlem street drummer to play at a Southern university.

Director:

Charles Stone III

Writers:

Shawn Schepps (story), Tina Gordon Chism (screenplay),

Stars:

Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones

12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nick Cannon	...	Devon Miles
Zoe Saldana	...	Laila (as Zoë Saldana)
Orlando Jones	...	Dr. Lee
Leonard Roberts	...	Sean Taylor
GQ	...	Jayson
Jason Weaver	...	Ernest
Earl Poitier	...	Charles (as Earl C. Poitier)
Candace Carey	...	Diedre
Shay Roundtree	...	Big Rob
Miguel A. Gaetan	...	Trey
J. Anthony Brown	...	Mr. Wade
Afemo Omilami	...	President Wagner
Angela Elayne Gibbs	...	Dorothy Miles (as Angela E. Gibbs)
Tyreese Burnett	...	Henry
Brandon Hirsch	...	Buck Wild

Storyline

A fish-out-of-water comedy about a talented street drummer from Harlem who enrolls in a Southern university, expecting to lead its marching band's drumline to victory. He initially flounders in his new world, before realizing that it takes more than talent to reach the top.

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Plot Keywords:

university | drummer | fish out of water | marching band | dancing | 

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Taglines:

Half time is game time

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for innuendo and language

Details

Official Sites:

Fox

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 December 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dobszóló

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$12,604,705 (USA) (13 December 2002)

Gross:

$56,398,162 (USA) (25 April 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Wendy Finerman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fraternity featured throughout the film is Kappa Kappa Psi, the national honorary band fraternity. The actual Kappa Kappa Psi flag, colors, and symbols, and customary shouts and chants are used in the film. Symbols and letters for their sister organization, Tau Beta Sigma, the national honorary band sorority, can also be seen throughout the film.

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Goofs

When Devon and Laila are studying and then kiss, their heads change relative position between shots.

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Quotes

Devon: They don't tell you about all this when they recruit you.

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits include illustrations of the proper way to play the drum.

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Connections

References Coming to America (1988)

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Soundtracks

"Let's Go"
Written by Maurice Young, Lasana Smith, Mark Seymour, Corey Evans and Ted Lucas
Performed by Bethune Cookman College Marching Band

User Reviews

Great movie

Former drumline member here. Well damn, I guess I'll be the first drummer to say I liked the movie a lot. I swear, half of these reviews I'm reading are annoying - people bashing it because it's an all black movie, people bashing it because the band has dancers instead of a color guard, people calling the drumming rudimentary because they played in a drumline that did better blah blah blah.

What do you guys want, a documentary on marching band? If I was to make a Hollywood movie about the drumline I would have done the same exact things with the drum sequences - put in a gang of stick tricks and showmanship that would translate well to the screen. Nobody wants to watch flam taps for 90 minutes.

That being said, the last drum battle is one of my favorite things to watch. I love when the bass drum cadence comes in, the basses march in a circle, the quads toss each other their sticks between bars, and the snares have an orgy of backsticking and other stick tricks on a level you rarely see performed in real life. And the movie is only cliche as far as its kid w/ bad attitude needs to put his pride away plot goes. I don't watch Nickelodeon so I haven't seen one of those types of movies since I was... hmmm since I was 5. Far as what isn't cliche about it, there's a lot to like. One of the best things is that it immerses itself in Afro-American culture w/out any cliches at all - just life as it is down south at an all-black university. No guns, drugs, none of that stuff that you'd expect from a character who walks and talks like Nick Cannon's character does. I also liked the way they handled the white character in the band. The dialogue where they ask him why he went to the all-black college. His first reply is a wink at the audience, which would expect Hollywood to trivialize race relations like that. Then he goes, nah for real though, and gives a sincere answer that makes sense.