Honey (2003)

Honey is a sexy, tough music video choreographer who shakes up her life after her mentor gives her an ultimatum: sleep with him or be blacklisted within their industry.

Director:

Bille Woodruff

Writers:

Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson

Stars:

Jessica Alba, Mekhi Phifer, Romeo Miller

8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Alba	...	Honey Daniels
Mekhi Phifer	...	Chaz
Romeo Miller	...	Benny (as Lil' Romeo)
Joy Bryant	...	Gina
David Moscow	...	Michael Ellis
Lonette McKee	...	Mrs. Daniels
Zachary Williams	...	Raymond (as Zachary Isaiah Williams)
Christian Monzon	...	Bar Customer
Al Shearer	...	Bar Customer
Jull Weber	...	Joey
Laurieann Gibson	...	Katrina (as Laurie Ann Gibson)
O'Neal McNight	...	Katrina's Friend
Kevin Duhaney	...	Otis
William Omar Tobar	...	Beat Boxer
Ivan 'Flipz' Velez	...	Street Dancer

Storyline

Honey Daniels is a 22-year-old, sexy, tough-minded, part-black, part-Latina hip-hop dancer in New York's East Harlem who dreams of making it big as a music video choreographer. She teaches hip-hop dancing at a local youth center and encourages the local kids to attend to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. When luck shines on Honey in the form of a famous music video director, named Michael, who casts her in one music video, she's encouraged to make the transition from dancer to choreographer. But Honey's sudden success comes with a price when Michael refuses to take "no" for an answer to his sexual advances and then tries to sabotage her career by blackballing her out of the business.

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Plot Keywords:

dancer | choreographer | dancing | hip hop | dance | 

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Taglines:

Her dream. Her terms.

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for drug content and some sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

UIP [France] Universal.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Honey

Filming Locations:

Lower Bay Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$12,856,040 (USA) (5 December 2003)

Gross:

$1,360,300 (France) (25 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Marc Platt Productions, NuAmerica Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The filmmakers originally wanted Jennifer Beals to play the banker.

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Goofs

When Honey is distributing posters with her father, as the camera pans out after they put up the poster you can see "Queen Video" on a sign across the street, indicating not New York City but Queen St. W in Toronto.

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Quotes

Honey: I want you to fire 'em. I want you to tell them why you're not using 'em.
Michael Ellis: What makes you think I care what you want?

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Connections

Referenced in Dance Flick (2009)

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Soundtracks

Ooh Wee
Written by Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins, Kenneth Pratt
Produced by Rodney Jerkins for Darkchild.com
Performed by K Young

User Reviews

The star of the show

Jessica Alba is the star of the show; in this movie and in Hollywood since I don't know when. Her situation is something to detail about. Personally, I look at her and I think she has acted her whole life. Everyone talks about her everyday as if she had decades in the business, but she doesn't. I could say I believe she's done over ten films, when this movie was probably her fifth important role. She did a TV show I never saw for two years, but even before that, her name was on the poster of the movies she appeared in. She is a star by nature, a leading star; and "Honey" is the evidence that proves my statement.

When the film starts, Honey Daniels (Alba) is working at the bar in a disco serving the usual free drinks to her best friend Gina (Joy Briant): "One, please", the friend says, and two guys standing right by her get closer: "Make that three". Honey, with a big smile in her face, tells the guys: "Today is your lucky day", and then Gina interrupts: "Don't get to excited though; she'll not be here much longer…She's gonna make it". So the guys ask how she's gonna make it.

Right away we find out Honey dances; and that she dances awesomely well. If Alba did her own dance moves I don't know for sure, but it always looks like her; in the dance floor, in the videos, in the dance lessons. OK, the film: Honey has a great talent for dancing and she could be a classic ballerina but she prefers to teach hip-hop in a place her mother owns. She goes to auditions, she works hard, and she ultimately gets recognized.

But Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson's story is not about "making it"; it is about the good-hearted people who fight for what they want, don't sell and don't quit. I don't even know if this is a veridical portrait of the hip hop world, but the video shoots seem real and I guess the artists/directors relationships should be how the movie shows them. What I wanted to say is that in the music world, mostly with hip hop (which I consider the easiest market today), when people make it, it goes over their heads, and they leave everything behind.

Although not Honey Daniels; she'll not fall into temptation, and she'll be there for the ones she cares for. It may sound too formulaic, but it's beautiful. Debutant director at the time Bille Woodruff, with previous experience from musical videos, shows us the nice face of his characters' world. Everything is shiny, everyone's happy, everyone's smiling. Yeah, sure some bad things happen, but everything will be ultimately worked out.

Great casting work with the youngsters, especially with Zachary Williams as a little boy, Raymond, who needs someone to watch over him; and Lil' Romeo in a tremendous and talented performance as the teenager Benny, who debates himself about being a gangster or a normal child. This plus Missy Elliott's cameo and Mekhi Phifer in the most charming performance of his career, and the some of the best lines as: "You peoples? Playa, playa, how'd you swing that? I've been trying' to be her peoples for weeks; ain't had no luck".

Not enough? Alba looks gorgeously beautiful in every outfit she wears and her acting skills are way above the film's requirements…She's stunning now and it is only the beginning.