Fame (2009)

An updated version of the 1980 musical, which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts.

Director:

Kevin Tancharoen

Writers:

Allison Burnett (screenplay), Christopher Gore

Stars:

Kay Panabaker, Bebe Neuwirth, Kelsey Grammer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kay Panabaker	...	Jenny Garrison
Walter Perez	...	Victor Tavares
Naturi Naughton	...	Denise Dupree
Asher Book	...	Marco
Kherington Payne	...	Alice Ellerton
Collins Pennie	...	Malik Washburn
Kristy Flores	...	Rosie Martinez
Paul McGill	...	Kevin Barrett
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Ms. Kraft
Paul Iacono	...	Neil Baczynsky
Charles S. Dutton	...	Mr. James Dowd
Kelsey Grammer	...	Mr. Martin Cranston
Anna Maria Perez de Tagle	...	Joy
Megan Mullally	...	Ms. Fran Rowan
Debbie Allen	...	Ms. Angela Simms

Storyline

An updated version of the 1980 musical, which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts.

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Plot Keywords:

performing arts | new york | student | singing | halloween | 

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Taglines:

I'm Gonna Make It to Heaven

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material including teen drinking, a sexual situation and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fama

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,408,242 (UK) (25 September 2009)

Gross:

$22,452,209 (USA) (4 December 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lakeshore Entertainment, United Artists

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 123 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Debbie Allen, who plays Principal Angela Simms is the only cast member to have made the transition from Alan Parker's Fame. Her small part in Parker's version lead to one of the leading roles in the TV version, where she played dance tutor Lydia Grant. In a 2011 interview with the Archive of American Television, Allen reveals that she considers the two characters the same. According to her, Lydia just got married and uses her husband name in the remake.

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Goofs

Mr. Cranston asks Denise to be the accompanist for the school's upcoming production of "Chicago". In the year 2009, this would not be possible since the licensing company which handles the theatrical rights for "Chicago" restricts the show from being produced (even by amateur groups and schools) anywhere in the greater New York area while there is an open-ended production running on Broadway.

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Quotes

Jenny Garrison: There are some things success is not. It's not fame. It's not money or power. Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally fly out the door. It's getting to work with people you love. Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. It's finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream. It's falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could. Success is joy and freedom and friendship. And success ...

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Connections

Featured in Richard Roeper & the Movies: The Worst of 2009 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Back to Back"
Written and Produced by Damon Elliott
Performed by Collins Pennie featuring Ashleigh Haney

User Reviews

Fame - An Unfortunate Snoozer

I remember when I was younger I enjoyed the original Fame movie. Although I currently can't remember anything about the movie at all, save for the theme song. Tonight I got the chance to see the sneak peek of the 2009 version. Overall, I wasn't impressed. What was wrong with the movie? 1.) The plot…or lack thereof. There were so many "main" characters, that the scenes just jumped from one to another without any real cohesion. Sometimes there were even two scenes going on at the same time with the camera flashing back and forth between the two.

2.) The timeline. Before each "section" of the movie, you got a title like "Freshman Year", "Sophomore Year", "Junior Year", and "Senior Year". This would have been fine if they spent any time in these years. Instead, they went by so fast that the title just threw off the pace. For example, you get introduced to the characters and see "Freshman Year". Then you get to see their insecurities and character flaws all over the course of one day. The next day is "Sophomore Year" and the characters have made no forward progress since day one of freshman year. The movie could have been vastly improved by simply stripping out these time stamps.

3.) Character development. Tied to the first two problems with this movie is the character development. There is so much going on and time passes so fast that you don't really get to see much development of many of the characters. I understand there is only so much time in the movie, but that could have been resolved by reducing the number of "lead" characters. If you reduced the number of people we had to keep track of, we'd be able to see more how those characters evolve, and care more about them in the end.

4.) Lack of resolution. None of these characters really show any sign of improvement until the last scene in the movie, and then we still get no resolution on how things turned out. The last scene is graduation and we have no idea if any of these people amounted to anything after that. Very few even make mention to what they MIGHT be doing after the movie ends. Heck, I would have even settled for the lame freeze frame with written text explaining what people went on to do (which is a pretty cheesy cheat out of writing a resolution to your story as is).

5.) Predictability and memorable characters/scenes. I am going to lump these two issues together, because they go pretty much hand-in-hand. the movie from beginning to end was pretty predictable. There were absolutely zero surprises within. As a result, there was very little memorable about the movie. In fact, without looking at IMDb, I couldn't name a single character in the movie.

So was there anything good about the movie? I guess for what it was, it was an okay movie. No real surprises, and nothing you are going to remember any length of time from now (which is maybe why I don't remember the first movie). But I did enjoy the gratuitous completely unrealistic cafeteria jam session on day one of Freshman Year. And some of the cast music (which I assume was mostly original…at least nothing I've heard elsewhere) was good. Actually, I would have been okay if it was just one jam session after another, because I kinda dug that cheesy scene. Otherwise I say that if you are really interested in this movie, or perhaps a fan of the previous one, wait for the DVD. There are much better movies you could spend your money watching, especially since tickets are so high these days.