Sometimes on a Friday night you have to chill out and catch a flick at the cinema. With all of us being girls it was inevitable that something slightly chick-oriented was going to get chosen. Irrespective, Fame actually seemed to be the only decent choice on offer tonight anyway.

There’s something about dance movies that I just absolutely love: Save the Last Dance, Save the Last Dance 2, Step Up, Step Up 2 the Streets, Shall We Dance, Honey, How She Move, Rize, Bring It On, Stomp the Yard … you name it I’ve probably seen it! I think its these kids being able to do something that I will never be able to do no matter how much I practise (not that I do!) The music is generally pretty sh!t hot too.

In fairness Fame is not a movie you necessarily need to see on the big screen. Nevertheless I found myself smiling almost all the way through. This remake is not going to win any awards for originality or for any ground-breaking. In fact I don’t know why they felt a remake was required at all. Perhaps to be able to use the talent that is coming out of shows like So You Think You Can Dance or other such talent shows.

I don’t think the movie really spent enough time developing and finishing off the characters. We jump around following the students at the New York performing arts academy without really getting an understanding of who they are, why we should like them and even how they all tie in together. Maybe the simple fact is they don’t. I mean I love the dancer/actress Kherington Payne as I know her from one of the seasons of So You Think You can Dance but I absolutely hated her character in Fame. You never really got to know anyone and other than the usual teenage angst there was no real hard hitting storyline to form the base of the movie.

Not a great movie this one.

Still, for all its flaws and rubbish storyline and editing I did spend most of the movie with a smile on my face if only to appreciate the talent of the cast, and also enjoying my popping candy lollipop that I picked up before coming into the movie …