Review: ‘Dance Flick’

There was a mistake the Wayans family made in naming their new comedy ‘Dance Flick.’   Granted, they started this whole mess by naming their first endeavor into ridiculous comedy ‘Scary Movie.’   That started a cavalcade of ridiculous comedies with horrendously vague titles like ‘Epic Movie,’ ‘Date Movie,’ and ‘Disaster Movie.’   That trifecta of bad to worse to worse-est (‘Meet the Spartans’ falls somewhere in that range, as well) was culminated from the brain stems of Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, and the comedy in those films seems to be siphoned from the mere presence of pop culture references.

The movies Seltzer and Friedberg have put into theaters all over the planet should make even the most casual of cinephiles   angry.   The fact that those films continue to receive funding from major studios should have independent filmmakers all over the world crying out in absurd anger.   However, if there is any, one thing that we can gather from the creation and release of films like ‘Epic Movie’ and ‘Disaster Movie,’ it’s that they make films like ‘Dance Flick’ tolerable.

‘Dance Flick’ is by no means a high form of comedy.   Do all the jokes work?   Not by a long shot.   The ratio of good jokes to bad jokes in ‘Dance Flick’ is about 1:1.   There is as much bad in this movie as there is good, but, honestly, that’s a helluva lot more good than you might expect going in.

The movie paints its pop culture references with a broad brush, not settling on having an Amy Winehouse lookalike run across screen for a few meandering laughs.   The entire premise of the movie is mocking ‘Save the Last Dance,’ the hokey melodrama from eight years ago, but it also pokes fun at ‘Step Up,’ ‘Fame,’ and any number of other, dance-related dramas.

In ‘Dance Flick,’ Shoshana Bush plays Megan, the Julia Stiles counterpart, who goes to live with her deadbeat father in the inner-city after her mother is killed in a car accident.   She begins to attend a new high school where every class seems to be preparing its students for Juilliard.   Megan falls for the street smart, Thomas, played by Damon Wayans, Jr., who begins to show her the ropes of how to represent in the streets.

There are a few moments of humor that rely too heavily on pop culture to drive them.   At one point, a woman is being hit left and right by vehicles, and the license plates on the cars range from ‘LINDSAY’ to ‘HALLE.’   In that last vehicle, a Halle Berry lookalike jumps out in a torn Catwoman outfit.   A small subplot involves a blind character named Ray.   A late scene parodies ‘Twilight.’   But it’s not satisfied with just showing these pop culture references to its audience and expect them to find the humor within them on their own terms.

Luckily, the film actually incorporates jokes that it throws at its audience with reckless abandon.   The movie really plays on the law of averages in terms of the quantity of its jokes.   The mere fact that director Damien Wayans and the screenwriters (every other 2nd generation Wayans in the clan) are making an effort to drive their comedy with actual jokes is merit enough.

This doesn’t mean ‘Dance Flick’ is a great comedy.   It’s not even really a good one.   With comedies like this, it’s hard to rag on the intricacies of plot and logistics.   Not even the classic, ridiculous comedies such as ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Airplane!’ had completely cohesive narratives.   The creative force behind those films, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams, did, however, know how to utilize the comedy they had.   Nothing even remotely humorous was short-changed in any of those films.   This is a fact the Wayans miss completely with ‘Dance Flick.’

The funniest part of ‘Dance Flick,’ really the only aspect that could be considered a serious stand-out, is Marlon Wayans’ small role as Mr. Moody, the drama teacher.   Mr. Moody is an actor so in love with his craft, he is willing to lose his manhood (twice) for it.   Unfortunately, Mr. Moody and his crazy acting resume are only given one scene that lasts all of six minutes.   It should have been expanded.

Likewise, there are a number of other humorous aspects that the film seems to cheat out of more screen time.   David Alan Grier as Sugar Bear is given a decent amount of screen time, but even at that, it feels he could have been utilized more.   I can’t help but feel there are scenes upon scenes of Chris Elliott as Megan’s leech of a father that were left on the editing room floor.   The same goes for Shawn Wayans as the Baby Daddy of Megan’s newest friend, Charity, played by Essence Atkins.   Most of the comedy that stems from this subplot are telegraphed from a mile away, but they still make you laugh.

The film is just over 80 minutes long, and the last third of it feels completely rushed.   It’s as if the Wayans felt the need to logically finish the story at hand even though all the humor involved throws logic right out the window.   But it’s more than just logically trying to end the film.   Even ridiculous comedies like this benefit from a cohesive structure.   It just feels like after culminating 75 minutes of comedy together, they decided they had to throw the logical ending to the story in to finish it out.

If there is to be a breakout from ‘Dance Flick,’ it is going to be Damon Wayans, Jr., who has an impressive sense of timing and physical manipulation.   He is his father’s son, and even the most lame jokes become somewhat humorous with him driving them.

‘Dance Flick,’ while far from a throwback to the days of Zucker and Abrahams, is a humorous film.   Even those who are sickened by the thought of another film by   Seltzer and Friedberg will find certain elements in ‘Dance Flick’ they can laugh at.   It is not great comedy, and it is a long way from being even a good film.   While not exactly a glowing recommendation, I can say there is just enough decency from ‘Dance Flick’s creators and actors to keep it from being a complete waste of time.

Overall: 2.5 out of 5