1.3 Critical Response

Fame 2009
Reviewers Rating: 4/5
Reviewed by: Shapla Arjan


At first glance, Fame seems like another one of those throwaway dance movies like Take the lead and Save the last dance. But, on closer examination, Kevin Anchormen’s masterpiece demonstrates real life dilemmas through the incomparable performances from the wonderful cast. With its breathtaking dances, endowed singers and precise artists, the movie will undoubtedly blow you away.

The movie opens with talented group of dancers, singers, actors, and artists auditioning for admittance to New York City High School of Performing Arts who are each given a chance to live out their dreams and achieve real and lasting fame...the kind that comes only from talent, determination, and hard work. As each student endeavours for his or her moment in the spotlight, they’ll discover who among them has the inborn talent and essential discipline to succeed. With the love and support of their friends and fellow artists, they’ll find out who amongst them will achieve Fame…

The cast all seem to be enjoying themselves, outstanding performances from Panabaker, Naughton and Pennie that keep the film moving over well. A comment I’d like to make though is that Marco didn’t make his character sound so believable. When you watch the film, his acing sort of broke off the wonderful performances from everybody else. The audience weren’t able to sympathise with him when they are supposed to, that’s how bad it is.

The moment I heard that Fame is a performing arts film, I was literally dying to watch the movie. For those of you that enjoy movies like Step-up, I recommend you most definitely go and watch it.

The dancing style of the movie is mainly ballet that wouldn’t really appeal to teens but still it’s worth sitting through 100 minutes of it. The fact that Fame includes ballet makes it different from other dance movies. As it consists of ballet makes it appealing to all age groups although the film is mostly teen.

The costumes used for the ballet dancing are black leggings and a white top, which in my opinion is suitable. The characters are dressed casually just like you and me! It was really quite obvious to see how much in reality was spent on the clothing because you can easily find it shops like Primark! The audience wouldn’t expect the actors to be wearing big designer shoes and bags because the characters are students, not rich, famous pop stars.

The make-up of the characters were suitable too because it made the characters look casual and when necessary, the actors wore more make-up i.e. in parties etc. Wearing the right amount of make-up is important because as teenagers might look up to the actors and if they wore inappropriate amount of make-up, it would affect the audience.

The music features a blend of American standards and there were a few newly composed for the movie. ‘Out here on my own’ from the original movie also appears in Fame (2009). The soundtrack fits perfectly, and sets the theme from the offset.

The technicalities of the film aren’t much to write home about. The film features many close-ups, which really give you the feel of the characters emotions. Tracking is also used to move from one dance to the next in the cafeteria dance. The lighting was appropriate because in one scene the cast were at a club and there were blue and dark lights, which set the mood for the club.

I assume Fame is to some extent different from other performing arts films as there is more than one story and more than 1 or 2 main characters. Like in Step Up, the main characters are Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan with Channing Tatum as a gangster doing community service in a school, which he and his friends vandalised and Jenna Dewan, a student preparing for her ‘senior showcase’ and when they meet the climax of the film begins. Fame is unique as each student has their own problem but eventually they succeed.

I know some of you may be asking whether it fits into any particular genre. Well I think it is probably a mixture of romance, musical and teen however it is suitable for all age groups as the storyline is rather impressive.

The storyline is pretty impressive and the dancing is just mind-blowing. I definitely recommend this film to everybody. I rate this film 4 out of 5, now its up to you to watch it your self and rate it!