Dir. Damien Dante Wayans, 83 mins, 2009, USA
Cast. Shoshana Bush, Damon Wayans, Jr., Essence Atkins, Shawn Wayans, David Alan Grier, Marlon Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Review by Michelle Moore
If you have ever seen the Wayans Brothers, Marlon and Shawn, in action then you would expect more laughs than your bladder could handle with their new movie Dance Flick. After all, it was these two that made the Scary Movie films so successful, shocked us in Little Man and made us burst with laughter as women in White Chicks. However, when it comes to Dance Flick, disappointment sets in.
This is very much a Wayans family project. It’s written by the Wayans Brothers, gives Damien Dante Wayans his feature film directorial debut and stars many more of the family, including Damon Wayans Jr. as one of the lead characters. Like many parody films before it - Scary Movie, Superhero Movie, Epic Movie, Date Movie etc – the film takes one specific genre, dance in this case, and looks to films from recent years as inspiration to deliver comedy. The narrative is mainly based on Save the last Dance, taking in elements of Step Up and Step Up 2 The Streets along the way, which is rather less interesting to watch than it sounds. It also feels like too many movies are being spoofed at once, which is a little disorientating at times. As well as the three movies already mentioned, there are occasional elements of Footloose, Flashdance, Hairspray (Tracey character), High School Musical (Troy Bolton character) and Fame. But it’s when odd elements start creeping in from other genres of film that things go really awry; The House Bunny, a nudge at Edward Scissorhands, the prom scene from Twilight and a death that comes straight from Final Destination 2. What connection these particular movies have to the dance genre is a mystery.
With so many movies being spoofed, too little time is taken to explore certain elements that were key to the original films and are here mishandled by Dance Flick. For example, the narrative jumps from the main couple rehearsing to their suddenly being in a relationship, so vital feelings and emotions, which could easily have been made funny and still linked into the narrative, are just lost. “It is about quality not quantity” they used to say when writing essays at school and the same philosophy should apply here. It isn’t about how many parodies you can place in a movie, it is about how well you can use them to make the audience laugh and enjoy the film.
It is also disappointing that the Wayans Brothers themselves have mere cameos and not lead roles. If they had had more screen time, the film might have been a little more appealing. There are some effective comic elements but they are more in terms of images and actions rather than full scenes; the sight of Thomas Uncles (Wayans Jr.) in a leotard for example. The only truly funny scene is that where the so-called “Troy Bolton” character is singing along to Fame with new, hilarious and revealing lyrics.
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