Why I liked this movie

I understand the criticism of this piece. The stories are disjointed. There are too many characters, and the acting is often either not up to par or not utilized in a compelling way.

But I really think this is true about most performance movies I've seen. Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, Strictly Ballroom, Dance With Me; all are movies that had mediocre acting and dancing performances and centered on one to three personal relationships.

Ensemble pieces, like Center Stage (the first one) did the same, but were more in the line of this one. Even then, the personal relationship prevailed, and the acting was really, really bad.

In this Fame remake, I think a lot of the actors were very well-cast, and I appreciated that the producers didn't try and reinvent the wheel. They're actors, singers, dancers, musicians, whose tormented or apathetic lives turn into passion they have to express. This isn't a new concept to anyone. So instead of trying to make it one, let's just pack in as much of the acting, singing, dancing, and music as possible. Let's pick people that are expressive when they perform.

I think the characters failed a bit to connect with the audiences, but I don't necessarily blame the actors; I think many of them were well-cast. The writing unfortunately didn't do them any justice. The producers obviously had problems creating something compelling with one storyline before having to move onto the next. And I honestly feel like the writers weren't all that creative exploring some of the more generic characters. Jenny, for example, is a well-casted character of the reserved girl that wants it big, but she does absolutely nothing surprising. I want to see what happens after she discovers there are losers that couch cast and that she'll never be a great actor. Anything?

I think this really is one of those "don't make it more than it is" kind of movies. While it didn't execute all we wanted, what it did execute was done well enough.