School Dance
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Nick Cannon Makes Directorial Debut with Help of Star-Studded Cast
Nick Cannon is a versatile
entertainer known as an actor, comedian, rapper, radio DJ, TV host and as the
husband of pop dive Mariah Carey. With School Dance, Nick steps behind the
camera to add filmmaker to his extensive resume.
His jaw-dropping directorial debut is a raunchy romantic comedy
that might be best thought of as Romeo and Juliet gone completely gangsta’. Set
at an inner-city high school in Los
Angeles, the irreverent romp revolves around diminutive
Jason Jackson (Bobb’e J. Thompson), a modestly-endowed
virgin with a crush on a cute and curvy classmate.
Trouble is Anastacia
(Kristina DeBarge) has never even noticed the nondescript nerd. A bigger
complication is that he’s black, she’s Chicano, and their respective ethnic
groups don’t mix, let alone get along. Nevertheless, Jason accepts a dare from the dudes in his posse
to get into her proverbial panties by the end of the semester.
To that end, he hatches an elaborate plan to impress the girl of
his dreams by winning their high school’s annual talent show which features a
grand prize of $2,000. But of as much import as the outcome of that contest is
the raucous road the flick en route to that fait accompli.
Director Cannon apparently had no trouble casting his first picture,
since the screen is filled with top comedians at every turn, from the man of
the year Kevin Hart to the resurrected Katt Williams to “Yo’ Momma’s” Wilmer
Valderrama to the irrepressible Luenell to the incomparable Mike Epps to George
Lopez and Patrick Warburton. All of the above found the elbow room to do their
thing, although the production might have benefited from editing out some of
their most offensive remarks.
For example, the blasphemous rap, “F*ck the President, Barack
f*cking Obama. F*ck that n*gger” was a bit much for this critic to stomach,
even if the euphoria of historic Election Night 2008 is just a distant memory.
Equally off-putting was this line uttered by Lopez as Anastacia’s
overprotective father. “I don’t want some little black baby with a big penis
running around this house touching all my shit.”
Still, I suspect that such shocking fare will find a ready
audience in a Hip-Hop Generation weaned on a profusion of profanity and fond of
the N-word. A 21st Century update of the beloved Shakespeare classic
about a pair of star-crossed lovers from the opposite side of the tracks.
Good (2 stars)
Rated R
for crude humor, graphic sexuality, underage drug use, ethnic slurs and
pervasive profanity
Running time: 85 minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate
Films
To see a trailer for School
Dance, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qKXSL2N0RQ
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