Oh, MGM: I realize you're staving off bankruptcy, but is remaking past hits the answer? Are a PG-rated, post-High School Musical version of Fame (Alan Parker's 1980 original was rated R) and the upcoming Red Dawn update what it will take for your studio to stay in business and follow through on the promise that "James Bond will return?"
Let's hope that Kevin Tancharoen's dull, morally sound TV-ready film (hey, isn't that Frasier and Lilith playing music and dance instructors?) doesn't end up offering stockholders a license to kill our favorite spy. As in Parker's superior film, we follow students through a compressed four years at New York's High School for the Performing Arts, where the average age appears to be 25.
One "gifted" pianist (Naturi Naughton, who plays Lil' Kim in Notorious) conceals her love of hip-hop from her disapproving parents. Imagine their horror if they saw their baby getting it on with Biggie Smalls. Not in this movie, though.
