Review of Dance Flick

Not another movie spoof? Movie parodies are something of a hit and miss affair, with most of the recent movie spoofs (Meet The Spartans, Date Movie, Epic Movie, etc) missing the mark. As the creators of the original Scary Movie, Keenen Ivory, Marlon and Shawn Wayans have hit the mark with more accuracy though, as their parodies have been characterised by more wit and an appreciation for the subtlety required by the genre. As the title of their latest movie suggests Dance Flick is a send up of the whole dance oriented movie genre, targeting everything from Fame and Flashdance right up to more recent films like Step Up, Centre Stage and Stomp The Yard. But the film also includes spoofs of Hairspray and the whole High School Musical franchise. Most of these dance-themed flicks have followed a fairly predictable formula and have been fairly cliché-ridden, so the targets are pretty obvious. You can virtually tick off all the parodies as they parade before your eyes. There are quite a few laughs to be found throughout the scattergun approach, but there are also many more moments that fall flat. What passes for a plot centres around the relationship that develops between Thomas (Damon Wayans Jr), a street dancer, and Megan (Shoshana Bush), a classically trained dancer when they meet at a talent school. Thomas is involved in "street battles" and desperately needs to win an up and coming competition to pay back money he owes. Dance Flick has been co-written by siblings Marlon, Keenen Ivory and Shawn Wayans, who have been the creative mainstays of their films over the years. But the film introduces a whole new generation of Wayans into the film-making fold, both behind the camera and as on-screen talent. Making his directorial debut is their nephew Damien Dante Wayans, who has worked on TV series such as My Wife And Kids, and it is obvious that he shares his uncles' comic sensibilities and appreciation of cheap sight gags. Dance Flick will appeal to fans who love this sort of low brow humour.