Dance Flick

Review by Sean Lynch

It's really quite depressing when you realise you're only 23, yet still have to whip out the ol' "In my day...".

Because - in my day, when I was a lad - spoof movies were still regarded with some kind of respect... and even more amazingly... warranted genuine laughs.

Hot Shots, Naked Gun - hell, even Robin Hood : Men In Tights - are gloriously dodgy and downright hilarious.

But The Wayan's Brothers opened a can of worms at the start of this decade... a can of worms which continues to rot.

Lighting struck with the relatively fresh Scary Movie, but it's success made way for a slew of woeful rip offs that have never lived up to expectations (aside from the passable Superhero Movie).

So while Dance Flick is a return to form for the genre... it's only a return to form when compared to the woeful output of Meet The Spartans and Date Movie ("spoofs" which didn't actually contain any jokes).

In Dance Flick a young street dancer, Thomas Uncles (Damon Wayans Jr), from the wrong side of the tracks and a beautiful young woman, Megan White (Shoshana Bush), are brought together by their passion for dancing and put to the test in the mother of all dance battles.

Dance Flick sends up the dance movie genre (a genre which kind of lost it's appeal two or three years ago anyway), including such hits as Step Up and You Got Served, as well as the classic Flashdance. There are also a few Hairspray and High School Musical "Zac Efron is a bit of a Gay" references, for the kids, in there as well.

Oddly enough, of the "movie reference related gags" the only one which seems to garner a giggle is a nod to Black Snake Moan (a movie the teeny boppers paying to see Dance Flick have likely never even seen).

That said, The Wayans have done a decent enough job to actually include some genuine worded jokes this time around (as well as some top notch cameos from the elder Wayan's and David Allen Grier). In fact - shock horror - you might even laugh occasionally.

But by and large, Dance Flick is pretty much 80 minutes of those forgettably mandatory (and lame) R&B dance references that seem to have been included in every spoof since Date Movie.

Ultimately, even at it's best Dance Flick is comedy at it's worst.

2 out of 5

Dance Flick
Australian release: 20th August, 2009
Official Site: Dance Flick
Cast: Shoshana Bush, Damon Wayans Jr, Essence Atkins, Affion Crockett
Director: Damien Dante Wayans