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Fame (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:101
Fresh:28
Rotten:73
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Fame is ultimately undone by its choppy editing, its incomplete characterizations, and its apparent desire to appeal to the High School Musical generation.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating]
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:Sep 25, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $22,429,956
Synopsis: A reinvention of the original Oscar®-winning hit film, Fame follows a talented group of dancers, singers, actors, and artists over four years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, a... [More]
Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, Kay Panabaker, Bebe Neuwirth
Director: Kevin Tancharoen
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Reviews for Fame
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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The fragmented narrative of high school kids pursuing their dreams (job security) has just barely more feel and understanding of what it's like to be young than 17 Again . Full Review |
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2/4 |
Remember the theme song? "I feel it coming together/People will see me and cry . . . Fame/I'm gonna live forever/Baby, remember my name." Sadly, none of that applies to this hollow, impersonal movie. Full Review |
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1/5 |
Click to read the article Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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 B+ |
Its lack of melodrama and shock value make it all the more refreshing. Consider this film a grittier, inner city cousin of HSM and that's no back handed compliment Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
A little too scrubbed and sanitized, with the sharper realities of showbiz sanded down to a PG level. Full Review |
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1/5 |
a totally unoriginal and unnecessary remake that runs far, far away from anything edgy, controversial or interesting. Full Review |
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C |
Thing is, to live forever would mean the eventual re-remake of Fame. And that won't do. Full Review |
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The high school is so sanitized that there are no drugs, cutthroat competition, or—inconceivably for a theatrical milieu—no gay students. Full Review |
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2/5 |
... no worse than the original, but that's plenty bad enough. Full Review |
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2/4 |
The script doesn't earn the C average students must maintain for continued enrollment in their performing arts school. Full Review |
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Members of the class of ’80 struggled to stay in school despite homelessness and crime; the greatest crisis in ’09 finds a student’s Sesame Street work schedule affecting her GPA. Full Review |
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3/4 |
What "Fame" lacks in originality, it makes up for in heart. And that tips the ledger in my book. Full Review |
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1.5/4 |
Oh, MGM: I realize you're staving off bankruptcy, but is remaking past hits the answer? Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
I think the term 're-imagining' is code for 'dumbing down.' 'Re-imagining' may sound better, but the results are unchanged. Full Review |
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3/5 |
There are enough hoary soap-operatic plottings for a thousand Gossip Girls (emotionally distant parents, almost-rapes, suicide attempts), yet Tancharoen individualizes each crisis so that no one character comes off as a mock-universal surrogate. Full Review |
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'Fame 2009' is the cinematic equivalent of Muzak and will leave many viewers longing for the next episode of TV's 'Glee.' Full Review |
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B- |
It is a revealing reflection of its target audience: kids used to keeping up to date via tweets and Facebook status lines...the entire audience diagnosed with ADD. Full Review |
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3/5 |
...an engaging remake that doesn't eclipse the original but neither does it turn it into a travesty. Full Review |
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I don’t mind the cornball and I don’t mind the clichés, but I just think that the thing has to be executed a little better than this. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Fame
September 24, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Surrogates Is A Passable Thriller
This week at the movies, we've got robot clones (Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell), artistic-minded freshmen (Fame, starring Kelsey Grammer and Megan... More...
September 20, 2009:
Five Favorite Films with Fame's Kevin Tancharoen
Though barely into his mid 20s, Kevin Tancharoen is, as the cliché goes, already something of an industry veteran. With a background in both dance and filmmaking, he's moved... More...
June 17, 2009:
Trailer Bulletin: Fame 
Following up on April's teaser, the "Fame" reboot now has a full-length trailer. Will it live forever? Head over to Yahoo! and see for yourself. More...
April 19, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
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