Fame (1980)

I may have a limited knowledge of the TV Show that followed it, but I can safely say that the 1980 film “Fame” is significantly weaker than its TV counterpart. Although many of the core elements of the film carry over into the show, every aspect of the movie is improved upon on the small screen. The characters are far less likeable in the movie, the music (barring the iconic title song) is less memorable and the film’s episodic structure is far better suited to a weekly TV series. Two stars may seem like too low a rating for “Fame”, I’ll admit it’s fairly well-made, but to be brutally honest, I didn’t enjoy this film on any level.

The cast of “Fame” are solid, they effectively capture the angsty drama that the script requires of them, however, none of them bring anything particularly unique to the table. Aside from the actors who returned for the TV show, the only actor in “Fame” I can remember is Paul McCrane, and the only reason I remember him specifically is due to his role in “RoboCop”, in which he has one of the most elaborate death scenes in an 80s action movie!

As the story focuses on a school of all-singing, all-dancing teenagers, you’d expect the soundtrack in “Fame” to be great wouldn’t you? Sadly, the music here is quite average. The titular song is fantastic, but despite my love of 80s music, I can’t recall any of the other tracks off the top of my head.

When directly compared to the series, the tone of “Fame” is poles apart from its lighter TV successor. I went into the movie expecting an uplifting, feel-good comedy with a few moments of drama; what I ended up watching was a dour, gritty and sulky film packed with miserable moments. I appreciate that the filmmaker’s intention was to illustrate the struggles of youth in grimy 80s New York (viewing NYC from this era was my favourite element of the movie), but because I wasn’t invested in any of the character’s stories, the conflict between them felt forced and was subsequently dull to watch.

But without a doubt, my biggest criticism with “Fame” was it’s bizarre, disjointed structure. The decision to spread out the film’s events over the four years that the students spend at the high school caused a myriad of storytelling issues in my eyes.

Firstly, as the four years are shot for a single film (unlike school-centred film franchises such as “Harry Potter” or “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”) the actors don’t age as they progress through their school, so the audience aren’t able to appreciate the passage of time throughout the narrative.

Secondly, because the film is overstuffed with characters, the mere two hours of screen time has to be divided up between them all, making it extremely difficult to engage with any of them. Several of the characters who are prominent in the early scenes of the film are pushed to the side-lines for the rest of the movie, causing me to forget about them completely. This probably wouldn’t be an issue if the story only focused on one small group of friends, but because the filmmakers attempt to tell the story of a large ensemble, the film becomes an unfocused mess.

Finally, as “Fame” is forced to cram four years’ worth of stories into one film, the script constantly utilises time-jumps to breeze through potentially powerful story moments. Friendships are formed and rivalries are concocted off-screen, which makes it feel as though we’re watching a poorly edited recap of multiple films worth of character development. The scene that bothered me the most in this regard was one in which a key character is plunged into a perilous situation that puts her at serious risk. We watch on as the unsettling scene unfolds, but just as we start to wonder how the character is going to get out of this predicament, the film jump-cuts to several months later and the incident is never mentioned again.

In conclusion, “Fame” isn’t necessarily a bad film, it’s just an incredibly boring and uninspired one. There is the potential for a compelling story here, the core concept of the movie is an interesting one and some of the characters could be engaging if given the time to develop. Unfortunately, the jarring editing and poor pacing makes it almost impossible to care about anything that unfolds before you.

Will this film “live forever?” Probably not.