Fame

Remakes suck, and unfortunately, Fame, the teenybopper, PG-rated update to the 1980s R-rated original, is the rule and not the exception.

Not that there aren't nice dance moves and good singing, especially from Naturi Naughton, a member of the now defunct-pop group 3LW and last seen playing the naughty rapper Lil' Kim in Notorious.

As in the original, this film follows a bunch of kids with dreams of fame, for lack of a better word, as they go through four years at New York's High School of Performing Arts. There's singing and dancing in the cafeteria, though strangely no singing and dancing in the streets and on top of taxicabs that we relished in the original.

Dreams get crushed, hearts broken, in the brutal world of the performing arts. Like Debbie Allen said, "You want fame? Well, fame costs and right here is where you start paying it... in sweat."

But the 1980s version had memorable characters you cared about, like Leroy, (played in the movie and on the series by the late Gene Anthony Ray) the kid from the rough side of the streets who had raw dancing ability, a rebel's attitude and soul. You had the incomparable Irene Cara, who played Coco in the film and sang that song "Fame (Can You Feel It)."

The film delved into dark topics, including homosexuality, the pressures to be thin in the dance industry, suicide and the exploitation of naive students willing to do almost anything to get the glitter and the glam.

All that is lost in this smiley-faced remake. Glimpses of the character's lives are seen but never the whole, the movie so busy getting to the dancing and singing that the kids obsessed with American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance want to see.

The original Fame was edgy and real. The remake is a movie thrown together to appease the masses, drained of any soul, any passion, and nothing but cliches.

Good actors such as Charles S. Dutton, Bebe Neuwirth, Megan Mullally and Kelsey Grammer make do with what they have, which isn't much. And some of the fresh faces stand out, such as Naturi Naughton and Collins Penne, who plays Malik, an angry aspiring rapper/actor who starts off with an interesting story arc but one that never goes anywhere. But it's not enough to save this skeleton of a movie.

Hollywood these days is littered with remakes and unnecessary sequels. Word is that a remake of the horror/comedy classic An American Werewolf in London is in the works, the idea of which is more frightening than the actual movie, which is pretty scary itself.

Fame is a very good reason for Hollywood to just stop doing remakes. Try being original for once. Oh, that's right...this is Hollywood we're talking about.

I Can Do Bad All Bad By Myself

Almost every Tyler Perry movie is the same, with maybe the exception of The Family That Preys -- at the center is a woman, so beat down and bitter over the pain caused by some bitch of a man that she can't see the sweet, beautiful love of the handsome guy (always one with washboard abs) standing right in front of her.

The formula works, because every single one of Perry's movies, even the awful Madea Goes To Jail, has seen box-office gold.

His newest one, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, sticks to that well-worn formula and with powerful performances by the fiesty Taraji P. Henson, it works.

Henson plays April, an alcoholic, selfish nightclub singer haunted by a painful past and is currently sleeping with a married man, played by Brian White.

She is not in the mood when Madea drops her niece and two nephews at her doorstep after her mother, who has been raising them, disappears.

Anyone who has seen a Tyler Perry movie shouldn't be too surprised at what happens next. Angels come into her life in all forms, including a fine-looking handyman named Sandino, played by Adam Rodriguez (who's most known for his role as Delko on CSI: Miami).

It is Sandino, as well as her pastor (played by gospel singer Marvin Winans), her friend Tanya (the incomparable Mary J. Blige) and Wilma (the lovely Gladys Knight) who push her into taking control of her life and opening her heart to the possibility of love.

The script is rife with cliches and over-the-top melodrama, all Tyler Perry standards. But in this case, Perry is getting better at holding back, even sidelining audiences' favorite character, Madea, for long stretches of the film.

And that's a good thing because it gives Henson room to do her own thing. And it is a thing she does well. Henson dives into her character's pain and makes it real, even if the dialogue doesn't do her performance justice.

Her's is a journey that feels real and when she finally makes her breakthrough, you feel as if she has truly earned it. But we could have done without her singing along to an old gospel song in her house as her pastor sings the same song at his church down the street. It reminded me too much of that scene in The Color Purple, the one where Shug comes down from the juke joint to the church, singing that song, "God Is Trying To Tell You Something," and embracing her estranged father. Just a bit too much there, Tyler.

But there's no doubt Tyler Perry knows how to entertain his audiences. He packs this movie not only with uproarious hilarity but also poignant moments and soaring musical performances by Knight, Winans and Blige. On the night I saw the movie, audience members waved their hands and clapped as if they were at a concert or at church.

Anyone confused as to how the movie will eventually play out just hasn't been paying attention. Of course, April will find love, with Sandino. Of course, she'll finally decide to take care of her sister's children. And of course, faith in God will give April the strength to finally kick out her abusive boyfriend.

I wish Tyler Perry would make movies with a little bit more sophistication, that he would allow for nuance and tone down the melodrama, especially now that he is going to helm a film version of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Isn't Enuf.

Here's hoping this movie is a sign of better things to come.

Extract

Office Space is a classic, a box-office bomb that took off within the hallowed walls of Blockbuster. Mike Judge, the creator of the doofus duo, Beavis and Butthead, directed this hilarious take on cubicle culture and the misery of working.

It was for Joe and Julie Schmos everywhere to relish in the awfulness that is the modern-day workplace.

Judge is back with another movie, Extract, this time from the employer's point of view. The always affable and charming Jason Bateman is Joel, the owner of a extract-flavor manufacturing company whose wife won't sleep with him and is tempted to sell his company.

More problems come his way when a freak accident causes one of his employees to lose one of his nuts, literally.

A smooth con-artist with a pretty face (Mila Kunis) comes along and convinces said employee to sue the company, thus jeopardizing the sale.

And in the midst of all this, Joel, in a drunken state, decides to hire a guy to be the pool guy and to umm ... service his wife so he can feel less guilty when he has an affair with the beautiful con-artist.

Sounds like a good premise? It is, but the movie ends up as a long-winded bore. The only bright spot comes from Ben Affleck, who plays Joel's friend. He actually gives one of his best performances, one so good you're want to give the dude an Oscar.

But Judge doesn't give you anyone to root for in this movie as he did in Office Space. The movie meanders quite a bit, as if it is high on pot, never truly landing anywhere.

There is one laugh-out-loud moment near the end, provided by the underused Kristin Weig, who plays Joel's no-sex-having wife.

Extract just fades away once the credits start rolling, a film that relies too much on the idea that we the public might want to get in the shoes of our employers. We just don't care.