Kickin' It Old Skool

Justin was a break-dancing child of the 1980s. At least, until he flipped off the stage and sent himself into a coma. Waking up twenty years later, he's a child trapped in a man's body and still has the urge to break dance. So what does he do? What anyone would do -- form the team together again to win the local break dancing contest and pay his parents back for all his medical bills.

This film comes from first-time director Harvey Glazer. For most people, this gives hi ma clean slate. For me, I look at his past endeavors as a producer and cringe. From 2006 through 2007, he produced a variety of awful straight-to-video horror films, which I've actually seen simply because Anchor Bay sends me copies for free. "The Mad", "Ultimate Killing Machine" and "Bottom Feeder" are not films you should necessarily be proud to have on your resume. This one, however, is an exception.

I was at a party, and a Blockbuster employee named Jared brought it over, more or less as a joke to have something playing in the background. And I was like "Jamie Kennedy? Straight to video? Oh no!" But before long, I found myself distracted from my Pabst Blue Ribbon and game of cards and actively watching this one. The 1980s references were cleverly woven in, and the style of humor was low-brow without being tasteless. It was right up my alley.

I'm not sure who this film is catering to, besides me. I suppose people in their mid-20s to mid-30s. The bulk of the humor relies on understanding a lot of the references and quotations used, which the younger crowd might not get. Some of them are very subtle. The rest of the humor might turn off the older crowd, because it has a youth focus. Urination, juvenile behavior and the like. Hey, I liked it... but would my mom? Probably not.

So if you're in your twenties and want a flashback, this might be something for you. Rubik's cubes, DJ Tanner, He-Man and Rockem Sockem robots are the name of the game here. If this sounds like something you'll appreciate, dig in. And, if that doesn't sell you: there's a special appearance by David Hasselhoff and KITT. What more do you want?

Strange, this movie was funnier than I thought it would be. For a movie filled with 80s clichés, this wasn't bad. Of course, it brought out a lot of 80s style things, but some were out of place.

To begin with, there were a few things that came out in the 80s that were post-1986 that somehow Kennedy's character (Justin) was familiar with. In the deleted scenes, the extended night club scene uses some anachronisms.

Despite those flaws, its funny to see Jamie Kennedy act like a 12 year old in a 32 year old body. Especially when Kennedy discovers women and the internet. He becomes confused about the issue and tries to emulate the beginning of an adult movie in completely wrong situations.

Of course, Kennedy learning how to please a woman via Hector was disturbing. I don't want to see that again. But it was for comedy.

Overall, its a good movie. It has its goofs and problems, but it is quite funny at times. So have at it, unless you born after the 80s. If that is the case, you might not understand the movie. "B"

i saw this movie last night at a sneak preview. i wasn't expecting a whole lot from this movie except maybe some cheesy one liners that would get a laugh. the movie actually had me laughing the whole time. the sound track is excellent! the movie has so many references to the 80's! it was great. the basis of the movie is a kid has a break dancing accident and goes into a coma for 20 years. this concept of the kid having to grow up in a hurry reminded me of movies like 13 going on 30 or Big but what separated this movie from others like it is he didn't grow up because of some wish or magic Gennie. the circumstance of him being in a coma and waking up 20 years later was much more realistic.

i definitely recommend seeing this movie if you grew up in the 80's!

I generally like Jamie Kennedy and thought Malibu's Most Wanted was pretty funny. But holy crap, this movie was a pile of ****.

They had a great premise to build on and they blew it. Could have had cameos all over the place, Turbo and Ozone from Breakin', Kool Moe Dee, Grandmaster Flash, etc etc.

Instead, they put in a bunch of Busch league dancers who were flat out annoying, and jokes written with zero creativity. It reminds me of another turd that came out recently, Drillbit Taylor.. Annoying characters, a script that wouldn't pass a 5th grade Creative Writing paper, with a few people that *could* have been funny (and are in other movies).

At minimum it should have been funny and it should have had some ridiculously good breakers and it failed miserably on both counts.

I'm being kind by giving it 4/10.

Young Justin Schumacher hits his head during the school talent contest and falls into a coma for 20 years. Justin (Jamie Kennedy) wakes up and tries to revives his dancing dreams his friends Darnell (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), Hector (Aris Alvarado) and Aki (Bobby Lee). Meanwhile his girl Jennifer (Maria Menounos) is now engaged to his nemesis Kip (Michael Rosenbaum).

I didn't actually laugh once at Jamie Kennedy's antics. The jokes sound clunky and are more angry than charming. Being dumb isn't a bad thing but badly written performances are. The 15 minutes prologue of the characters as kids is more compelling than the rest of the movie. The humor is so lifeless that it's more sad than anything else. Jamie Kennedy is unable to play dumb with joy. His friends are much funnier which means they're tolerable. Bobby Lee is probably the funniest of a bad lot.