House Party

Oddly serving as the thesis film for director Reginald Hudlin while a student at Harvard, 'House Party' is one of my favorite teen comedies. Although, clearly most of the cast (especially Martin Lawrence and the members of Full Force) who were clearly somewhere in their late 20s, if not early 30s. However, this is one all-black teen comedy which did things with just the right amount of spunk, and the characters were not so obnoxious and not so stereotypical that you couldn't enjoy their (mis)adventures.

Old school rappers, Kid and Play, are two high school friends. Play is hosting a house party when his folks go out of town and his number one mate, Kid, plans on making an appearance. But, after getting into a scuffle with one of the bullies (aka, the biggest muscles from Full Force), he gets suspended. Like Les Anderson hoping his parents won't find out that he flunked his driver exam in 'License to Drive,' Kid prays that his father won't find out about his getting in trouble at school because he desperately wants to go that party.

But, more importantly, there is a great mix of subplots interacting which make this movie quite entertaining, especially the idiotic white cops that seem to appear at the most inconvenient moments (and not appear at the convenient ones) to harass the neighborhood and Kid's father (stand-up comedian, Robin Harris) making his way to the house party to bring his son home. And get a load of those clothes and dancing!

For fans of old school rap and hip-hop: the nostalgia trip alone should be reason enough to watch it. And, though several House Party sequels would follow, the first two are really the only ones worth watching.

"House Party" is a classic cult flick and an excellent document of late-Eighties/early-Nineties hip-hop music and style.

The movie is never anything less than entertaining, and often laugh-out-loud funny.

People may have forgotten the hip hop duo Kid 'n Play, who were among the first to bring rap to a younger and less hardcore audience, a la Will Smith. This is unfair: they were fine rappers, and even decent actors. Surprisingly though, "House Party" is the Kid show. Play doesn't make as much of an impression.

There are few wonders to behold as impressive as Kid's geometrically perfect high-top fade hairdo. I would love to see how a hairdresser pulls that off.

It's interesting that the only white characters in the movie are authority figures: a principal and two sort-of racist cops. But that's also just another reason to love it; how many majority African American movies have there been, before or since?

The kid'n'play dance was the thing back in the late 80s early 90s. The new jack swing was at its peak and this movie sums it up. It became a break-through for then young actors Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell. This reminds me of the time when I was a teenager who wanted to sneak out to go to a party and later got caught. I was in the 10th grade when this movie was released and I had a lot of fun during that time with not too much fighting at parties. The bullies played by the R&B group Full Force made the movie more funny with its slapstick humor and the memorable Robin Harris with his witty punchlines. It's sad to see him leave this earth at an early age,and comedian Bernie Mac reminds me of him. I remember he died the weekend of this movie and this was a shock. He could have been one of the funniest comedians in the 90s but his life was put to a halt and made way for several comedians who are now today's superstars (namely from Def Comedy Jam). House Party also remind me of how fun hip-hop was,and back then hip-hop was political,educational,radical,and uplifting. This movie can go down in history as how African-Americans can enjoy themselves with no use of drugs and unprotected sex.

This had to be one of the funnier comedies of the early 1990's. It helped to create more positive images of young black teens rather than showing the more negative aspects. Most of the films about young blacks up until then had been about them either being in gangs or on drugs. At least in this film you see the kids getting into mischief without getting into any real trouble. However, the only negative thing I have to say about the film is not about the film itself, but about the seemingly endless series of sequels that seemed to follow. To me the only the first film should be seen and not the sequels because they pretty much undermined the quality of the first film. Also, the series almost seemed to become an African-American version of the "Beach Party" films, where there pretty much was no plot and just gave the actors an excuse to party. Other than that, this is still a good film.

Another note about this film. The thing that really stood out about the film was the performance of comedian Robin Harris as Kid's father. His performance pretty much helped to sell the film for me. Unfortunately, a few months after the film was released Harris died from an apparent heart attack at the much too young age of 36 and just as he was about to achieve stardom. So, this film, while enjoyable, is also a very bittersweet experience.

Play is having a party with his parents out of town joined by his friends Kid and Bilal (Martin Lawrence). School bullies Stab and his brothers Pee-Wee and Zilla have it in for Kid. Kid's father Pop allows him to go to the party until he reads the school letter about Kid's fight with Stab. The boys like Sidney (Tisha Campbell) and Sharane.

This takes the harder edged black culture material and adds a light playful charm. Kid 'n Play are not exactly heavy hitters in the acting department. Play is not much cinematically but Kid does have a fun comedic energy. Play does better when he's rapping. Once the party starts, the movie finds its grove. It's a party and everybody can have fun.