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.

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.

This is a wacky little flick that I saw during 7th grade in class. Lots of forced comedy and wild dialog, but entertaining at certain points. Plenty of my classmates loved it, but I thought it was pretty average though.

Grade C

"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?

House Party was an unexpected low budget hit upon release in 1990, something about the bright colours and an 'urban movie' without a single drive by tapped directly into the consciousness of a teen market wanting desperately to embrace hip-hop culture without getting a gold tooth.

Kid 'n' Play host their own mega (to them) party. The be-all and end-all of House Parties. Where they can let their personal freak flags fly. Where a good time will most certainly be had by all.

And they basically do.

In a lurid blur of motion and colour these attractive teens set about enjoying themselves in the most PG 13 ways imaginable.

For a 15 year old this was like opening a window to another world: the outlandish gravity defying haircuts that I envied but would never dare attempt. The stoopid (in a good way) rhymes and dumb (in a hopelessly dated now) phrases spouted by these fly guys and home girls were new and dangerously addictive, if terribly out of place in the small town I grew up.

Shennanigans were plentiful, but amounted to little more than messin' playfully with the man in blue, freaking the establishment and clearly exposing the gaping generation gap by juxtaposing these carefully manicured teens against the pompous and staid older types.

Characters are broad and never less than frenetic and loud, dialogue makes little sense but sure sounds fresh and exciting.

And boy are these kids budding model citizens.

Overindulgence of alcohol is frowned upon, but with a supportive message of limitation rather than abhorrence. Violence is for punks and drugs aren't even mentioned. Sex is OK but only when 'safe' and amenable to both parties, no 'c'mon baby, you know you want it' here.

And there is an anti-prison sex rap. Finally someone stands up against it!

Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. House Party spawned several sequels, none of which I even vaguely recall. But this 90 minutes is always likable and elicits warm memories of my teens (not that I acted like this, but I watched a lot of movies where characters did).