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?

This is a movie that is extremely self aware of what it is going for, I would compare it to one of the movies I love ¨Cabin in the Woods¨ this movie is completely aware of all the comedy clichés in comedy movies of this kind, so they don't avoid them but intentionally include them and make fun of them, just with that this should be an extremely successful film, but it isn't.

The real failure of the film, it's the lack of star power, of a very handsome lead, Jamie Kennedy is fine but not enough for people to socially accept him as a lead, it has the wit that "21 Jump Street" has, minus Channing Tatum, there are some awkwardly fun scenes that never push it far enough to become gross, the movie knows the limits of what it's funny and what is gross, which is also another amazing thing the script had.

Other than that it doesn't takes itself too seriously, it seems like a movie in which the crew and actors could have fun, I would of really though this movie was done in the 90's which is another good point for the D.O.P. and perhaps a bad point for marketing.

All in all, it is one of the few solid comedies around the last decade, unfortunately the lack of star power, the out of date visuals, and the script being too smart for it's own good, it might be a movie to watch in 10 years, it came out too soon.

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"

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.

This movie was fun and witty in my opinion. I went just looking for some laughs. Myself and everyone in the theater was laughing the entire time. Rosenbaum (Kip) played an excellent jerk and I find his versatility as an actor impressive. Going from a drama (Lex Luthor of Smallville) to a witty comedy; I imagine is tough for most actors to pull off. As far as realism in a movie goes, this story line was pretty good. Is it a little far fetched, sure, but it's a movie and the intent is to be funny, not real. But the plot is tame, nobody is saving the world or surviving gun shots or performing impossible stunts like riding a motorcycle while doing and indo and shooting people. Overall, I thought the cast acted this story line out as well as it could have been. If you grew up in the 80's and are looking for some witty humor and good laughs, I think you'll really enjoy this movie.