The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie breaks down a lot of the expectations that most audiences have in regards to musicals. However, this movie is still very clearly a musical through and through.One of the biggest expectations audiences have going into a musical is that the characters will frequently just start singing and dancing for no reason. Parker decided to take a different route on how he presented the song and dance numbers. The movie revolves around a group of high school students as they progress through their four years of school at a performing arts high school. Since nearly every character in the story is a singer or dancer, it makes sense for them to sing and/or dance every once in a while. And since I'm sure every one of you knows at least one person that's involved in the arts somehow, I'm also sure you know that it's not completely out of character for these people to randomly start singing and dancing. The characters in "Fame" hold true to this personality trait. Whenever the characters start randomly singing and/or dancing throughout the movie, it may be "weird" according to societal norms, but for actual performers, it's something that could and often does actually happen in real life."Fame" also challenges the purpose of songs in the musicals. Normally, songs in musicals either are vital in progressing the plot or are simply for entertainment. The music in "Fame" does neither of these things. While the songs are vital to the plot, it is not in the conventional sense. Most of the songs in the movie are sung by musicians as they are auditioning, practicing, or performing, rather than simply being a tool to move the plot along. If someone were to take all the songs out of the movie the plot would not make as much sense, because without them the characters singing them would have to be removed from the script. Another thing that is expected out of most musicals is the big production number at the end of the musical that either ties all of the loose ends of the story up or celebrates everyone's good fortune. "Fame" still has a production number, but it fulfills neither of the expected uses. This production number takes place at the students' graduation. It serves as the final chance for both the audience within the movie and those of us watching the movie itself to see all of the characters perform before they go off into the "real world." None of the characters' story lines end with a sense of finality. No one is shown getting a professional job, or an agent, or even a relationship. The characters graduate and that's the end of it. For most audiences, they are expecting the final number to tie up loose ends. Sadly, these people will be left hanging.Even though "Fame" is definitely very unconventional in it's delivery, it is still very strongly a musical. The songs are still very vital to the storyline even though they aren't quite delivered how you would expect. In my opinion, it does a great job at trying to reach to both musical loving audiences and non-musical loving audiences.

New kids come to audition for New York City High School of Performing Arts. Leroy Johnson is a tough kid dragged to help a girl audition but he gets picked instead. Bruno Martelli is more interested in modern music. Doris Finsecker is shy pushed by her mother. Lisa Monroe is a dancer since childhood but finds herself falling behind. Coco Hernandez (Irene Cara) is confident at everything. Montgomery MacNeil is gay. The movie follows these kids and their teachers over the next 4 years.The beauty of this are the various unknown actors. The drawback is also the same thing which suffers from a lack of focus on a specific character. The numbers of characters are so many and the time spent is so vast. It becomes a series of disjointed vignettes. It does get into the foreign world of the performing arts and some pretty interesting dramatic aspects. Gene Anthony Ray is electric in his audition scene. There are some great memorable big energetic dance sequences like the cafeteria and on the street. They have 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. Some characters are inevitably more interesting than others which is different for every viewer. It is simply a bit too scattered.

I don't know if I would class this as a musical, but it is certainly a teen drama with some songs and performances in it that I wanted to try, from BAFTA nominated director Alan Parker (Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning). Basically the story is set at New York High School for the Performing Arts, where the newest students are training to achieve their goals to become great singers, actors and performers. The four students that the film mainly follows are black wannabe starlet Coco Hernandez (Golden Globe nominated Irene Cara), shy and less than confident Doris Finsecker (Maureen Teefy), gay and sensitive Montgomery MacNeil (Paul McCrane), and the often aggressive Raul Garcia (Barry Miller). The film follows their journey from auditioning to be in the school, singing and dancing rehearsals, personal downfalls in their bid to get somewhere, including Coco unintentionally going into pornography, and of course graduation with the whole gang performing on stage. Also starring Eddie Barth as Angelo, Lee Curreri as Bruno, Laura Dean as Lisa Monroe, Antonia Franceschi as Hilary Van Doren, Boyd Gaines as Michael and Gene Anthony Ray as Leroy. I mainly heard about the film first because of the title song "Fame" going to number one in the UK, and then again when Justin Lee Collins tried to get Irena Cera on board for the Bring Back... Fame reunion, which she refused. I will be honest in saying that I wasn't completely interested in the story, more the singing and dancing, but even that didn't stop me thinking this wasn't really my cup of tea, but it certainly wasn't bad. It won the Oscar for Best Music for Michael Gore and Best Song for the title song (it also won the Golden Globe), and it was nominated for Best Film Editing, Best Song for "Out Here on My Own", Best Sound and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, it won the BAFTA for Best Sound, and it was nominated for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music and Best Editing, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy and Best Original Score. Okay!

Fame was released in the U.S. a year before I was born; I was too young to ever remember the original version of Fame- and yet I heard and read numerous things about it. Such as the fact that it spawned a TV series and that its soundtrack was led by the Irene Cara, Giogio Moroder hit, 'Fame'.Fame was arguably the first of its kind to portray and showcase the world of performing arts in the form of a feature length film. The lives, the struggles, the hurdles the students and some of the teachers undergo themselves were under the eye of the viewers.The performances were great, yet one which caught my eye in particular was Gene Anthony Ray, who played the troublesome yet promising Leroy. Angry, frustrated and at first rude, his character later became less angry and frustrated and more committed to his studies- not just with the practical in the performing but in the theoretical too. Irene Cara was good as Coco- the scene with her taking her blouse off while some pervy director was filming her was rather discomforting to watch-, as well as Paul McCrane for his amazing portrayal of a vulnerable but closeted homosexual trying to cope with life and enrolling on a performing arts school in New York, after he had been kicked out of the military when he told them he was gay. Ralph played by Barry Miller was interesting but at times, his character did grate on my nerves.The choreography was excellent, there were some good dance numbers involved and the 'hot lunch' scene in the cafeteria was worth watching. Another scene that was great was when the 'Fame' song was played and all the kids started rushing out into the streets of New York and danced wildly and without a care in the world. It was a street jam like no other.The only star to ever truly benefit from this in the long run was and is Debbie Allen- she later became a producer, director and star- though she mostly worked behind the scenes on shows such as Everybody Hates Chris and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Paul McCrane later went on to star alongside Peter Weller in the movie, 'Robocop', where he played a villain and E.R. as the judgemental, obnoxious Doctor Romano.British director Alan Parker shot this really well- he allowed the performers to dance, act, sing to their hearts content without wanting to interfere with and affect their styles.Throughout the duration of the movie, we see the various stages the students encounter during their 4 years- from their auditions to freshman year, all the way up to graduation in New York's High School For The Arts.Fame is one of those movies which caters for or is aimed at a particular audience that isn't necessarily the general mainstream movie loving community- it is definitely NOT for everyone.I for one enjoyed it because I have an interest in the arts- not technically in terms of being a performer because I am not one but as someone who appreciates that creativity and artistic expression can be channelled through hard work, commitment and passion towards what one does with their talents. Therefore, if you are an aspiring dancer, actor- or just someone who is creative, you might be interested in a movie such as this- though whether the events in Fame are anything like what it is in a performing arts college/school in real life, then that is a completely different matter altogether.The 2009 remake of this movie was released recently and frankly, it virtually pales by comparison. As for the original Fame, almost 30 years on though yes it is a bit dated but it is still a great movie, nonetheless.It's not an outright classic but as a 80s cult classic, in line with other 80s dance hit movies, such as Footloose and Flashdance, Fame hits the spot. Isn't it a coincidence that all those dance movies begin with the letter 'F'? Gritty, moving and intriguing, this one is worth a watch.