FAME

(PG)

Fame has everything going for it. It's a remake of a very good movie, a terrific new cast including fine actors like Charles Dutton and Bebe Neuwirth, an exuberant celebration of a high school training talented, ambitious young people. This time out we get some slick entertainment as we follow a group of diverse students through their four years at New York City High School of Performing Arts. Jenny (Kay Penabaker) is an uptight fledgling actress, Marco (Asher Book) an easygoing singer, Denise (Naturi Naughton, easily the best of the young cast) is a rebellious concert pianist. There are others, but the problem with this movie is not the cast, nor the story. It is the director Kevin Tancharoen who makes sure his camera is the star, employing distracting fast cuts and frenetic visuals. Instead of a narrative flow, we get episodic disconnect, a few good moments but an overall emptiness. The human stories are lost, and so is the depth of the original..also the title song..remixed over the closing credits and, like this film, forgettable.