Cheese. Total
Cheese. Cheese-whiz.
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| Summer Luvin' |
They took the first American Idol winner and Runner Up and
put them in Beach Blanket Giget Goes To Florida. They might have given them a few minutes of
acting class, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
.
Then why recommend it? Kids, almost nothing will make you laugh harder, or be touched and feel
silly about it. The dancing is
infectiously fun (they cast a chorographer as director) the big numbers are all
big and silly. It is almost a
documentary on how to throw together a movie with no thought. And yet, Kelly Clarkson has a great voice and
both she and Justin Guarini have emotive voices. There songs almost sell it, for a few seconds
at a time.
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| Katherine Bailess, Anika Noni Rose, Kelly Clarkson |
Kelly and Justin have zero chemistry. Zero.
Which works against them. And the
“friends” casting is bizarre. Akia Noni
Rose (Tony nominated actress) is fine in voice and dancing as the black best
friend – if a little lost on why she is in this movie. Justin’s friends include a white rapper whose
ample tattoos are only occasionally hidden by body make up.
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| Greg Stiff, Justin Gaurini, Brian Dietzen The blond in the background is in almost every scene and almost always shirtless |
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And, for a beach movie, both Justin AND Kelly show
surprising little flesh. And I get it.
They cast the backup dancers and extras directly from the “himbo” and
“bimbo” departments. They are pretty
uniformly attractive and rarely wear shirts.
Board shorts and bikinis are the norm here.
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The “Thunder Road” scene here happens on Jet Skis in the
Atlantic – without sharks so there isn’t nearly as much in the way of drama
(“Oh my, he fell… into the ocean.”). And
you have to watch the “Director’s cut” where a total rip-off of “Summer Nights”
is sung. I mean total rip-off. (Brighter Star below...)