‘House Party’ review: Calmatic’s feature debut reboot is overshadowed by the original

Why? is a question I ask myself when I watch reboots and remakes of older movies. Whether I like them or not, I always ask why. Why was it started again? Why was it rebuilt? And then I look for details about the film that make it stand out. I did not find any answers to these questions while looking at Calmatic house party Start fresh.

As one of my favorite films growing up, I think about the things I loved about the 1990 version house party is that it was not only great fun, but it was intelligent and contained subtle social comments that are effective. The 2023 version, written by Jamal Olori and Stephen Glover, is just a slapstick comedy with voiced characters and a story so incomprehensible that I often forgot what I was watching.

Set in Los Angeles, the film follows childhood friends Kevin (Jacob Latimore) and Damon (Tosin Cole) as they attempt to throw the city’s biggest party for fame and glory. From the beginning, the goal of throwing a party is to gain fame and make money. Kevin is a music producer and single father who lives with his parents. Damon is a stoner/sleeper who lives with his aunt and has no real goals except to make money, get girls and bend over backwards for the gram (showing off on Instagram). He’s a party promoter who’s being chased by a group of three violent gits called the Young Threats (played by Allen Maldonado, Melvin Gregg and Rotimi) who want something Damon stole.

Kevin and Damon work for a cleaning company, a job they are promptly fired from for being reckless and smoking weed on the job. Now unemployed and broke, they decide to explore a house they are cleaning, only to find themselves in the home of famous basketball player Lebron James. Regardless of the law or common sense, these two idiots come up with the bright idea of ​​throwing a house party there. You exploit his personal contacts and reach out to friends and acquaintances in hopes of making a profit big enough to lift them out of poverty and turn them into the biggest party promoters in town – all without getting arrested or killed trying. to become.

Adding aspects of social media influences, cultural influences and old school music into an updated feature doesn’t add spin, depth or perspective to a reboot. What separates the 2023 version from the 1990 version, which featured hip-hop artists Christopher “Kid” Martin and Christopher “Play” Reid, is intelligence. Her characters liked to dance and have fun, to talk to girls, to come from middle class homes and it was all about getting home before bed and dodging the neighborhood bullies while making subtle social comments about police brutality and class. However, in Glover and Olori’s script, willful ignorance is rewarded and celebrated, as the lead duo encourage each other to make decisions that would literally ruin their lives.

There are some fun moments with Kid Cudi and writer Lena Waithe, but House Party’s over-reliance on celebrity cameos, social media influencers, and reference scenes from the 1990 film weigh the story down even more. It’s full of stale comedic gags that don’t elicit any reaction, the chemistry between the actors isn’t right, and the audience can see every plot point miles away.

You see, relaunching something just because it has a name popular with Millennials and Gen X is not a good measure of wanting to capitalize on nostalgia. As the one tasked with rebooting a franchise, what content is being added to differentiate the reboot from the previous one? How does this version enhance the material we already have? Social media cannot be the only thing that defines this generation. There must be something else.

It may not sound like it, but I was looking forward to it. Calmatic is a great storyteller and his music videos are top notch. Springhill (Lebron James’ production company) has a focused interest in content for and by people of color, especially black people. Both will strike gold one day, but it won’t be with me house party 2023