Post by StevePulaski on Jul 31, 2010 22:05:59 GMT -5
The gang in Class Act.
Rating: 3/4 stars.
Class Act reminds me of two television shows. One is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and I think many would agree. Its "graffiti all over the wall", "urban setting" sort of fills the shoes of the show and this. Not to mention Karyn Parsons (Hilary Banks of The Fresh Prince) is in this as well. The second reference is the other television show called Under One Roof with Flavor Flav and Kelly Perine. It was a short lived television show in 2008 that ran for barely a season with some bad jokes and some mediocre acting. It was a typical sitcom, but "Kid" reminded me of Winston (Perine) and "Play" reminded me of Calvester (Flav). So this movie not only made me reminisce about shows, but this defined the early 90s. Hairstyles, jokes, setting, overall feel. This is like Wayne's World with African American actors.
Kid n' Play portray Duncan and Blade, but after an accident their identities become switched. Duncan is Blade and Blade is Duncan. Because both have something holding them back from their goal, they must pretend to be each other to achieve the goal. The "you scratch my back, Ill scratch yours" treatment. Duncan, the nerdy follower, needs to pass P.E. to go on to High School, while Blade, the badass, needs to pass High School to avoid getting sent back to jail.
Along the way they meet some girls and learn the duties of life. As well as getting special treatment. The nerd finally gets some respect and some character built when everyone around him thinks hes a tough, no BS guy. While the badass gets to live life slower and take it easy rather than having to beat up people every day. So the flow of each person's switched role works in favor for this film and turns out nicely.
This is, I believe (not counting Freaknik: The Musical) the only Kid 'n Play film not on official DVD. A DVD of Class Act is non-existent. The film was only released on VHS and Laserdisc. This year, the film was picked up by Warner Bros and released on Dvd from The Warner Archive Collection (same studio that put out Abe Lincoln In Illinois and Bad Ronald). I don't call that an official DVD, because The Warner Archive Collection is like a "we don't have faith, please just put this out" system. Same thing is with Good Times Home Video (defunct in 2005, respectively) and Wild Eye Releasing. When companies didn't have faith in movies they shipped them through there. I don't consider an internet exclusive an official release and its a DVD-r as well. So its most certainly not official.
Like it or not, for some reason, though a cult classic, the company doesn't have faith in this title. Which doesn't make a bit of sense since its a cult film and theres numerous online petitions to get this movie on DVD. But we still have our trusty VHS to get us through hard times.
The movie itself is a Freaky Friday sort of movie. Not a body swapping movie, but pretty close to it. So this film isn't all that bad and really makes me want to watch the three House Party films Kid 'n Play did together. Their Comedy is interesting and highly amusing. They had the 90s paved for them. But their main competition was obviously DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. This movie even seems to be fit for Carlton and Will (Alfonso Ribeiro and Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). But Kid n' Play is hard to beat in this Comedy.
Starring: Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin, Alysia Rogers, Doug E. Doug, Karyn Parsons, and Lamont Johnson. Directed by: Randall Miller.