{"id":2682,"date":"2024-08-22T15:53:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T15:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2024-10-12T20:59:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T20:59:45","slug":"house-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/22\/house-party\/","title":{"rendered":"House Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"House Party <\/strong>(1990)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 105 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (pervasive bad language, mild violence, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Reginald Hudlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Reginald Hudlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lenny White and Marcus Miller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Deming\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 9, 1990 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kid \u2018n Play (Christopher \u201cKid\u201d Reid and Christopher \u201cPlay\u201d Martin), Full Force (Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou and B-Fine), Robin Harris, Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, A.J. Johnson, Daryl \u201cChill\u201d Mitchell, Gene \u201cGroove\u201d Allen, Kelly Jo Minter, John Witherspoon, Barry Diamond, Michael Pniewski, George Clinton.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $26.4M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0I originally wanted to open my review of the teen comedy House Party<\/strong> by showing the contrast between it and the \u201clife in the hood\u201d dramas (e.g. Boyz n the Hood, Juice and Menace II Society) that were popular around the same time. But when I rethought it, I realized it would be like pointing out the obvious difference between an apple and a pineapple. The aforementioned dramas, for lack of a better term, are downers dealing with violence, gangs and drugs. House Party<\/strong>, on the other hand, is a joyous celebration of youth, music, new romances and good times. What better place for all of the above than a house party? After all, what better defines being a teenager (black, white or otherwise) than sneaking off to an unsupervised party? It defines the teen years every bit as much as going to the prom and getting a driver\u2019s license. They all represent fun and freedom. That\u2019s the vibe writer-director Reginald Hudlin successfully captures in his debut feature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0No kid likes to be \u201con punishment\u201d but that\u2019s exactly where Kid (Reid, one half of the rap duo Kid \u2018n Play) finds himself after his dad Pop (comedian Harris) grounds him for getting into a fight at school. He really wants to go to his friend Play\u2019s (Martin, the other half of Kid \u2018n Play) party. The girl he likes, Sydney (Campbell, School Daze), will be there with her best friend Sharane (Johnson, The Inkwell). Determined not to miss the social event of the year, Kid sneaks out of the house after Pop falls asleep in front of the TV (watching Dolemite, no less).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Set over the course of a single night, Kid\u2019s troubles begin before he even gets to the party. He has a run-in with the trio of bullies from school (R&B group Full Force) that results in all of them being hassled and humiliated by a pair of racist white cops (Diamond and Pniewski). When he finally arrives at his friend\u2019s house, his attempt to hook up with Sydney is hindered by a jealous Sharane putting the moves on him. Meanwhile, the bullies try to bust up the party only to encounter more trouble with the cops. Also, an angry Pop wakes up and decides to go retrieve his wayward son.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If one wanted to draw comparisons, House Party<\/strong> can be described as a spiritual cousin to American Graffiti or Dazed and Confused. It\u2019s a loosely structured comedy about a night in the life of fun-seeking teens. HOWEVER, instead of drag racing or getting high, their idea of fun is rapping and dancing. There\u2019s no shortage of either as Kid and Play do verbal battle with each other and dance battle with the two girls while their friend Bilal (comedian Lawrence in his first major role) does DJ duty. A running joke has girls constantly rejecting him for his \u201cdragon breath\u201d. It\u2019s a lively party that never gets out of control in the exaggerated style of Sixteen Candles and Project X (NOT the one with the monkeys). The worst thing that happens is somebody breaking the toilet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Tragically, Robin Harris died from a heart attack at 36 just nine days after House Party<\/strong> was released. The stand-up comedian, most famous for his \u201cBebe\u2019s Kids\u201d routines, never got to enjoy the success of his first major film role (he had bit parts in I\u2019m Gonna Git You Sucka, Do the Right Thing and Harlem Nights). Based on his performance in House Party<\/strong>, I think he would have been a big comedy star. He is hilarious as gruff but loving Pop who dispenses wise advice, wise cracks and the occasional belt whipping. His best scene is when he unleashes a verbal assault on the young partygoers going off on one guy for his Jheri curl hairstyle- \u201cYou better not ever do a crime! The police won\u2019t have any problem finding you! \u2018Follow the drip! Follow the drip!\u2019\u201d He is a talent gone WAY too soon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Kid \u2018n Play, in roles originally intended for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (aka Will Smith), have a pleasing screen presence and natural chemistry with each other. They\u2019re gifted both musically and comically. Reid brings equal measures sweetness and awkwardness to his character as he clumsily tries to woo Sydney. He takes it a step further by breaking the black male stereotype of being sexually irresponsible. He has a chance to do it with Sydney, but doesn\u2019t because they don\u2019t have a means of birth control. Martin is also good as the increasingly exasperated party host who tells one guest to go to a nearby convenience store when she asks about snacks and drinks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I like that Hudlin fleshes out the two main female characters as much as the two males. Sydney comes from a well-to-do family while Sharane lives in the projects with her extended family. The difference in their values is interesting. I don\u2019t like rap, but the music in House Party<\/strong> is good. It\u2019s also integral to the story and characters in much the same way as the oldies in American Graffiti. There is a lot of funny stuff in the movie too with Full Force providing great comic relief as dangerous thugs with Keystone Kop DNA in their blood.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If one were so inclined, one could attach sociological importance to House Party<\/strong> by explaining that Hudlin attempts to close the racial divide by showing that unauthorized, unsupervised teen parties aren\u2019t exclusively the domain of white privileged high schoolers. But who wants to do that with a joyous, good time comedy like House Party<\/strong>? It primarily exists to show a bunch of decent, somewhat wacky teens having good clean fun. This one is a true teen classic.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Party (1990)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 105 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (pervasive bad language, mild violence, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Reginald Hudlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Reginald Hudlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Lenny White and Marcus Miller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Deming\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 9, 1990 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kid \u2018n Play (Christopher \u201cKid\u201d Reid and Christopher \u201cPlay\u201d Martin), Full Force (Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-cult-flicks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/House-Party-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3612,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions\/3612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}