In the beginning of the movie, it shows a bunch of different kids auditioning to get into a very competitive performing arts high school in New York City. Only 200 get in out of the 10,000 kids that apply. There were a lot of scenes of kids auditioning for dance, acting, singing, and playing an instrument.
There was not a huge overarching plot for the movie. In a lot of other movies or TV shows I have watched they would have a main plot, and then maybe a bunch of side plots to go with it. Also, a lot of shows have main characters and then some side characters too. This movie didn't seem to have a main plot, or main characters. It felt like a lot of side plots and side characters. It had the affect of not watching a movie but a lot of mini documents or something. That made me feel like this movie was different than any other movie I have watched. I can't exactly judge it and say it's bad. It may just be a format I am not used to.
Regardless, all of these side characters and side plots that made up the film were a little captivating, but it lacked an extra umph and power. The movie needed a connecting thread between all the side characters and plots. In that way it just didn't even feel like a real movie.
I didn't like the building they chose to shoot the movie in. It was ghetto and ugly. If it's such a great school, could they have found the money to make it nicer? A lot of the characters didn't seem that talented to me either. These are the ones that won out of the ten thousand?
To try and give the movie some positive feedback, I can say I enjoyed it, a little. I do like watching performances and what not, and this movie was made up of mostly performances. In that way I was pleased. But then, I have to go and criticize the performances too.
These kids were supposed to be in high school? They didn't seem like it at all. It looked like they hired a bunch of 30 year olds to play high school students. They had scenes that were too sexy and where they dressed too scantily for high school performances. They had scenes were they were at house parties and bars. Bars! They are in high school!
And, then a lot of the singing and dancing was just too ghetto, and carnal, sensual and devilish. I guess that's now the norm for our society. But, seeing a bunch of high school students mimic that kind of bugged me. It made me sad. That kind of thing is more accepted now. To be an artist in this world right now, it is normal to demean yourself, even at a young age. At least that's what this movie told me. It kind of made me depressed when it was all over.
