Honey

Pros: - Jessica Alba is likeable

• The Dancing is good and frequent

• Missy Elliott, Tweet and other hip hop stars can be seen in cameo roles.

• It never gets too slow or too boring

Cons: - The characters don't feel realistic in certain situations

• ...that goes for the plot too. For example, peolpe seem to know a dance routine by looking at it once.

• The plot is unoriginal, you know where "Honey" is heading.

Summary: "Honey" is a likeable film, but you have to enjoy listening to hip hop and watch people dance.

Any comparisons between "Honey" and "Glitter" are probably due to both movies having script-work by Kate Lanier (who, funnily enough, isn't listed on the completed movie)... and, of course, to their having slightly similar plots. Except that "Glitter" is likely to be more of a black mark on Mariah Carey's book than "Honey" is on Jessica Alba's.

This movie about a kind-hearted young woman in New York who uses dancing to help the people in her neighbourhood (the people that she meets when she's walking down the street... sorry, couldn't resist) and who's plucked from a nightclub to become the Paula Abdul of the 21st century - she even has a little mole on her face - is aptly named; it's as sweet-natured as its title character and has little if any benefit on your system, except to slip down nice and easy and leave not very much behind. It's filled with all the realism you'd expect from the producer of "Legally Blonde" and "Josie and the Pussycats," but it's not quite as much fun as either. Part of it is a personal thing (the Rodney Jerkins-executive produced music that permeates the movie isn't my thing, rhythmic though it is), but the thin, originality-challenged scripting and silly dialogue are more of a problem; when our bartender-by-night/dance-teacher-by-day heroine tells a kid "Your flava's hot" it's a little embarrassing, although in fairness "Honey"'s street talk doesn't make you wince as much as some other examples of this kind of thing.

To be honest, the movie pretty much goes in one ear and out the other; there's not a single truly dramatic moment, with the setbacks coming on cue (when Li'l Romeo's character gets arrested it, and many other moments in the movie, plays like a less-than-brilliant After School Special) and the characters are right out of Cliches Central, from the almost saintly title character to the sexually predatory rival dancer. (And note to the filmmakers: as anyone who's ever watched MTV, VH-1 et al will confirm, music videos don't credit the choreographer on screen... regardless of what the one that plays next to the movie's end credits might say.)

But it's impossible to really hate "Honey"; the movie's too harmless and good-tempered for anyone to get into a hissyfit over its drawbacks, and though the R&B-flavoured cameos mean a lot of people who see this movie will probably be going "Who's this Tweet person?" Missy Elliott is genuinely funny in her very brief scenes. The dancing's also good, which is one of the main reasons to go and see movies like this; and though it doesn't actually seem to have anything like a narrative drive (it just seems to end instead of climax), there have been worse movies from music video directors, e.g. almost anything directed by Russell Mulcahy.

Oh yes, Jessica. She doesn't quite seem like the streetwise type, but she isn't supposed to be; she looks the part and comes off reasonably well, as well as having the edge over Jennifer Beals in "Flashdance" in that she actually does most of her own dancing. This isn't really the best vehicle for her, to be honest, but Jessica's an undeniable charmer on screen, and far too sexy for this or anything she's been in (with the arguable exception of "Paranoid") to be an unbearable experience. All she has to do is improve her choice of scripts...

Honey Danels (Jessica Alba) is trying to make it as a dancer in NYC. She's a bartender at a nightclub and teaches hip-hop dancing at a local youth center. Video director Michael Ellis is taken with her dancing. He makes her a star dancer and then a choreographer. Gina (Joy Bryant) is her best friend. Chaz (Mekhi Phifer) is a barber trying to keep the youth center going. When Honey rejects the controlling Michael's advances, he cuts off her career at every turn. Meanwhile she's trying to keep Benny away from the pull of the gangs.

Jessica Alba has the acting chops for this simple dance movie. This is very much a simplistic dance movie. There is limited edge. Alba doesn't have enough street in her. It's nothing new. The dancing from Alba is good but not acrobatic. Although complaining about this movie is like kicking a new born puppy. This movie doesn't have a mean bone in its body and it's perfectly watchable.

I stumbled on this while channel-surfing and was pleasantly surprised. Many positive messages tucked in to an appealing story acted out by a surpassingly attractive cast: Be true to yourself; follow your dream (but don't sell out); love your neighbor, stay loyal to your friends, your family, and your 'hood. It reminded me of when I saw Krush Groove as a teen and it gave me a window into a whole other world. Except now hip hop is the dominant pop culture and not exotic anymore. But we still rarely get to see positive characters of color with their emotional depth fully explored. Lil Romeo gives an especially nuanced performance.

This is a beautiful little movie that just fun to watch. Okay it's full of clichés, predictable in some places, the dialogs are funky sometimes.

But who cares?

If you have nothing to do on a saturday night and your boyfriend/girlfriend just dumped you this movie will get you right up! You've got good vibes coming from all over this movie.

The dancing scenes are really tight, the casting has been done beautifully especially casting Jessica Alba. God she likes shines of the screen.

Go and see this movie, it's fun...

Oh but there is one thing that I kept noticing. And that was that the movie resembles "Glitter" in so many ways. I see that the scriptwriter Kate Lanier worked on both projects.