Honey Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)December 3rd, 2003
HONEY
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Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba, TV's "Dark Angel") wants nothing more than to be a professional hip hop dancer, but once her dream is realized, she finds that unless she can work with the street kids she's been teaching at an urban community center, her dream is hollow. When her upwards trajectory takes a sudden downward turn, Honey goes back to the streets where fame finds her again in "Honey."
Writers Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson and Marc Platt strip mine films from "Saturday Night Fever" to "Flashdance" and serve up a cliche-ridden hip hop flick that's video-making subplot is an obvious pitch to the MTV crowd. Luckily, video director Bille Woodruff has imbued his feature debut with enough heart and genuinely likable actors to make "Honey" a pleasant enough entertainment.
Honey's mom (Lonette McKee, "He Got Game"), who runs the community center where Honey volunteers her time, wishes her 22 year old daughter would expand her horizons, but Honey's heart is in hip hop. Honey works as a bartender at a club where she can get free drinks and dance time with her best friend Gina (Joy Bryant, "Antwone Fisher"). She's unlucky at auditions, but her moves on the dance floor get her noticed by video director Michael Ellis (David Moscow, "Just Married") and soon she's choreographing videos for the likes of Jadakiss and Tweet. Honey's also determined to keep her street kids, especially the talented Bennie (Lil' Romeo) and his little brother Raymond (Zachary Isaiah Williams, TV's "Romeo!"), away from the drug dealers trying to enlist them, but after she's convinced Ellis to use them in a shoot for Ginuwine, Ellis blackballs her career for rebuffing his personal advances. Honey turns back to the streets, staging a hip hop benefit in order to buy a dance studio for the community.
Jessica Alba is a beautiful girl with genuine charisma who keeps Honey's goodie two-shoes nature charming rather than saccharine. Alba trained for the dancing and it shows - her moves are fluid and professional and full of personality. Another huge plus is an underutilized Mekhi Phifer ("8 Mile") as the basketball playing barbershop owner Chaz who falls for and supports Honey. It's a pairing to root for. Rapper Lil' Romeo, in his film debut, is good as the cocky kid ('We be teachin' you, lady') torn between the inevitability of the tenements and Honey's hopeful alternative. Williams is adorable as the still naive Rodney - his sparring with Phifer as they both flirt with Honey in Chaz's barbershop is the film's best scene. Also terrific is Joy Bryant, exhibiting a more street wise persona and great comic ability in her "Fisher" followup. Moscow keeps his villainous side under wraps without making its revelation a complete U-turn. Missy Elliott, as herself, adds some last minute punch, giving Honey's rival, Katrina (Laurie Ann Gibson), her comedic comeuppance.
"Honey's" dance numbers are visually varied, its soundtrack full of selections from its cameo players and others. It's a piece of genre fluff, but it goes down easy.
C+
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