Fame

2009
PG
1h 47m

IMDb RATING

5.0/10

17K

YOUR RATING

A remake of the 1980s musical centered on the teachers and students at the prestigious New York City High School of Performing Arts.

Play trailer1:52

28 Videos

62 Photos

Pop Musical Drama Musical Romance

An updated version of the musical Fame (1980), which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts. The name of the school in 1980 was Fiorello Laguardia High School.An updated version of the musical Fame (1980), which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts. The name of the school in 1980 was Fiorello Laguardia High School.An updated version of the musical Fame (1980), which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts. The name of the school in 1980 was Fiorello Laguardia High School.

Director
- Kevin Tancharoen
Writers
- Allison Burnett
- Christopher Gore
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.0/10

17K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Kevin Tancharoen
Writers
- Allison Burnett
- Christopher Gore
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 nominations

Videos28

Fame: "Hold Your Dream"

Photos62

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Debbie Allen, who plays Principal Angela Simms, is the only cast member to have made the transition from Alan Parker's original film Fame (1980). Her small part in Parker's version led to her being cast in one of the lead roles in Fame (1982), where she plays dance tutor Lydia Grant. In a 2011 interview with the Archive of American Television, Allen revealed that she considers the two characters to be the same. According to her, Lydia simply got married and uses her husband's name in the remake.

Goofs
When Marco is playing the piano at his parent's restaurant, the song he is playing is filled with sustained chords and legato melodies; which would require the foot pedal to be used quite often in order to achieve the sound that is heard. However, when the camera pans back to show underneath the piano, the pedal is not moving.

Quotes
Jenny Garrison: There are some things success is not. It's not fame. It's not money or power. Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally fly out the door. It's getting to work with people you love. Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. It's finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream. It's falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could. Success is joy and freedom and friendship. And success is love.

Connections
Featured in The 81st Annual Academy Awards (2009)

Soundtracks
Welcome to P.A.
Written by Raney Shockne
Produced and Performed by Raney Shockne

User reviews92

Review

Featured review

2/10

Fame seems pretty awful

Don't be fooled by the trailers, Fame is not as dazzling and inspiring as it may seem. Strip away the fancy lighting, music and camera work and you're left with nothing less than a cast of one dimensional, mundane, and unlikeable characters. The movie doesn't give enough time for any of the characters to develop and therefore, I ended up feeling like I barely knew the characters at all, even at the end of the film. I don't even think I could name all of them. The actual script and dialogue is not any better and the plot feels forced and irrelevant to what the movie claims to be about. From the looks of it, no one in the movie is cut out for actual "fame" with the exception of Payne's character who is portrayed as an arrogant and selfish dancer. The cast had a lot of potential to become very likable characters but because of the poor script, their performances fall flat and feel fake. I entered the movie with hopes of being entertained even if it was on a strictly "crowd pleaser" level. I left feeling like I had just wasted an hour and a half of my life learning that "success is love." There are no real resolutions to any of the character's trials and tribulations. Life must suck at this performing arts school because no one learns anything particularly profound or life changing. Don't waste your time with this movie, and if you still want to, at least wait for it to come out on DVD. The large screen, dark theater, and popcorn won't make this movie any better than the dud that it is.