Review by Cate McVeigh
Stars Katerina Graham, Randy Wayne, Seychelle Gabriel, Melissa Molinaro, Mario López, Audrina Patridge, Lonette McKee, Brandon Molale
Written by Blayne Weaver and Alyson Fouse
Certification UK PG | US PG-13
Runtime 111 minutes
Directed by Billie Woodruff
Honey I just shrunk my brain cells enough to sit through this terrible film. The story revolves around a recently released youth convict in the shape of dancer Maria (Katerina Graham). Maria has improved her dance skills in youth detention, but she was wrongly imprisoned and took the blame for drugs held by her then boyfriend Luis. She soon joins a dance crew who are in competition with her ex's crew. The rivalry extends to a televised competition to see who can truly be crowned the best dance crew.
My main rule for watching press screenings is that the more food and drink that is offered for free, the worse the movie. Universal had gone to a great effort to feed us, which was my first sign that the next two hours would be tedious and exasperating. In retrospective, the fact that the film's predecessor, Honey, was pretty poor should have been my first sign. However Honey 2 makes the first film in the series look almost Oscar-worthy.
The story is remarkably similar to Step Up 2: The Streets but it lacked the strength of script, character and most importantly dancing. The Step Up trilogy may not be everybody's cup of tea, but the standard of dance is undeniably fantastic. Honey 2 struggled to ever capture a remarkable dance sequence against such strong competitors. The acting was laughable, it was like a purposely wooden Saturday Night Live skit of a badly written teenage coming of age story. Katerina Graham has a lot to answer for with such a dreadful lead performance. This will damage her relatively successful young career as opposed to encourage it.
The cameos by the television show host Mario Lopez (AC Slater from Saved By The Bell) and Audrina Patridge (The Hills) are beyond cheesy. Even acclaimed choreographer Laurieann Gibson appears in the sequel, despite the original being a loose adaptation of her own rise to fame. These cameos add little to an already failing storyline and lack the spark to revive the sheer boredom of the dance-offs.
I would urge you to stay clear of this film, even if you enjoy guilty pleasures such as Step Up or Street Dance. The film is overlong, exasperating, unfunny and banal. It has won the honour of being the worst movie that I have seen so far this year (and I have seen Love and Other Drugs). AVOID AT ALL COSTS!