Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
79 Afghan Star
57 American Casino
72 Amreeka
62 Art & Copy
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
71 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
70 Big Fan
xx Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
72 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
60 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
82 Bright Star
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
62 Cloud 9
62 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
74 Crude
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
70 Earth Days
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
61 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
80 Food, Inc.
50 Fuel
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
64 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
66 Liverpool
80 Lorna's Silence
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
63 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
64 No Impact Man
48 Not Forgotten
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
53 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
xx Paranormal Activity
67 Paris
35 Play the Game
xx Pretty Ugly People
64 Providence Effect, The
69 September Issue, The
40 Shrink
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
xx Splice
xx St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
64 Tetro
72 Thirst
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
xx Untitled
56 Walt & El Grupo
62 We Live in Public
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Fame

EMAILPRINTMGM

Fame reviews
40
5.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Musical

Written by: Allison Burnett

Directed by: Kevin Tancharoen

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 25, 2009

Running Time: minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for thematic material including teen drinking, a sexual situation and language

Starring Asher Book, Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Debbie Allen, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, and Bebe Neuwirth

Fame follows a talented group of dancers, singers, actors, and artists over four years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, a diverse, creative powerhouse where students from all walks of life are given a chance to live out their dreams and achieve real and lasting fame...the kind that comes only from talent, dedication, and hard work. (MGM)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

A film that’s largely a raw, uplifting love letter to creativity in every possible form.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Much of the movie has a structureless, documentary feeling to it, which is good and should have been pushed further.

Read Full Review >
63

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Since I sort of liked “Step Up 2: The Streets,” I’m not surprised I sort of liked the remake of Fame.

Read Full Review >
60

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Whether the young ensemble attains it remains to be seen. The standouts, though, are Naughton, Pennie and Perez De Tagle.

Read Full Review >
50

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

So little time is devoted to developing characters that it's hard to share their hopes and fears.

Read Full Review >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A cheesy production with underdeveloped characters that feels more like a TV pilot than a self-contained motion picture.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A sad reflection of the new Hollywood, where material is sanitized and dumbed down for a hypothetical teen market that is way too sophisticated for it. It plays like a dinner theater version of the original.

Read Full Review >
50

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

It's almost laughably bland and watered-down in its desire to appeal to the widest possible audience. It won't succeed in that goal, but it has enough pizzazz to captivate undemanding tweeners.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

Perhaps the young performers are in such a good mood because they're liberated from having to play straight-as-a-ruler teen melodrama.

Read Full Review >
50

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The teachers (including original cast member Debbie Allen as school principal) turn out to be the best part of the show.

Read Full Review >
50

USA Today Claudia Puig

Fame offers slick entertainment with some exuberance, but it's devoid of soul or heart.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It’s not a good sign when the first few minutes of a movie about singing, dancing, rapping, video-camera-wielding teenagers reminds you of a certain grimy horror franchise.

Read Full Review >
50

Washington Post Dan Zak

This new Fame, whitewashed for the kids, leaps into a catchy rhythm at the start.

Read Full Review >
50

Village Voice Melissa Anderson

The sanitized moppets in the new Fame sing the body generic.

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times Andy Webster

While the movie suffers from a surfeit of flash, it nonetheless offers the undeniable power of young performers pursuing art at peak dexterity.

Read Full Review >
40

Variety Brian Lowry

This PG-rated offering thus dances along a fine line -- one that suggests a shelf-life well short of its "I wanna live forever" anthem.

Read Full Review >
38

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

Offers about as much flava as a Dr. Pepper commercial and about as much drama as a “Sesame Street” rerun.

Read Full Review >
30

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The high school is so sanitized that there are no drugs, cutthroat competition, or--inconceivably for a theatrical milieu--no gay students.

Read Full Review >
30

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Someone has driven a stake through the heart and ripped out the soul of the 1980 original. The responsible parties, make that irresponsible parties, should be found, thrown in movie jail and not allowed within 50 feet of a set again. Ever.

Read Full Review >
25

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The cowardly producers have banished the grit and darkness of Parker’s original.

Read Full Review >
25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The new Fame is practically identical to Alan Parker's 1980 original -- I mean, it's the same damn movie -- except for all the parts with heart and humor and poignancy and soul and fun.

Read Full Review >
15

NPR Jeannette Catsoulis

My advice to potential audiences: Find something else to do.

Read Full Review >
0

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Fame has today's usual gritty form of slick to it, but in every other way it's an Amateur Hour and a half.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Popular on CBS sites: Fantasy Football | Madden NFL10 | PGA Championship | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | US Open | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use