Krush
Groove (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
Russell and Rick are running an independent rap music record
label out of their small apartment. They just broke with their
first major radio hit, thanks to Russell’s brother’s
group Run DMC. Everyone’s clamoring to buy it, and it
sells out instantly. The problem is that they still don’t
have enough cash to print the records needed to meet the high
demand. The banks won’t give them a loan, because they’re
a rap label, so Russell resorts to getting involved with a
loan shark. He needs to find a way to pay him back before the
deadline or else.
Okay, the story is actually pretty lame. Even though it’s
based on the early days of Def Jam Records, some of the elements
just don’t make sense to me. For instance, why wouldn’t
the bank give them a loan with all those promised sales? But
more importantly, why couldn’t Russell pay the loan off
once he sold all the new records? Where did that money go?
Besides that the writing by Ralph Farquhar (the TV series “Fame” and “Happy
Days”) is rather standard fare.
It’s hindered even more by the lead actors giving their
best efforts at speaking slang. It especially doesn’t
work for Sheila “Why are you tripping?” E. And
this is one of the problems with using musicians/singers/rappers
as actors. Surprisingly, most of them do a pretty good job.
The Fat Boys provide some good comic relief and Run (aka Joseph
Simmons) legitimately holds his own. But don’t expect
magic from most of the rappers. Just enjoy the music coming
from the likes of the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, New Edition
and Kurtis Blow. With an old school lineup like that, you don’t
mind breaks in the plot for a few musical numbers.
The movie isn’t as lame as you might think. Even though
the plot suffers from some problems and the acting isn’t
the most authentic, the whole thing runs surprisingly smoothly
and looks pretty good. Director Michael Schultz (“Cooley
High,” “Car
Wash”) holds the picture together
very well and provides a very visually interesting backdrop.
Unlike movies such as “Breakin’,” “Krush
Groove” looks and acts like a film. There’s a sense
of realism and professionalism that comes across to the audience.
And, although that doesn’t make up for the shortcomings,
it definitely enhances the strengths. There’s some great
music in here and if you let the lame plot slide past you,
it’ll be pretty enjoyable to watch.
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