Disco Hound Dog

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2007)

Well golly gee whiz, I don't even know where to begin with this one. To its credit, it does have energy ... lots of high voltage zing and zest, hyper kinetic hubbub, in that optimistic spirit of high school days, with all that singing, dancing, and chattering like magpies. And the production design and costumes are colorful and splashy.
"Grease" also has two terrific songs that function as musical bookends. At the beginning, we get to hear "Grease (Is The Word)", sung by Frankie Valli. I've always liked that song. And near the end, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John dazzle and electrify with the snappy, pulsating sounds of "You're The One That I Want" ... "oo-oo-oo, honey". Marvelous.
Trouble is, both those songs engender a 1970's disco flavor into a film ostensibly about the 1950s. So where are all those really great oldies-but-goodies? Sha-na-na sings a few oldies, like Elvis' "Hound Dog". But the missed musical opportunities are striking.
The film's story, about high school romance, is not original. And the plot is choppy, and lacks scene transitions, or any sense of logical progression or flow. Plot points seem placed almost in random order, a result of poor script structure.
Although the film is a comedy, the jokes aren't really funny. The writers are trying too hard, and the humor comes across as forced and unnatural.
One of the worst elements of "Grease" is the "Greased Lightning" segment, which has John Travolta acting like a jerk, as he struts and prances in an auto garage. Wearing too much makeup, he comes across as a poor imitation of 1970's singer Freddie Mercury, from the 1970's rock band "Queen".
The film's casting is terrible. Most of them look too old to be high school seniors. Not for a microsecond did I think Stockard Channing was 17 years old.
What's good about this film is really, really good. And what's bad is really, really bad. But overall, "Grease" fails to engender a sense of the 1950s. Instead, it looks, sounds, and feels like an homage to the 1970s disco era.