A trip down somebody else's memory lane

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2015)

It's kitchy, it's sassy, it's full of adults acting like kids trying to act like adults. In a way, it's very confusing in the discrepancy between how cool Tavolta is in contrast to his suck up cronies, who are as nerdy as can be. Then there's Stockard Channing, looking like a cradle robber but delivering the best lines of the movie. Understandably overstated, as all Broadway Musical Hollywood remakes are repackaged, but if the mix of 1970's BeeGee-ism at the beginning of the film doesn't throw you off your tour of somebody else's' mash up of 1950's nostalgia (and let's face it, most of the theater goers 1950's exposure was pretty much limited to ABCs' "Happy Days") then the rest of the picture is pretty easy to swallow. And just like cotton candy, it disappears very quickly and is quite unnutricious. That criticism aside, there are classic song and choreographed numbers that have stayed with me throughout the generations. "Greased Lightening", "Summer Loving" and the eternal Frankie Vallie singing "Beauty School Dropout" are outstanding. I'm always surprised to have forgotten the best song of the film sung by Channing, "There Are Worst Things I Could Do", which I deem the only honest moment of the entire film.