Sweeter than expected

Rating: Null/10 (7 April 2004)

Jessica Alba must have something, because she keeps drawing me in. This time, I wasn't quite as disappointed as I have been in the past.
"Honey" is a reworking of "Flashdance" and other dance oriented films, but this time it has a social message. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it is a good message.
Honey is a talented hip hop dancer who teaches her craft or rather, teaches her hobby to other kids.
But as Honey herself quickly finds out, the market for her skills is a limited one and some of the people she has to please to cash in on it are pretty rotten people.
Nonetheless, she would sacrifice anything to give other kids in the "hood" a chance to dance. But exactly why that is, or what it is supposed to accomplish, is never spelled out. It seems no more realistic than teaching every African-American boy to play basketball. Unfortunately, there are more of them in one high school than there are openings in the whole NBA and most of them don't have a chance of making a living at it. So, if they sacrifice everything to follow their dream, what happens when the dream doesn't pan out? Because it doesn't for most basketball players, just like it doesn't for most aspiring hiphop dancers.
Don't stay in dance class just to stay off the street, go to school and learn something useful! You're chances of making a living as a hiphop dancer are almost nill.
That's about all there is to say about the film.
Jessica seems to dance very well, but I am no expert on hiphop. But she seemed fine to me.
Her acting here seemed a little better than in her last couple of features, but she was better cast.
She remains beautiful and engaging and you want to like her.
We'll see what she does next.