Like honey, it leaves you wanting more

Rating: 4/10 (26 March 2004)

Part Fame, part Flashdance and part 8 Mile, Honey is a movie about an aspiring dancer who makes it to the big times only to realize that fame and fortune are no substitute for helping neighborhood kids.

Jessica Alba plays the title character Honey Daniels, a hip-hop dance teacher at the local center by day and a bartender and dance floor extraordinaire by night. It is during one of her late night dance floor gyrations that she is videotaped by an assistant for a famous music video director that sees Honey's talent and immediately hires her to be part of his dance pack.
At first, Honeys dreams seem to be coming true. She is working with top hip-hop talent doing what she enjoys the most, dancing. And it is not long before the director's confidence has Honey choreographing the dance troupes.
Ahh, but wait for it, here comes the necessary plot diversions to stretch out the story and give us that warm Hollywood hug of a character that defies the odds and follows her dreams.
First, there are the street kids Honey meets while leaving the nightclub one evening. These kids are talented and do dance moves that had my bones creaking just watching them. Honey is enamored by the children and takes on the crusade of trying to keep them off the streets and in her studio where the two groups could learn dance moves from each other.
Then there is the evil video director (Michael Ellis) who at first seems sincere in giving Honey the fame and opportunity but later turns when she shuns his sexual advances.
And finally, in-between and vying for Honey's attention are her best friends who get pushed aside when fame overcrowds Honey's datebook and the local barber (Mekhi Phifer  8 Mile), who pursues her affection and eventually wins her heart.
Honey is one of those films that if you can't relate to the music or the class of characters being thrust in your face with rhythmic impulses, you are probably not going to enjoy it very much. The characters are all pretty to look at, but we've already seen pretty in Coyote Ugly and Dirty Dancing to a better result.
It's not that Honey is a terrible film, it's just that it isn't very original. Did we really think that her friends wouldn't be estranged only to reappear at the end in loving homage? Did we really not see the Mekhi Phifer character and Honey teaming up to try and raise money through a benefit concert? And the director who seeks sexual payment for his given opportunitiesof course he was going to blackball her and then see the error of his ways and apologize later. Been there, done that.
Maybe I just don't get it. I wasn't raised in the hood, nor have I aspired to be something that only costs a few thousand dollars and my dreams to accomplish. Funny though, this movie made me wish I was. The kids all wear clothes and shoes that I only pass in the shop windows or when looking on-line at things I can't afford. And if I had the encouragement of absolutely everyone around me to try and put on some kind of benefit that might reward me for being a good person, well giddy-up.
Don't get me wrong, not everything in Honey is negative. Some of the songs were tap toeing and the kids were definitely cute even if they were from the typical type casting of young-kids-from-abused-families-that-peddle-drugs.

But to review the movie as a whole, Honey is probably an appropriate

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