Honey - 2003 * * *

I liked this film mainly for the dance routines but for not much else. And for Missy Elliott's mini cameo ( it lastly under 5 minutes in the whole thing so not much to write home about) Apart from that it just annoyed me. Jessica Alba made her name in this and her name was from then on a household name all around America. Men desperate for her and women desperate to be like her yadda yadda. However I can't see anything credible to say about it or her for that matter. Jessica Alba cannot act, she's incredibly preppy and over-the-top and her character adopted this bizarre 'I must help everyone who is less fortunate than me' stanza which seemed totally unlike her 'gangster, hip hop' character.

Her character Honey ( if that isn't a 'hoe' name in the 'hood' then I don't know what is) works in a dance club where she serves drinks and socialises with the customers, that is until the bell chimes for her end of shift and she rushes out onto the dance-floor to do weird, jutty movements and roll around on the floor soaking up the applause from the other dancers. By day she teaches ... you guessed it..a dance class for what I could only describe as 'disadvantaged lower class children'. Of course the children are all superb at dancing ( it's an unspoken rule in films like this that all poor children are great dancers, especially the boys with 'Lakers' t-shirts) and Honey really gets to yet again show off that she can wind and wiggle her body along to the latest music. During the film she meets some little kids who are having ... you guessed it.. a dance off outside the club she works at and she makes it her sole mission to help them all, while at the same time making it big in.. you guessed it... music videos where she will be dancing.

I mean this film is okay and I'm glad I've seen it but its nothing compared to something like 'Center Stage' which I think is superb so maybe I had better stay away from hip hop movies from now on.