Honey (2003)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Best movie ever!

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Jessica Alba is a good hearted young woman, and a talented dancer. She becomes close with her mentor Michael (David Moscow) He becomes a little too close for Alba's liking, and Alba is forced to do things the hard way, and make it on her own, without his help. What is it with dancing themed films? I don't understand the appeal of them. They look cool, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed Step-Up, and its second sequel to a certain extent, but I don't get the infatuation with them. This came out before Step-Up, but it has nowhere near the competency that Step-Up has. It's thoroughly predictable, the dialog is pretty laughable at times, with plenty of tough street talk. It comes across as groan inducing more than anything else. Every time Alba would utter the line "Your flavor is hot!" I would cringe. It wasn't very convincing. That criticism aside, I have to commend Alba for the most part. This film is very mediocre, but it could have been a complete mess if it wasn't for Alba's charming performance. Her genuine character, and determination was very easy to empathize with, and she made this movie a lot easier to digest. It doesn't hurt that she's drop dead gorgeous, either. Mekhi Phifer (Chaz) disappears for too many stretches for my liking. His love story with Alba was underdeveloped, and came across as phony and quite awkward in my opinion. Romeo Miller is extremely annoying as Benny. His gangster act got old quickly. I realize he was just a kid at the time of the release, but kid actors can be quite intolerable. David Moscow plays a great sleaze ballFinal Thoughts: If you insist on watching this. Your viewing experience will be buoyed by Alba's solid performance. It's not a very good movie though, and if you're into the dancing thing, I'd suggest watching Step- Up (the first one)4.8/10

This film is about a young dancer who has a chance to make it big by choreographing the music videos."Honey" is a uplifting and vibrant film. Usually, a film heavily sponsored by the music industry can look like an extended music video. In "Honey", it has a coherent and cohesive story which successfully blends the music and stars into the film without being contrived. Dance moves are great, as the dancers do show their enthusiasm and youthful energy. I liked looking at the dance scenes. The story is also well written, as it emanates a positive message about anybody can be somebody if you work hard. I enjoyed "Honey" a lot.

In a modern day fairy tale the film Honey takes the audience through a "Cinderella Story" with a hip-hop twist. The story is crowded with incidents and subplots showing the negative side of growing up in bad neighborhood but also a young woman's attempt to liberate young kids to leave the temptations surrounding them. The main character struggles for personal success in changing environments but soon finds out that behind every promise of progression as a dancer lies an ulterior motive.Every fairy tale finishes off with a happy ending but before that can be accomplished a conflict or series of obstacles needs to occur. A major issue in the film is the little opportunity presented to the children growing up in a bad neighborhood in New York's East Harlem. Honey Daniels, played by Jessica Alba, teaches hip-hop dancing at a local youth center and encourages the local kids to attend to keep them off the streets and out of trouble, but the temptations of drugs and violence swarm around them. The drug dealers are constantly looking for willing users, new users and possible future sellers to carry out their "transactions" on street corners, specifically targeting the youth. The obvious leader of a group of young kids whose views of right and wrong are obstructed is Benny, played by Lil Romeo. Benny is a dancer who has the most influence on the kids and a tighter relationship with Daniels.In the film Daniels dreams of stardom in the world of dance are answered by famous music video director Michael Ellis, played by David Moscow. Casting her in a music video Daniels takes over the choreography and she is encouraged by Michael to make the transition from dancer to choreographer. But Daniels sudden success comes with a price with Michaels refusal to take no for an answer to his sexual advances and then tries to sabotage her career by blackmailing her out of the business.In the end all conflicts are resolved and the promising youth in the Bronx are provided a dance studio made possible through a dance benefit. Personally, while the choreography by Laurieanne Gibson, who also plays Honey's nemesis in the film, and music, may be enough to grab Honey's target audience of urban adolescents, the film is extremely predictable and filled with horrible acting performances. But if you enjoy a fairy tale including all the good, the bad, the ugly, captivating choreography and catchy beats, then Honey is for you.

I watched this movie for the dancing, for the music, for the cameos and because I think Jessica Alba is gorgeous. So I quite enjoyed it! But if you're watching this movie and expecting a proper storyline, believable characters and any sort of surprises in the plot... you'll be very disappointed! Its a very predictable movie, and most of the characters are very two dimensional and there are some very cringe-worthy lines ("Your flava's hot!").BUT... its still good fun, and the dancing is fantastic. A good movie just to drift along to, and if you're into hip hop and rnb (like I am), you'll enjoy the music and cameos as much as I did. Watch it for the dancing, not for the plot, and you'll be happy!