Directed by Bille Woodruff

Honey is basically a feature length music video clip and probably just a vehicle to show all of us out there just how beautiful Jessica Alba is. This is another film that makes you wonder why did they bother. In a way it is like a modern day ?Flashdance? but nowhere near as good in my opinion.

The film revolves around Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) who works various jobs. She is a bar maid at night (no need to be politically correct here), works in a record store and teaches hip-hop dance to under privileged kids in the neighbourhood at a run down community centre. Her mother is a little dismayed at her career choice as Honey is a classically trained dancer and should be teaching ballet.

Three jobs and none of them satisfy her, her main ambition is to be a dancer in music videos, but alas, she is not getting anywhere in her chosen field. It is a matter of not what you know but who you know and without an agent she finds it hard to even get an audition. Good to see she has set her goals so high anyway! Oh come on, who names their daughter Honey? You have pretty much guaranteed her a life as a stripper or a dancer haven?t you!

While working at the bar Honey likes to move onto the dance floor and strut her stuff and show off in front of her dance rival Katrina (Laurie Ann Gibson). Isn?t it lucky for Honey that all her moves are video taped and catch the eye of producer Michael Ellis (David Moscow). It is not long before Honey is not only dancing in the video clips but actually choreographing all the dance moves. Her dreams have come true! It doesn?t hurt her cause that Michael has a bit of a crush on her. However, Honey?s interests lie elsewhere, in the form of local barber Chaz (Mekhi Phifer).

While pursuing her dreams, she manages to upset her best friend Gina (Joy Bryant) who is feeling neglected. After all, Gina was Honey?s Number One Fan. Local boys Benny (Lil? Romeo) and Raymond (Zachary Isaiah Williams), who she has befriended, are also angered when she can no longer teach them dance and poor Benny winds up in trouble for dealing drugs. What a nice wholesome boy he is.

Honey hasn?t forgotten the locals and when the community centre looks like it might be condemned she decides to use some of her newly found wealth to fund a new one. Unfortunately, for Honey her plans are ruined when she is dumped by Michael Ellis and unable to fund her dream and to make matters worst he has hired Katrina as the new choreographer. What can be done in a situation such as this? Have a fundraising concert of course.

Honey is fairly predictable and full of all the clich?s known to man and woman for that matter. Most teenagers would love the music as the soundtrack is scattered with tunes from Tweet, Ginuwine, Missy Elliott and Jadakiss & Sleek (who!!!). They also have cameos in the movie and Missy Elliott manages to show a little bit of comic timing in her small role. The actor that plays Raymond would have to be one of the cutest child actors going around. Those curls are too die for. Mekhi Phifer is easy on the eye too for that matter.

I can?t really see Jessica Alba starring in too many more films, she was a little wooden with her performance and probably should stick to television roles like ?Dark Angel? where she was obviously a little more convincing. I also can?t see this film having a large target audience, many of the teenagers I know thought the movie was crap and I think they have plenty much summed the film up in a lot less words than it has taken me. The only real decent thing about the movie is the dancing. Most of the songs didn?t really appeal to me as hip-hop music doesn?t really push my buttons.

However, if you are a fan of Flashdance or Save the Last Dance then this may be a film worth considering. Yes, the film is predictable and, yes, many of the actors are sadly lacking in acting ability, but the film is full of wonderful dance sequences that you will want to emulate and at 90 minutes is a reasonably pleasant way to spend your time on a cold wintery night. That is if you don?t mind putting your brain into neutral and chilling out a little. If you want a film that involves the use of your brain cells, do yourself a favour and leave this one on the shelf.

Honey ? it is not all that sweet!

THE EXTRAS

Scene Selection is available, a standard DVD feature. As well as this, there are a lot of special features to peruse (always a bonus when you weren?t a fan of the film).

They are:

1)Behind the Groove (The Making of Honey featurette)
A stock standard documentary. We hear from the director, the choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson and all the main actors in the film. The usual sucky comments! We see the auditions for the dancers and the music and costumes are discussed. This doco runs for just over 10 minutes. I did learn that the film is basically a story of Laurie Ann Gibson?s life, she is the real Honey!

2)Deleted Scenes
There is about thirty-three minutes of deleted and alternative scenes to view here. Most of the scenes involve dancing or practicing dancing. There are more Honey auditions but they also include a bit more of a background to the story. Many of the scenes were probably eliminated to keep the film reasonably short. The video and audio aspects of the deleted scenes are both excellent. All the scenes are named so you know what to expect.

3)Outtakes
Four minutes of people stuffing up their scenes. I never find these funny. Why do they bother including them? Who actually enjoys outtakes?

4)Make your move ? Dance like Honey
Laurie Ann Gibson tells you the secrets of Hip Hop Dancing. She tries to teach us one of Honey?s signature moves step by step. If you?ve got rhythm you might learn a new dance move to impress your friends. This runs for just over 8 minutes

5)Two exclusive video clips.
They are ?J-A-D-A? by Jadakiss and Sheek (2 minutes) and ?Sexy? by Shawn Desman (2 minutes). Both are just extended clips of footage that appears in the movie and feature Honey dancing in them.

6)Feature Commentary ? The Inside Scoop ? with Jessica Alba and Bille Woodruff.
I didn?t bother! I could stand to sit through Honey again.

7)In the mix with Blaque (Behind the scenes of the filming of their video clip ?I?m good?).
This is Blaque?s first video clip. We hear from the band and the choreographer about some of the scenes for the video clip. This documentary runs for just over six minutes and to be honest was a complete waste of six minutes of my time watching it. Who really cares how a simple video clip such as this was made!

8)?I?m Good? Music Video Clip (By Blaque) - A great song!
Guess what, the video clip is full of dancing. What a surprise! (runs for just under 5 minutes). A pretty standard Hip Hop video clip overall that makes out that Honey choreograph it, yeah right! In the last special feature the choreographers name was Hi Hat. Sprung!!

Overall, there is over one hour of special features on the DVD. Some of them were quite interesting.

CONCLUSION

Honey is one of those films that you wonder why did they bother. It is basically a 90 minute music video full of plenty of wonderful dance moves but little storyline. The film revolves around Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) who is holding down three jobs to make ends meet but who really wants to be a dancer and choreographer for music videos. Good to see a girl with such high goals. Her break comes when she catches the eye of producer Michael Ellis (David Moscow) but, alas, things don?t run all that smoothly for her once she rejects his advances. The film is full of hip-hop music and some famous hip-hop singers appear throughout the film as well, like Lil? Romeo, Ginuwine and Missy Elliott.

The best thing about Honey is the dancing. It is a modern day version of Flashdance in a lot of ways but it will never reach the same heights. The film is packed full of extras so if you enjoyed the film you can also sit back and watch over an hour of special features including a quick dance lesson so you can dance like Honey, if that is what you crave.