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Pretty Good

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Without a word of a doubt, this has to be the gayest movie I've ever seen. I don't mean that in a bad way but there is just so much gay in this movie that it's practically overflowing with rainbows. The movie is a fictionalized explanation of how the Village People came to be. Their prime audience, at least at the start, were gay men and the outfits they wore were supposedly gay fantasy material. But in this movie the whole thing about the band being gay was really toned down to the point where it was never even mentioned. Every time you see one, he's with a woman. It might be his sister or a friend but it's never a lover and they're never alone especially with another man. Maybe this was the movie's way of being subtle. But then they throw in the tryouts for their final member and I swear they're trying to say something. Remember, this is a tryout for a singing position so explain the reasons for tumblers, muscle men who sing to their muscles and I swear a flaming gay stereotype twirling flaming batons which set off the sprinklers. Focus movie! Either they're gay or they're not. What are you trying to say with this?Of course there's Bruce Jenner in his first, and thankfully last, starring role. The man wasn't a good actor. And he's parading around at some point in shorts and a t-shirt with a bare midriff. Do you think they knew something about him even back then?Then there's the scene in the YMCA where they sing YMCA. And again, it's full of buff young men doing sports, changing clothes, swimming and eventually they all tumble down into a giant Y on the final strain of the song. This is giving out mixed signals. It's uneven. It serves as not only a vehicle for the Village People to play some songs but to see if former decathalete and Wheaties spokesperson Bruce Jenner could carry a movie. It failed in both regards.By the time the movie had come out, disco was no longer a thing and that more than anything else, killed it. It's even been said that this movie killed movie musicals for decades afterwards but I don't think that's fair. There were others that came afterwards that were worse. The movie itself is rather unremarkable. It's a bunch of bits tied together by Village People songs and performances. It's not a movie I'd recommend to anybody unless you're into bad movies or movies with heavy gay subtext in them.

"Can't Stop the Music" from director Nancy Walker, and writers Allan Carr and Bronte Woodard, was nothing but a pure vehicle for the rising stars of disco, "the Village People". Though I guess that's hardly a profound statement.The catchy tunes and flashy numbers are now corny and hopelessly outdated. And of course nobody, not Steven Gutenberg, Valerie Perrine and especially not the band, can act their way out of a wet paper bag.All a bit of a yawn. The title song and "Y.M.C.A." are still pretty groovy however.Saturday, January 17, 1998 - Video

The criteria for the crappiest movies of all time have a tendency to fall under the inflated snobbery of those who drink the AFI's Kool-Aid. The main question you must ask after any movie is "Was I entertained?" After watching this movie, you will respond with an enthusiastic YES!There is no pretense that this flick will rival Schindler's List or Gone With The Wind, but that is not the goal of this movie. Can't Stop The Music is a silly vehicle meant to suspend reality for an hour and a half. What plot there is simply pushes the viewer from one bouncy tune to the next. Reality has no place in this pseudo bio-pic, but it really doesn't matter as the origin of the Village People is all colored smoke and glitter adorned mirrors anyway.Make no mistake that this monster reflects it's creator (Jacques Morali) and his overwhelmingly "alternative lifestyle" point of view. The film flows with a child-like quality born of an optimism that was promised yet never surfaced in the 80's.This is the definition of escapist celluloid. Go watch it!

NOTE: I could not watch beyond the opening credits so this review only applies to that very painful few minutes.Steve Guttenberg quits his job at a record store after his fascist boss informs him that he'll be needed to work an extra shift. Guttenberg straps on a pair of roller skates and begins to weave in and out of Manhattan traffic. The titles roll along with him. Alternating urges to laugh and vomit swirl in the viewer's mind as the names Valerie Perrine, Paul Sand, Tammy Grimes, Leigh Taylor Young and others appear. A full-on assault to the gag reflex ensues once the words "Directed by Nancy Walker" appears. And why does this film "introduce" Bruce Jenner...he was an Olympic hero by this time! Ghastly. YES, you CAN stop the music...shut this nightmare off or walk out of whatever unlucky theater may run this! Better yet, roller skate away...FAST!