Kickin' It Old Skool DVD
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 Rating: - "Big" Meets "Revenge of the Nerds"
The way I figure it, it takes about a good twenty years for a decent nostalgia trend to kick in. That's just about the point at which the youngsters of a particular era will have experienced enough of adult life to start them pining away for the "good old days" of their pleasantly carefree and invariably misspent youth. In the 1970's, audiences escaped back to the more innocent and halcyon days of the 1950's through works such as "American Graffiti" and "Happy Days," while in the `80's, it was the '60's that got replayed, via "The Wonder Years" and "The Right Stuff." In a similar way, "That `70's Show" came to define nostalgia for the young adults of the `90`s. Now, apparently, it is the `80's that are making a comeback, as those who were kids in that decade begin to edge their way ever so reluctantly into middle age. That's where the comedy, "Kickin' it Old Skool," comes in.

The premise of the movie is as follows: in 1986, a ten-year-old named Justin Schumacher suffered a concussion at one of his break dance competitions that left him in a coma for twenty years. When he finally returns to consciousness two decades later, he discovers, much to his dismay, that the world has moved on without him, and that everything that was once important and familiar to him - from the fashions to the technology to the music - is now hopelessly "un-cool" and out-of-date. After he learns that his parents will soon be going bankrupt if they can't find a way to pay for all the medical expenses they incurred while caring for their comatose son, Justin convinces his old break dancing buddies to come out of retirement and enter a contest, the winners of which will receive a whopping $100,000 in prize money.

There really is very little point to "Kickin' it Old Skool" beyond providing an opportunity for us to laugh at all those pop culture trends and icons that we thought were so cool at the time but that seem merely quaint and funny to us today. Thus, we get the big hair, the head bands, the glitter, the parachute-pants, the synthesizer-laden music, the boom boxes, the Michael Jackson moves, the "What yu' talkin' `bout, Willis?" quips that, for some at least, have come to define the era. Unfortunately, that is hardly a sufficient foundation upon which to build a quality movie, and "Kickin' it Old Skool" ultimately emerges as a wan, not-very-funny cross between "Footloose" and all those inexplicably popular flicks in which a youngster mysteriously wakes up in an adult person's body. Although it's genial and harmless, "Kickin' it Old Skool" suffers even more in comparison to a movie like "Superbad," which is a truly whip-smart and astutely observant study of what it means to be a dork or a misfit in a society that values appearance and coolness above all else. Moreover, Jamie Kennedy is clearly no Jonah Hill or Michael Cera in the acting department. In fact, with his pratfalls, clowning and mugging, he often seems to be channeling a bad imitation of Jerry Lewis.

Even though David Hasselhoff and Emmanuel Lewis stop by for a couple of good-natured cameos, this is one fish-out-of-water tale that should probably be thrown back in the water.

At best, the movie makes one wonder how audiences twenty years from now will be looking back at the 00's. One shudders at the thought.

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