In 1990, the explosion of Hip Hop and Rap was starting to take over pop culture, but when today’s film was released I was too young to watch (it also got lost in the shuffle). The film I chose to watch for today is the 1990 hip hop influenced comedy House Party. All young Kid (Christopher Reid) wants to do is survive the day and go to his best friend Play’s (Christopher Martin) party that he’s throwing later that night. The only problem is that Kid got in trouble at school and his father (Robin Harris) found out and grounded him. Despite being grounded, Kid manages to escape his house, but the trouble is far from over for him along the way when he runs into the one group after him. Will they get him or will he make it to the party? The film also stars Martin Lawrence (A Thin Line Between Love and Hate) as Bilal, Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife And Kids) as Sidney, A.J. Johnson (Sister Act) as Sharane, Kelly Jo Minter (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child) as LaDonna, Daryl Mitchell (Galaxy Quest) as Chill, John Witherspoon (Friday) as Mr. Strickland, Full Force (Paul Anthony, B-Fine, Bowlegged Lou) and the film was written and directed by Reginald Hudlin (Boomerang).
I just read a cool fact about the film in that DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith were supposed t0 be the roles of Kid and Play, but they chose not to do it hence Martin and Reid getting the roles. Wait there’s more, so when it came time to do The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Martin and Reid were supposed to be in that show, but they declined and Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff took their place. The crazy thing to is that when you are watching the film, the relationship between Martin Lawrence and Christopher Martin seems so natural and it should seeing as they are cousins. There were so many great and funny moments in the film especially with Martin Lawrence and then there are those I would have found funny back in the day like Full Force’s parts. One of my favorite parts in the film is the freestyle battle between Kid and Play in the film. The whole time before the battle you are led to believe that Kid is horrible and that Play is the slick rapper, but boy are we surprised when Kid kills it. It’s a fun scene that just reminds you of how awesome it was when Hip Hop exploded on to the scene. John Witherspoon was great as the annoying neighbor who wants to call the cops constantly and Robin Harris was just awesome from beginning to end with his insults and quick wit. It’s a fun film that you should enjoy especially if you love old school hip hop and George Clinton makes a cameo. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 