Beating to a worthy drum

DRUMLINE
****
Dir. by Charles Stone III
Starring Nick Cannon and
Orlando Jones

Reviewed by Vanz Chapman

I loved Drumline. I mean, I really loved it. Despite its cheesy premise and pedestrian plot structure, I left the cinema felling exhilarated. The friend who saw the movie with me went as far as to corner the studio rep and proclaim his love of the film as well.

Now maybe it's 'cause I went to a black university in the south which is the world that Drumline is set in, but I set aside my better judgement and overlooked all of the flaws and simply let myself be blown away. The film is set in the hyped and (believe it or not) high-stakes world of marching bands, the half-time marching bands that are the pride and joy of HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the U.S. In fact, more fans come to check out the bands than the football game itself.

And for anyone unfamiliar with this unique brand of musical drama, Drumline will serve it up in chunky portions. Like most movies that revolve around an exciting sub-culture, the plot is just a side dish to the main course - the performances - and the drumline routines are what this movie is all about. If you can stop yourself from laughing at the ridiculous band uniforms, you'll get right into it.

Drumline stars popular Nickelodeon personality, Nick Cannon in what is essentially is a fish-out-of-water comedy. Nick plays Devon, a talented street drummer from Harlem who rolls up at Atlanta A&T to show the world what's up. But Devon soon realizes that at this prestigious Southern University it'll take more than talent to reach the top and lead the drumline. And though Nick brings his Harlem world swagger down south beneath the Mason-Dixon line, his performance never sinks to caricature. And the film is also a welcome departure from the two types of black films that Hollywood seems to be making over and over - buppy bourgeoisie comedies and neo-coonish buddy flicks.

A famous football coach once said "to win a football game, you need three great plays and no bad ones." Similarly, a famous film director from Hollywood's golden era once said that to make a good movie, you need three great scenes and no bad ones. And Charles Stone II seems to know this. He lets Drumline succeed on such a theory. Though Stone II is best known for creating and directing the hugely successful Whattssuupp! Budweiser commercials, he does an excellent job of raising the material above the plot and performances, which are fairly standard. His treatment of the band performance scenes are explosively good and the director knows that Cannon has charisma to spare. He gives him the space to let it shine.

So with those two things going for it, Drumline kicks ass and makes for a good movie.

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