Kickin' It Old Skool

Kickin' It Old Skool is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Harvey Glazer and written by Trace Slobotkin. The film's cast includes Jamie Kennedy, Bobby Lee, Maria Menounos, Michael Rosenbaum, and Vivica A. Fox. This movie was released on April 27, 2007 and grossed $2.49 million in its opening weekend. The movie is about a young breakdancer who hits his head during a talent show and slips into a coma for twenty years. Waking up in 2006, he looks to revive his and his team's career with the help of his girlfriend and his parents. Music featured in the film is old school '80s hip-hop/rap.

Kickin' It Old Skool
Promotional poster
Directed byHarvey Glazer
Produced byPhillip Glasser
Bob Yari
Jamie Kennedy
John J. Hermansen
Written byTrace Slobotkin
Josh Siegal
Dylan Morgan
StarringJamie Kennedy
Maria Menounos
Michael Rosenbaum
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.
Christopher McDonald
Bobby Lee
Debra Jo Rupp
Vivica A. Fox
Music byJames L. Venable
CinematographyRobert M. Stevens
Edited bySandy S. Solowitz
Production
company
Yari Film Group
Jizzy Entertainment
Hi-Def Entertainment
Bob Yari Productions
Kickin' it Old Skool Productions
Distributed byYari Film Group Releasing
Release date
April 27, 2007 (2007-04-27)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25.7 million
Box office$4.7 million

Plot

In 1986, 12-year-old Justin "Rocketshoe" Schumacher (played as a youth by Alexander Calvert) and his breakdancing group, The Funky Fresh Boyz (Darnell "Prince Def Rock" Jackson, Aki "Chilly Chill" Terasaki, and Hector "Popcorn" Jimenez) (played as youths by J.R. Messado, Hanson Ng, and Anthony Grant, respectively), are ready for the annual talent show. The somewhat shy Justin has a crush on Jennifer (played as a youth by Alexia Fast), who is giving her a Garbage Pail Kid card in exchange for her Smurfette figurine. His rival, the obnoxious rich kid Kip Unger (played as a youth by Taylor Beaumont), shows up and gives her an expensive necklace. Justin and the Funky Fresh Boyz start the show, with his parents cheering for him. In an effort to impress Jen and win the contest, Justin uses a dangerous and untested headspin maneuver. It caused him to end up flipping off the stage and falling into a coma.

Twenty years later, Justin (Jamie Kennedy) is still in the hospital and in a coma. Dr. Frye (Alan Ruck) tells his desperate parents that at this point, there is little sign that Justin will recover, and they decide to pull the plug on him. As his parents say goodbye and leave, however, a janitor rolls by with a radio playing the same song from the 1986 talent competition, "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock. It jars his brain to function, waking him from his 20-year coma. As a result of his two-decade-long coma, Justin now finds himself suddenly 31 years old, going on 32. In addition, his parents were bankrupt from overdue life support payments. Jennifer (Maria Menounos), who has become a girls' dance instructor, is engaged to Kip (Michael Rosenbaum). Kip is now an obnoxious promoter, and is set to host a breakdance contest broadcast on national television, with a grand prize of $100,000. Justin realizes that the money could help him repay his parents for what they've spent on his medical bills. Kip is sarcastic and still despises Justin, and schemes to keep him off the show and away from Jennifer.

Justin has a difficult time adjusting to both his deteriorated physical condition and the severe culture shock he encounters after 20 years, and is nearly arrested as a child predator. He was being recognized by a mall security guard, his old friend and Funky Fresh Boy, Darnell (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.). Darnell is now both a toy store employee and a failed inventor, who is frequently slapped around by his wife. He explains much of what has changed in the past 20 years to Justin, before re-introducing him to the rest of the crew. Aki (Bobby Lee) is an accountant, and has lost his old stereotypical Asian accent thanks to English classes. In addition, Aki is also trying to woo a colleague (Kira Clavell), who claims he might have a 2% chance of sleeping with her if he were a professional breakdancer. Hector (Aris Alvarado) is now a meter maid, and is even more overweight than he was in school. Despite their reluctance to return to the '80s lifestyle, they agree to try to retrain their faded breakdancing skills to help Justin.

Initially, the four are terrible, but their skills improve greatly with Justin's help, as Aki studies a Robosapien toy to reclaim his mastery of the robot. Justin and Jennifer begin reminiscing about the old days. He eventually asks her on a date, which she thinks is just still a harmless crush. However, with the help of the Internet and practicing on Hector wearing a bra, Justin learns how to please a woman quite well. A surprise appearance by David Hasselhoff allows the pair to go on a date in KITT from Knight Rider. However, just as Justin has her shirt off and is making his move, Kip calls, leading Jennifer to be reminded that she is still engaged to him and runs off embarrassed.

During a rather sour birthday party celebration, Justin is confronted by the diminutive but talented Cole (Jesse "Casper" Brown) of the Iced Cole Crew, a group hired by Kip to ensure that the Funky Fresh Boyz don't win the contest. Cole challenges Justin to a dance-off in the parking lot. After Cole's impressive routine, along with some various flashbacks from his years in the coma, a nervous and depressed Justin vomits on Cole and runs off. He was too disillusioned to compete on the show. The rest of the Boyz decide to have a breakdancing homeless man stand in for him. Kip gloats to Jennifer about his psychological victory over Justin, causing her to finally break up with him. As the dance tournament progresses, the Funky Fresh Boyz and the Iced Cole Crew each progress in their individual brackets toward the finals. Jennifer finds Justin sulking in a local bar, and convinces him that she wants to be with him and to come back to compete in the show.

Justin convinces his worried parents that he will be all right, reciting the lyrics to the theme song from Diff'rent Strokes as an inspirational speech. Although Kip tries to prevent him from dancing, Jennifer stirs the crowd and Cole into letting him dance, and the FFB get the win when Justin is able to successfully complete the headspin maneuver from '86. Kip is outraged and has a huge tantrum leading to him challenging Justin to a last dance off. However, the FFB don't give in. Kip is fired from the network, knocked out by a man from earlier in the film for using the word "retarded", and is urinated on by the homeless dancer. The Funky Fresh Boyz win the prize money, and Justin marries Jen and saves his parents' house.

In the epilogue, she is currently teaching him how to use an iPod, though he is having trouble finding out where he puts the cassette tape in. Darnell has invented the 98¢ store, but his wife is still rather abusive towards him. Hector finds work as a Jennifer Lopez impersonator in Las Vegas, and Aki marries his co-worker, Yun in a lavish Jewish ceremony, which has increased his chances of sleeping with her to 3%. Kip never recovered fully from being punched, and is a judge on Dancing with the Stars.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $2.49 million at its opening weekend and went on to gross a total of $4.7 million as opposed to its $25.7 budget making it a box office flop.

Critical response

Reviews for the film were extremely negative. The film received a 2% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's critic consensus reads: "Kickin' It Old Skool is one big unfunny pop culture reference that doesn't feature many laughs."[1]

References
  1. "Kickin' It Old Skool (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
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