Sean’s movie thoughts

 Kid and Play star in this comedy. Kid plays Duncan Pinderhughes, a genius. Play stars as Blade Brown, a delinquent. Their identities get confused and they decide, well Blade decides, to keep the situation going. (How their identities get confused is not worth explaining.) This is kind of like the Prince and the Pauper movie except the guys don’t look alike. There are young women to romance and a bully to deal with. Some of these scenes are fun. There are also fashion lessons and dialogue lessons for Duncan. These scenes are also fun. Duncan’s parents start to suspect that he is gay and later are happy that he is not. (This is not mean spirited but maybe it would not be done in a film made today.) It was worth seeing again. Maybe the original House Party movie is better.

It was good to see the original House Party again. Kid and Play might have been better in Class Act (or else I might have seen that one first and like it a bit more than House Party).  Kid plays a character named Kid who wants to go to a party but his strict father objects. There are also some thugs that Kid continues to run into over the course of the day. Play co-stars as Kid’s best friend Play. Play is throwing the party. The late Robin Harris plays the father. It is a simple plot but there are fun some fun dance scenes and a nice sequence where Kid and Play rap. There are also a couple of white cops who pop up from time to time to hassle people. (This was in 1990.) While not a classic, I think it is worth re-visiting. Roger Ebert considered it a musical. Gene Siskel did not care for it.  https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/house-party-1990