Official Synopsis
Chris has it all worked out: he’s ready to leave high school behind and head to college in his sweet new ride. The problem is, he’ll be leaving behind his best friend and partner in rhyme, Dylan. And he still has to get with Autumn, the girl he’s had a crush on since second grade. The solution? Throw one last party where Chris and Dylan can show off their skills with words and women. But a little get-together becomes a hilariously epic disaster where anything can happen and anyone might turn up… including the original house party-ers, Kid ‘n Play.
{media load=media,id=2144,width=720,align=center,display=inline}
Let me just be upfront with you. This movie isn’t bad because of the content of the film. The first film by the same name was basically the same premise and was a huge hit back in 1990 (or at least it did very well for the type of budget it was shot on). Having said that, it’s obvious that the formula works and has been done over and over again through many different movies. You lay down the main premise that there is going to be a huge party then you sprinkle it with plot points. Again, it’s been done and has succeeded several times over.
The main issue with House Party: Tonight’s the Night is that all the plot points in the film are either shallow in terms of setup, or they just pop them in as time fillers. There’s nothing particularly coherent about this film that screams ‘solid’. Our lead character, Chris (played by Tequan Richmond), is struggling to do what he wants (be a rapper/musician) and at the same time trying to please his parents and be the good kid. His best friend Dylan (played by Zac Goodspeed) is trying to throw an amazing party, so that he can stop being Chris’ sidekick (so it seems, at least). Together, they’re trying to impress record executives to giving them a contract. Outside of that, Chris is trying to court Autumn (played by Tristin Mays), who is struggling with a jerk of a boyfriend named Quentin (played by Keith Powers). None of these storylines lasts very long, or are developed very much inside the film, which makes for a really messy, poorly written piece. For example, if the central plot of Chris wanting to start a singing/rapping career is where the movie is built around, then you must introduce a bit more ‘singing’ / ‘rapping’ into the situation to convince us that Chris has some talent. We get maybe 5-10 minutes of screen time for this, and that’s not nearly enough to convince us that Chris’ parents are really missing out on their kid’s talent.
Second to that is Chris’ desire to go out with Autumn. Autumn has some issues prior to meeting up with Chris. We get a pretty quick introduction to Autumn’s boyfriend Quentin’s cheating ways nearly 3-5 minutes into the film. If your intention is to make someone an a-hole then you have to set them up as someone who is trustworthy throughout at least half the film, but is suspicious to the audience. This isn’t the case with Quentin, as he’s introduced as a bad guy right from the get-go. At the same time, Autumn is introduced as an extremely intelligent and thoughtful person, so it’s baffling to figure out why she is with Quentin. If Quentin was built into this great fellow that has a shady backside then it would more than acceptable for Autumn to be with him. That’s the first problem. Once Autumn discovers who Quentin really is, how in the world did Chris court her so quickly? There’s absolutely zero development between Chris and Autumn to create some sort of substantial relationship between the characters. This is a prime example of the shallow writing I was discussing previously. It’s just as if ‘POP’ they like each other!
You can’t do that with a film like this. You must develop the characters and the situations methodically.
The brilliance about stories like this is how the writing is woven together beautifully, everything seems to have a three-act play style to it (even the most insignificant stuff) and it all gets wrapped up towards the end. If you need some examples of movies like this then look at 10 Things I Hate About You, Can’t Hardly Wait or She’s All That, which take this sort of formula and succeed at it because they take the time to develop almost every facet of the story/plot points.
This isn’t the case with House Party: Tonight’s the Night. It’s just simply a messy film that has some funny moments, mainly the younger generation will appreciate, but none of it comes together with something substantial. It needed less stories, more development (especially in terms of characters) and a tad bit more believability.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– House Party 5: Keepin’ It Old School
– Deleted Scenes
Some good intentions are shown through the main featurette in this pair, but the translation sure was baffling. A couple of good features on this release that are a little more entertaining than the actual film.
Own House Party: Tonight’s the Night on DVD and Digital Download Today