House Party (1990 film)
House Party | |
---|---|
Directed by | Reginald Hudlin |
Written by | Reginald Hudlin |
Produced by | Warrington Hudlin |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Peter Deming |
Edited by | Earl Watson |
Music by | Lenny White Marcus Miller |
Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.5 million[1] |
Box office | $26.4 million[2] |
House Party is a 1990 American
The film was written and directed by
The lead roles were originally written for
In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6]
Plot
At the very beginning of the movie, kids dance inside of a house, and the noise is so loud that it blows the roof off.
In his high-school cafeteria, Peter, also known as "Play," announces that he will be having a party at his house that night, as his parents are on vacation. The reluctant student Bilal is to be the DJ. Their friend Christopher "Kid" Robinson Jr. gets involved in an altercation with school bully Stab and his brothers, Pee-Wee and Zilla. At home, Kid tries to convince his father Christopher "Pop" Robinson Sr. to let him go to the party. Pop relents at first. After getting a call from school about Kid's fight with Stab, Pop changes his mind and grounds Kid for his actions.
Rather than miss the party of the year, Kid sneaks out while Pop is sleeping. However, the door closing behind Kid awakens Pop. On his way to the party, Kid is stopped by the neighborhood police and runs into Stab and his brothers, jumps over a fence where a fat man named Roughouse is having sex. Kid, along with Stab, Zilla, and Pee-Wee, are shot at by Roughouse. Kid ducks into a nearby Alpha Delta Sigma reunion to escape them.
Crashing the reunion, Kid has the DJ scratch and mix a few of his old
The party is in full swing when Kid arrives. During the party, Chill bumps the DJ table, which angers Bilal and other guests, and it nearly results in a fight between the two. Kid and Play get into a dance contest with attractive girls Sydney and Sharane (originally it was Kid and Groove against Sydney and Sharane, but after Groove gets drunk and passes out, Play takes his place), then have a freestyle battle. Stab and his friends attempt to crash the party but are arrested a second time for attempting to burn the house down. The policemen take delight in the prospect of beating them up. Eventually, Pop reaches the party. After failing to find him, Pop vows to wait for Kid at home.
Play stops the party after his bathroom toilet is broken. Although Kid and Sydney have eyes for each other, Sharane decides to flirt with Kid openly, much to Sydney's disgust. Soon, the three leave the party, but when Kid tries to make advances on Sharane, she rebuffs him. Kid walks Sydney back home, and, after some argument, the pair calm down.
Sydney allows Kid to sneak into her house. The two are about to have sex there when she stops him, wanting to know if she is simply his second choice. Kid admits that Sydney was his first choice all along. However, they do not do anything after realizing that Kid's only condom is too old to be used. When Sydney's parents come home – now revealed as one of the couples at the high-school reunion, including the man Kid ran into – Sydney helps Kid sneak out of the house.
He manages to get out of another scrape with Stab and his brothers, and they all end up in a jail cell. Kid entertains the rest of the men in the cell by rapping, distracting them long enough for Play, Sharane, Bilal, and Sydney to arrive and bail him out. Later, the five friends say their good nights. Kid and Sydney share a passionate kiss. After Play and Bilal drop him off, Kid sneaks in the house and gets undressed. As he is about to get into bed, he looks up to find Pop holding a belt as he prepares to spank him. As the credits roll, Pop is heard hitting Kid with the belt.
During the credit roll, the roof that was blown off earlier lands on top of the police officers.
Cast
- Christopher "Kid" Reidas Christopher "Kid" Robinson Jr.
- Christopher "Play" Martinas Peter "Play" Martin
- "Paul Anthony" George as Stab
- Lucien "Bow-Legged Lou" George Jr. as Pee-Wee
- Brian "B-Fine" George as Zilla
- Robin Harris as Christopher "Pop" Robinson Sr.
- Martin Lawrence as Bilal
- Tisha Campbellas Sydney
- A.J. Johnson as Sharane
- Gene "Groove" Allen (of Groove B. Chill) as Groove
- Daryl "Chill" Mitchell (of Groove B. Chill) as Chill
- Belal "DJ Belal" Miller (of Groove B. Chill) as Herman
- Lou B. Washington as Otis
- Kelly Jo Minter as LaDonna
- John Witherspoon as Mr. Strickland
- Bebe Drake as Mrs. Strickland
- Clifton Powell as Sharane's Brother
- Verda Bridges as Sharane's Sister
- Desi Arnez Hines II as Peanut
- George Clinton as a DJ
- Barry Diamond as Cop #1
- Michael Pniewski as Cop #2
- Norma Donaldson as Mildred
- Shaun Baker as Clint
- Anthony Johnson as E.Z.E.
- Cliff Frazier as Brutus
- Jaime Cardriche as Tattoo
- Ronn Riser as Boy in the Bathroom #1
- Bentley Kyle Evans as Boy in the Bathroom #2
- Reginald Hudlin as Burglar #1 (cameo)
- Warrington Hudlin as Burglar #2 (cameo)
Music
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on March 9, 1990, by
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 1990, where it won the Cinematography Award for Peter Deming and a Filmmakers Trophy for Reginald Hudlin.[7][8]
On March 9, 1990, the film opened in 520 theaters and grossed $4,611,024.[2] It became a sleeper hit, making over $26 million on a $2.5 million budget.[9]
Reception
House Party was met with critical acclaim.[10][11] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% approval rating based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "House Party is a light, entertaining teen comedy with an infectious energy."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three out of four stars and commended its "energy and exuberance". He called the film "wall-to-wall with exuberant song and dance" and stated, "the musical is a canvas used by the director, Reginald Hudlin, to show us black teenagers with a freshness and originality that's rare in modern movies".[14]
The film received seven nominations at the
Sequels
- House Party (1983) (short film)
- House Party (1990)
- House Party 2 (1991)
- House Party 3 (1994)
- House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute (2001)
- House Party: Tonight's the Night (2013)
- House Party (2023)
The film was a popular success, and two
In 2018, it was announced that basketball star
In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6]
See also
References
- The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
- ^ a b House Party at Box Office Mojo
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (1986-01-27). "Winning Black Videos, Films Highlight Youth". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
Reginald Hudlin's "House Party!," a stylish and witty look at teen-age behavior, won the $1,500 first prize in the fourth annual Black Independent Video and Film-maker's Awards sponsored by the Black American Cinema Society, the film archives of the Western States Black Research Center.
- ^ "'House Party' (1990)". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 8, 2016.
- ^ "Movie Legends Revealed - 'House Party' Nearly Starred DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince". CBR.com. 7 August 2013.
- ^ a b Ulaby, Neda (December 14, 2022). "'Iron Man,' 'Super Fly' and 'Carrie' are inducted into the National Film Registry". NPR. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
- ^ "House Party (1990)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- ^ Vishnevetsky, Ignatiy (January 27, 2017). "House Party proved Sundance could score a mainstream hit". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- ^ Kimble, Julian (March 9, 2020). ""Who Can't Get on Board With That?": How 'House Party' Brought the Black Teenage Experience to the Mainstream". The Ringer. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- ^ Wilmington, Michael (1990-03-09). "Rite of Teen-Age Passage in 'House Party'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
- ^ Caro, Mark (1990-03-09). "House Party' Full Of The Energy Of Young Black Culture". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
- ^ "House Party (1990)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (March 9, 1990). "House Party". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
- ^ "1991 Nominees" (PDF). Film Independent. p. 50. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- ^ Siegel, Tatiana (February 13, 2018). "LeBron James to Produce 'House Party' Reboot for New Line (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
- ^ Kit, Borys (September 17, 2019). "'Old Town Road' Music Video Director Tackling 'House Party' Remake for New Line". The Hollywood Reporter.
External links
- House Party at IMDb
- House Party at AllMovie
- House Party at Box Office Mojo
- House Party at Rotten Tomatoes