Honey 2003

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: An extremely silly Flashdance remake. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: Has the shelf life of a dented milk carton. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Honey brings out the wholesome, affirmative side of the hip-hop aesthetic without being overly preachy, and it offers a winningly utopian view of show-business success without real costs or compromises. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: The mostly formulaic pieces come together thanks to a well-crafted youth-savvy script and likable cast of attractive performers. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's so predictable. Read more

Bob Townsend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Like those irritating TV ads, you know what's going to happen next, and you know you're never actually going to see anything. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Neither hot nor square, it's as simple and earnest as any after-school special and as cameo-laden as any rap video. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: As sweet and undemanding as its name, Honey goes down smooth and simple. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: A disjointed, unmoving affair. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Honey passes the time nicely up to that last dance and doesn't trip when it gets there. Read more

Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly: Don't mistake this for A Chorus Line 2: Electric Boogaloo. Honey is fixated on center-stage cameos at the expense of its too-brief dance sequences, and the idol worship undermines the film's anti-bling moralizing. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Overproduced and underwhelming. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Scene after scene is either a music-video shoot or a dance scene shot like a music video. The result is a film that's all flashdance and no substance. Read more

Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly: So riddled with limp cliches that it doesn't even qualify as a guilty pleasure. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: A button- pressing urban fairy tale with all the sentiment and spontaneity of a wind-up Christmas music box. Read more

Bob Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger: Honey is a whole festival of bad movies, from Flashdance through Glitter. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Honey is a by-the- numbers, let's-put- on-a-show quasi-musical that has absolutely nothing going for it, except Alba. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: It's sweet, but that's not real honey you're tasting. It's more like saccharine. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Honey doesn't have a shred of originality (except for the high-energy choreography), but there's something fundamentally reassuring about a movie that respects ancient formulas; it's like a landmark preservation program. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: There's an entertainingly ludicrous movie lurking somewhere inside of the ludicrous, mediocre one this actually is. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Honey invites us, not to share in a character's journey, but to have an audience with one young woman's physical and spiritual loveliness. That's not just bogus, it's boring. Read more

Harper Barnes, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's hard to dislike a movie as inoffensive as this one -- even the crack dealers don't seem very threatening. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Cheerful, unlikely and featherweight, Honey is nevertheless charmingly optimistic and refreshingly earnest. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: This is fairy tale stuff, its saintly hip-hop heroine far too worthy for comfort and its dialogue hilariously banal. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Honey is in the harmlessly junky 'let's put on a show' tradition of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, minus electricity but with a budget for supporting-cast navel rings that 1984's break-dance sequel certainly didn't have. Read more

David Rooney, Variety: Flavorless blender-mix of dance movie cliches draws from the stagnant well of everything from Flashdance to Save the Last Dance. Read more

Ed Park, Village Voice: The star-is-born trajectory nourishes some howlers ... as well as a thumpingly unsubtle portrayal of the creative process. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Evokes a warmed-over Fox TV special. Read more