Review of 2007's Feel the Noise

The truth is, these are the only two things that stand out in the movie "Feel the Noise," which was produced by Jennifer Lopez's production company. Jenny may be from the block, but this movie makes the audience feel like nobody involved has any recollection of what life on that mythical block was like. The only slightly successful attempt at injecting this movie with any kind of engaging edginess was that the filming was somewhat grainy. But as a single gimmick, even that falls flat, making audiences squint in the dimly lit scenes.

"Feel the Noise" has a promising, if overdone, plot. Rob (Omarion Grandberry) is a young lad with a good heart and grand musical ambitions who winds up in a gangster's crosshairs. Rob's mom wisely gets Rob out of Dodge, sending him down to Puerto Rico to live with his dad (Giancarlo Esposito who actually does a nice job... pity) and to keep safe.

Can you fill in the blanks? Rob feels ______ toward his dad initially, but by film's end there is respect. Soon after Rob arrives, he makes friends with his step-brother who is heavily into the local ________ scene, so this step-brother introduces Rob to dance done Puerto Rican style. The step-brother, Javi, is also a musician and with some connections the two make a demo tape in some guy's personal ________ studio.

And here's where the other star of the show, Reggaeton, appears. This music is a mix of hip-hop, reggae and others, and when the music plays and the dancers get going, the movie is entertaining. It is impossible to sleep through the scenes of dancing and music, but they simply do not carry the movie, nor should they be expected to.

The truth is, the blanks left unfilled are myriad. Characters really are not developed into full-fleshed, flawed people. The plot makes no attempt to try anything new and any attempts to increase the tension fall flat as it seems the actors feel uninspired. As Rob and his step-brother, Javi put together a music demo and Rob feels attracted to a local girl, the movie tries to add danger to the plot in the form of a corrupt and lascivious record exec, but this is too transparent and we wonder why Rob and company are so dumb.

In the end, we are glad that Rob's journey only takes 86 minutes, because any longer and we would have needed the volume turned up to wake us from our dozing.