"Baby can you feel the vibe?"
Saturday, ABC Family gave us a “Shut Up and Dance Saturday” with “Footloose,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and “Grease 2.” But it’s the movie that kicked off the day that always has me dancing—“From Justin to Kelly.”
Yes, you read that right. I love one of the most critically panned movies of recent years. A movie that could’ve killed Kelly Clarkson’s career and did contribute to the death of Justin Guarini’s.
As you may recall, in September 2002, the country was captivated by Justin and Kelly and a brand new show called “American Idol.” Millions tuned in to see Kelly win and her single, “A Moment Like This” shot to number one. But Simon Fuller (the “Idol” puppet master), who had not yet dreamed up the “Idols” tour, wanted a way to capitalize further on the buzz. So “From Justin to Kelly” was born. The movie, after a few delays, was scheduled for a June 2003 release.
In January 2003, “Idol” returned for its second season. The show was once again successful and the perfect platform to promote the movie. But that never happened. RCA decided to release “Miss Independent” as Kelly’s first single instead of the movie’s love song, “Anytime.” And fearing that three Idol-related CDs at the same time would be too much for “Idol” fans, Fuller decided not to release a soundtrack (which I’m still mad about). Then, there was the final straw. There were no ads for the movie during “Idol” commercial breaks, or any promotion during the actual episodes. We’ve all seen what the “Idol” promotional machine can do, but “From” never got that chance. Sensing that the movie was going to be a flop, the show distanced itself from the movie entirely. For Kelly, it was not a big problem since she was the winner. But for Justin, who could’ve used the movie as a springboard for his career, it was a disaster from which he has never recovered. If RCA had released “Timeless,” his duet with Kelly, it may have been different, but the damage was already done.
For those of you who have never seen it, the movie is not nearly as bad as you’ve heard—honestly. As a TV-movie, it would’ve been perfect; but on the big screen, the movie’s flaws come off larger-than-life (and not worth the seven bucks you would’ve paid to see them). The story is weak (especially the “dramatic” climax), Katherine Bailess is pathetic as “bad girl” Alexa (Is that really how they talk in Texas?), Justin’s song lead-ins are corny (“There’s definitely something going on between us, don’t you think?”), the direction is bad (I know I always power walk when I’m singing a tender love song.), Kelly’s clothes are ridiculous (a skirt made of ties?!) and the choreography (which is the key to any musical) is absolutely atrocious (Wasn't Paula available?).
But the songs are good (especially Justin and Kelly’s duet of “Anytime”), the supporting male characters are funny, Justin and Kelly have good chemistry (Are we actually supposed to believe there was nothing going on between those two? Sorry, they’re not that good of actors.), and Justin actually comes off as quite charming—which makes what happened to his career all the more sad.
The truth is that if Simon Fuller had played his cards right, he could’ve had a real cash cow on his hands with this one. Don’t believe me? Just look at the runaway success of “High School Musical.” I’ve got to believe as hit-starved as FOX was at the time, they would’ve jumped at the chance to do an “American Idol” movie (and probably would've paid for a decent choreographer). But Fuller got too greedy. Hopefully, it’s not a mistake he’ll make again.
If you like musicals and you get the opportunity to check out “From Justin to Kelly,” I hope you’ll take it. You may not love it like I do, but I think you’ll have fun.
“Baby can you feel the vibe?”
