Highly Overrated But Still Good

Better Late Then Never

A Disappointing Continuation

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

To say Drumline: A New Beat was predictable is, well, predictable. The female lead goes from an ultra successful, intelligent, self assured but pampered high school senior inundated with full academic scholarships from top universities to lack-luster, insecure college freshman whose only goal, only passion is to play in a marching band at so-so college as a P1 drummer in the center of the front line. And throughout the movie there is little if any, mention of anything to do with actual day to day requirements and the reason for attending college....(classes, grades, studying and earning a degree) just high school like drama of being in the marching band. The college, A&T, while never mention in the film as such, appears to be an HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) as the only white -or Asian, Hispanic- people are seen in the background and only briefly. Additionally, the fictional A&T marching band is reminiscent of Florida A&M University's marching band that was disbanded and several members were prosecuted for the death of Robert Champion, one of it's members as a direct result of hazing. I won't go into how many stereo-types were displayed throughout the movie (gold chains, black males calling black women "bi!ch", chocolate used to describe black skinned men being black). Finally, when all is said and done, this is still just a movie about high school "band geeks" that are now college "band geeks". A movie where they try to equate the demands, rigors and competition of playing in a college marching band to those of playing a college level sport be it football, wrestling, basketball or swimming. In this regard, they failed.

I never go into movies with high expectations, especially for television. I just always look at them for entertainment. As for this movie, I knew it wasn't going to compare to the original, but I just didn't particularly care for the writing for this film. Everything seemed sort of rushed by them trying to talk about what happened to past/original characters, and a lot of lines were a bit corny. It just didn't seem "real" you know? However, I did enjoy the band scenes. I was also a little disappointed in how they even wrote in the lead character.They made it seem like she was a female Myles, when I just wish her situation could have been different and maybe she was just having a hard time simply because she was just a female on the line. Why give us a part two when we are looking at a person with the exact same issues? And if she was a bit like Myles, they could have had Myles talk to her about his past experiences. It just seemed kind of rushed to me. It had the potential to be way better than what it was.

When I first heard VH1 was making original movie sequel to Drumline, the first thought through my head was ' Oh god, not another Stomp the Yard: Homecoming'. But as I sat down in my bed to watch the premiere, it did have it's corny moments, but as the plot thicken I found myself watching through the commercials. I have to say VH1 is very well known for their amazing shows like Single Ladies & Hit the Floor. I would definitely love to see them work with more movie like this even though it did have it's moment. My favorite parts would have to be the battle specifically the final battle. The acting department was also favorable with Nick Cannon returning with amazing acting in the speech scene <*MUST WATCH*. Plus the return of my childhood crush, Jordan Calloway. Just being surprised how he has grown since Unfabolous <3. In all words, Drumline: A New Beat scores a nine out of ten from me. :)

This movie has no basis in reality. I'm sorry but if you were a parent who child was smart enough to get into multiple schools and you had the income to support it, who in their right mind would send the child to an out-of-state school just to play the drums. You can say what you want but this movie is filled with choppy and corny black to black dialogue. It even has one female character being underhandedly racist to another for no absolute reason (if you go to a HBCU you would know how unlikely that is). Unlike Nick Cannon, the main character is not relatable to anyone at all. I don't know why Hollywood think people are going to pity a gorgeous person who seemingly has everything going for them but they have to work for something they want.