Sunday, July 18, 2010

Degrassi Takes Manhattan: Win or Lose?

Being the annoyingly-obsessed Degrassi fan I am, I went on Wikipedia(the most reliable, un-reliable source, as always) and read the synopsis of the new "Degrassi Takes Manhattan" movie. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled. Last year, "Degrassi Goes Hollywood" was a pretty decent success(in my opinion, anyways) and it managed to successfully bring back old favorites and put them in interesting, attention-catching situations. As for DTM goes.....not in the same boat. The only originals that turn up in this one are Spinner(Shane Kippel), Emma(Miriam McDonald), Manny(Cassie Steele) and Jay(Mike Lobel). While reading the synopsis, it appears that Manny and Jay virtually appear to be useless, and only seem to accompany Emma and Spinner to Niagara Falls to gamble. I can't imagine why either actor would want to return to Degrassi, for they should instead be working on ways to break away from Degrassi and should be trying to broaden their careers instead, as should Miriam and especially Shane, who's WAY too old to still be hanging around Degrassi.

Anyways, it appears that in the new flick, Spinner hires Emma as a new worker at The Dot while he and Jane(Paula Brancati) head to a party at Declan(Landon Liboiron) and Fiona's(Annie Clark). While at this party, Spinner of course overhears Jane and Holly J(Charlotte Arnold) reminiscing about when Jane cheated on Spinner with Declan, and Spinner flips a s**t and breaks it off with Jane. Thank GOD. Don't get me wrong, I loved Spinner and Jane together as a couple, but it's time for Spinner to leave Degrassi once and for all, and in all honesty, Paula Brancati is too talented to be on Degrassi. She could definitely be off doing bigger, more important projects. So back to reality, as if Spinner's day wasn't already bad enough, he heads back to The Dot, only to find it on fire because Emma screwed things up and used the sandwich grill when she wasn't supposed to. Great job, Emma. This just makes Spinner even angrier and he runs home and throws out everything Jane ever gave him with rage. Oh, Spinner.

Meanwhile, Jane now has no reason to stay in Canada because she and Spinner are no longer an item, so she gets invited to go to New York with Holly J, Declan and Fiona(hence the promo picture in which they're all sticking their heads out of the taxi cab looking like they've never seen a big city before). Jane runs off to explore the city, and gets asked to be the lead singer of an Indie band. Cool. I wish that happened to me when I went to New York. She gets to perform on a channel called "TVM"(a Canadian parody of MTV), the channel that Holly J is interning at. It turns out that Fiona is also interning at that station because she's jealous of Holly J and Declan. Alright, now that's just creepy. If Declan was Fiona's ex-boyfriend, that would be one thing, but they're brother and sister. I don't have a twin brother, so I really can't say, but I do know lots of twin brothers and sisters and they really aren't that attached to each other. Fiona and Holly J fight a lot. Mostly over Declan, which I still find really weird. Fiona tries to get Declan to side with her after Holly J locks her in a closet. She then throws a party with all of Declan's ex-girlfriends to try and make Holly J jealous, but apparently it doesn't get to Holly J. Well at least we know that Holly J trusts Declan. Fiona is mad that Holly J isn't jealous, so she KISSES DECLAN. Right on the lips! And this isn't just a little peck....this is full on making out. Alright, I'll admit I definitely saw this coming. Declan and Fiona are the most incestuous brother and sister I have ever seen. But really....Degrassi is just trying too hard now. Yeah, they go there, I get it. But they really didn't have to go THERE. Incest? No. TOO much. This kiss for some reason causes Declan to side with his wacko sister. I guess the incest is mutual. But of course, he and Holly J talk(since talking fixes everything on Degrassi)and he chooses Holly J over his sister and asks Fiona to move out. Thank the Lord.

Back in Emma/Spinner/Manny/Jay world, Manny, Jay and Emma try and cheer up Spinner by taking him to Niagara Falls to gamble. Manny and Jay love a good road trip, as we can see from "Bust A Move" in season 7 and "Degrassi Goes Hollywood" last year. Emma and Spinner play some blackjack, win some cash, and get drunk. The writers of Degrassi now turn to stereotypical matters, and have Emma and Spinner get drunkenly married. Wow, we totally haven't seen that before! They wake up, and as to follow in "The Hangover's" footsteps have the "what the hell happened last night?!" experience. Because of this fake marriage, the two end up spending more time together and think that, hey, maybe they won't get a divorce after all, maybe they'll hold a real ceremony. I don't know about you, but it only takes me a few days to realize I want to marry somebody I've had little-to-no interaction with for the past 9 years. Spinner tells Jane of these plans, and Jane isn't happy about it. She tells Holly J and Declan that she needs them to take her home to stop the wedding. Meanwhile, Spinner and Emma realize that they really are in love with each other(really? Spinner and Emma? Any other two original characters would work together, but they chose Spin and Emma?) and Spinner confesses his love for Emma in front of Spike and Snake(they're still around?) and they get married. Jesus Christ. That's just.....too much. I really can't get over Spinner and Emma being together. Holly J and Declan decide they don't want Jane to stop the wedding, so slow down their road trip. Too bad Jane outsmarts them and hijacks the car. She drives back to Toronto where she's about to stop the wedding, when she sees that Spinner really is in love with Emma, and decides to let them get married. According to Wikipedia "the movie ends at the dance after the wedding." So Emma and Spinner's wedding episode ends the exact same way Snake and Spike's wedding episode ends? Un-original, Degrassi writers. It would be more symbolic if it was Emma and Sean that got married. I guess Daniel Clark, the actor who plays Sean, was too busy to come back and satisfy all the original Degrassi fans(like me) needs.

I give it 2 stars. Doesn't sound appealing to me. It's supposed to be a set up for season 10, but it seems more like a farewell to Emma, Spinner, Manny and Jay to me. That's definitely needed, but I feel like this movie should have focused more on the newer actors and set up more of their plot-lines for season 10 since they'll be in it, and Emma and Spinner won't. "Hollywood" was more for the oldies. Also, back to the whole Spinner/Emma marriage.....I would be OK with it if they had been setting it up for some time now, but really, Spinner and Emma had barely any interaction or any form of relationship, friendship or romantic, over the past 9 seasons. A drunken marriage, fine. A real marriage? No. I'm an early-Degrassi-seasons person by far, and I'm a firm believer in "Semma"(Sean/Emma). They would've been better off having Emma leave single, so we can all just fantasize and pretend that her and Sean got back together and got married. Oh well. What can you do? It's an all new Degrassi, with all new plots, all new characters and an all new edge to it completely. Let's just hope the new season isn't so much of a let-down as it's big, overly promoted season-opening movie.


Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments: