Shake, Rattle & Rock! Movie Review

Now that Renée Zellweger is a big big star, what better time than the present to release a seven year-old dud with Renée in the starring role? (See also The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was also released in 1994 with the aid of Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey.)

A virtually identical film to John Waters' Hairspray, Shake, Rattle & Rock! Tells us of teens obsessed with a 50's-era dance show, the parents that disapprove, and the struggle of minority chanteuses to get through the door. Unfortunately, Shake doesn't bear nearly the pleasures of a Waters' movie. While director Allan Arkbush is wise in casting the charming Patricia Childress and Max Perlich into supporting roles as Renée's friends (and later bandmates as she starts her own rockin' group), the movie is just plain dull and invariably predictable, an after-school special at best. And there's so much slow-motion nonsense that film comes off as padded and lifeless, despite a spare 83-minute running time.

And that's including the surprise after-the-credits ending.