Scene Stealer: House Party

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned house party.  You know, the parties where you and your closest chums got together at a friend’s house and spent the night grooving to loud, bangin’ music that woke the neighbours, but you didn’t care because you were jamming with friends and having the time of your life.  Ah yes, the good ol’ days when house parties ruled the weekends and going to a party and dancing was considered the best of times.

The aptly titled House Party shows the universal desire of average, teenage kids to go to a party and dance.  It was one of my favourite movies as a teenager and I remember watching it repeatedly.  The film stars rap duo Kid ‘n’ Play as friends and friendly rivals.  Kid gets into a fight at school and is grounded by his father.  It’s unfortunate timing because Play is hosting a house party that night and Kid desperately wants to go, but his father won’t let him.  Kid refuses to miss the house party and sneaks out of his house to attend.

His disobedience proves worthwhile as Play’s house party is the place to be.  I’m going to cheat a bit here because my scene stealer from the film is the extended party sequence at the center of the film.  Kid ‘n’ Play each try desperately to impress two girls at the party by engaging in a rap duel where they creatively diss each before a house-full of engaged partygoers who react to every insult thrown between the pair.  Then the duo engages in a dance duel against the two girls they’ve been trying to impress.  It’s an entertaining, lively and effectively staged sequence that includes some awesome old school hip hop dance moves.  The dance battle segues into a big crowd number where all of the partygoers dance in a rotation, switching partners every time the DJ yells “switch!”

The party sequence is carried off so effectively, that you almost feel as you watch the film that you’re a guest at the party – hearing the corny rap, cheering during the dance duels, laughing at all of the ribbing and smiling at all of the romance.  Whenever I watch the film, I’m reminded of my house party days when everyone came out, laughed a lot, danced for hours to great music and left looking forward to the next one.