''Totally Awesome'' is a television film produced by

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

. ''Totally Awesome'' directly parodies a number of 1980s movies, including ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romance film, romantic drama film, drama Dance in film, dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tel ...

'', '' Soul Man'', ''

Footloose ''Footloose'' is a 1984 American musical drama film directed by Herbert Ross and written by Dean Pitchford. It tells the story of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), a teenager from Chicago who moves to a small town, where he attempts to overturn a b ...

'', '' Some Kind of Wonderful'', ''

Sixteen Candles ''Sixteen Candles'' is a 1984 American coming-of-age teen comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of f ...

'', ''

Teen Wolf ''Teen Wolf'' is a 1985 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Rod Daniel and written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Michael J. Fox stars as the title character, a high school student whose ordinary life is changed when he discover ...

'', '' Better Off Dead'', ''

Lucas Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, or the Lucas, a 19th-century African-American singing group * Lucas, a 1960s Swedish pop group formed by Janne Lucas Perss ...

'', ''

Pretty in Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. The film stars Molly Ringwald, alongside Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, a ...

'', and ''

The Karate Kid ''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by Robert Mark Kamen. It is the first film in ''The Karate Kid'' franchise. The film stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, an ...

''. The film premiered on November 4, 2006, on VH1, and was broadcast to promote the film's

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release on November 7.

Plot

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before enter ...

introduces the film as a long-lost film from the 1980s, so a lot of the jokes are now outdated in 2006. As the Gunderson family sets out on a cross-country road trip to their new home, boyishly handsome Charlie, blossoming dancer Lori, and highly intelligent Max all have their own ideas of what life will be like in their new town. When Charlie is singled out as the least popular senior on the very first day of school, kindly outcast Billie amiably agrees to show him the ropes and provide him with an illuminating crash course in the clique system. Meanwhile, Lori is shocked to discover that dancing has been banned in her new town and the only place to cut loose is at the clandestine dance sessions held in the garage of current janitor and former dance instructor Gabriel. Immediately forbidden from attending the highly secretive shindigs, Lori stealthily sneaks out to be with the kindly Gabriel as her feelings for the dance instructor grow and the pair set into motion a clever plan to usher in a new era of dancing around town. When Charlie vows to win the heart of popular girl Kimberly by competing against her athletic boyfriend, Kipp, in the upcoming school decathlon, lovelorn Billie quietly pines for the clueless newcomer from afar as he begins a rigorous training regiment with Japanese gardener Yamagashi. As his family struggles to adjust to their new life, reclusive genius Max continues working on a highly advanced home computer that soon draws the attention of the CIA.

Cast

Mikey Day Michael William Day (born March 20, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He was hired as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' before its 39th season in 2013. He was then promoted to on-air cast status and beca ...

as Charlie Gunderson *

Dominique Swain Dominique Swain (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress. She first came to attention as the title character in Adrian Lyne's 1997 adaptation of ''Lolita'', alongside a supporting role in John Woo's ''Face/Off'' that same year. She worked ...

as Lori Gunderson *

James Hong James Hong (born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. Known as one of the most prolific character actors of all time, he has worked in over 400 productions in U.S. media since the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1950s. ...

as Mr. Yamagashi *

Chris Kattan Christopher Lee Kattan ( ; born October 19, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. After performing with numerous comedy troupes, including The Groundlings in Los Angeles, he broke through as a regular cast member on the sketch comedy show ''Sat ...

as Gabriel * Trevor Heins as Max *

Nicki Clyne Nicki Clyne (born February 11, 1983) is a Canadian actress, known for her role as Cally Henderson on the SyFy television series ''Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Battlestar Galactica''. Clyne was a member of NXIVM, a multi-level marketi ...

as Billie *

Brittany Daniel Brittany Ann Daniel (born March 17, 1976) is an American actress. Daniel is best known for her roles as Jessica Wakefield in the teen drama series ''Sweet Valley High (TV series), Sweet Valley High'' (1994–1997) and as Kelly Pitts in the The ...

as Kimberly *

Joey Kern Joseph Daniel Kern (born September 5, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is most widely known for his roles in the 2003 films '' Cabin Fever'' and ''Grind''. Early life Kern was born in Kentucky and was raised in northern Kentucky in t ...

as Kipp Vanderhoff *

Teryl Rothery Teryl Rothery is a Canadian actress of stage, television, and film. She is best known for portraying Dr. Janet Fraiser in the TV series ''Stargate SG-1''. She co-starred as Grace Sherman in '' Cedar Cove'', and has had major roles as Muriel in ...

as Mrs. Gunderson *

Greg Kean Gregory Kean Williams (born September 27, 1962) is a Canadian television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Clancy Lass in the television series ''Dead Like Me''. Early life Kean was born in Oshawa, Ontario, the son of Dorothy and Re ...

as Mr. Gunderson *

Tracy Morgan Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1996 to 2003, and played Tracy Jordan in the NBC sitcom ''30 Ro ...

as Darnell *

Tone Loc Anthony Terrell Smith (born March 3, 1966), best known by his stage name Tone Lōc (), is an American rapper and actor. He is known for his raspy voice, his hit songs " Wild Thing" and " Funky Cold Medina", for which he was nominated for a Gr ...

as himself *

as himself

Reception

Heather Boerner of

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

gave it 3 out of 5 and called the "VH1 spoof awesome just for '80s teen film fans." David Cornelius of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

wrote that the idea didn't work when it was called "

Not Another Teen Movie ''Not Another Teen Movie'' is a 2001 American teen parody film directed by Joel Gallen and written by Mike Bender, Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson, Phil Beauman, and Buddy Johnson. It features Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, Jaime Pressly, Er ...

" and again the filmmakers confuse "reference for punchline". He says the film "knows enough about its subject to come up with nifty joke ideas, but can't quite turn them into solid chuckle material" and concludes "This could have been a keen, fairly hilarious spoof, but instead it's a dry, overblown project that can't bother to follow through with its ideas."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Totally Awesome 2006 television films 2006 films 2006 comedy films American comedy films American satirical films American television films Films set in the 1980s Films shot in Vancouver VH1 films 2000s American films