When I tell you the premise of The FP you’re going to think it’s absolute madness; that there’s no way it can work. Minus a couple of hiccups it’s entertaining because it understands just how dumb its central idea is.
In a dystopian future, a turf war between two rival gangs brings men and women alike to Frazier Park (The titular FP). There, they battle for supremacy... using a “Beat-Beat Revelation” (basically a knockoff of “Dance Dance Revolution) to determine who comes up on top. When the heroic BTRO falls dead from exhaustion after failing to defeat the rival gang’s leader L. Dubba E. (Lee Valmassy), his young brother JTRO (Jason Trost) vows never to dance again but no one stays out of the Beat Beat forever...
The key to making a concept as loopy as this one successful is being self-aware but not trying purposefully to be bad. The FP knows no one will take it seriously, but it takes itself seriously. Everyone is playing it straight - as if Beat-Beat Revelation was as common a thing as a rap battle or a fistfight. Unfortunately, it loses confidence along the way, quasy-breaking the fourth wall and admitting to all watching how stupid this is. You can’t do that! Given time, we would've accepted The FP for what it was. Watch anything for long enough and you forget about the real world.
The film's best aspect is its dialogue. Half of what the characters say is practically unintelligible because they talk with a “streetz” accent so thick and filled with so many abbreviations, mutated expressions and weird terms you listen just hoping you can decipher their lingo. It's filled quotable dialogue. You'll need to rehearse extensively to say any string of words with a straight face but you want to put in the effort.
The plot is nothing you haven’t seen before, with the washed-up hero who vowed never to box/ride/play/dance again being forced to return to beat that one player that’s so bad he has to be stopped, but so good they could stop them. Similarly, you can predict where the romance is going immediately. The novelty of the setting and the premise do go a long way, however.
I enjoyed journeying through this bizarre world of inane lingo and life-or-death dancing. The obligatory (and silly training montage), the side characters, and inevitable final showdown become things to look forward to once you accept the ride you're on. The picture's final scene is terrible, however. It concludes on a cheap, borderline misogynist joke that highlights the weakness of the only major female character, Stacy (Caitlyn). It fits perfectly with the rest of the movie but someone should've said "no" anyway.
Despite the flaws, I’d encourage you to catch The FP. If the premise sounds fun, you'll dig it. And stick around until the very end of the credits because there’s a bonus scene for the stragglers. (On Blu-ray, November 29, 2014)
