Totally Awesome

Infobox Film
name = Totally Awesome
director = Neal Brennan
producer = David Miner
writer = Neal Brennan
Michael Schur
starring = Rajitanti
Mikey Day
Dominique Swain
Brittany Daniel
music = James Poyser
cinematography = Todd Elyzen
editing = Edward Chin
distributor = MTV
VH1
released = November 4, 2006 (TV)
November 7, 2006 (DVD)
runtime = 99 min.
country = flagicon|USA
language = English
imdb_id = 0485161

"Totally Awesome" is a television movie produced by VH1. "Totally Awesome" directly parodies a number of 1980s movies, including "Dirty Dancing", "Soul Man", "Footloose", "Some Kind of Wonderful", "Sixteen Candles", "Teen Wolf", "Better Off Dead", "Lucas", "Pretty in Pink", and "The Karate Kid". The film premiered on November 4, 2006 on VH1, and was broadcast to promote the film's DVD release on November 7.

Plot

The concept of "Totally Awesome" is that it is a "lost" film from the 1980s, recently rediscovered in a vault in the Arizona desert and bought by VH1 because, according to narrator Ben Stein, VH1 "didn't have enough '80s themed programming."

Charlie Gunderson (Mikey Day) is a young man who moves into a new town, where he is automatically dubbed the most unpopular guy at school. He falls for the prettiest and most popular girl at school, Kimberly (Brittany Daniel), whose boyfriend Kipp (Joey Kern) is a stereotypical jock and bully. At first, Charlie attempts to woo Kimberly, seeking the help of a black man named Darnell (Tracy Morgan) in attempts to be cooler. Darnell teaches him how to talk, walk and act like a cool black man, though this attempt ultimately backfires.

Charlie also meets a girl named Billie (Nicki Clyne), the class loser, who is poor and has very oily skin. She is the only one who understands Charlie and develops a crush on him. Charlie befriends Billie, though at first insists their relationship is platonic.

After an altercation with Kipp, Charlie challenges Kipp to a Decathlon. To prepare, Charlie seeks the help of Yamagashi (James Hong), a wise, old, gay, Asian instructor (and parody of Mr. Miyagi from the "Karate Kid" series of movies). Charlie is told to do odd chores that are supposed to help him in the Decathlon like "Sweep My Deck" for pole vault, "Jump For Apples" for high jump, and "Toss the Rock" for shot put. When Charlie points out that Yamagashi has only taught him how to do three events, Yamagashi suggests killing Kipp to avoid the contest; when Charlie rejects homicide as a solution, Yamagashi tells him he must find a reason to drive him to succeed.

In addition to Charlie's attempts to survive the new school and court the girl, the movie follows Charlie's sister Lori (Dominique Swain), a dancer who is in love with school janitor Gabriel (Chris Kattan). Gabriel was the dance teacher before dancing was outlawed in the town following an incident in which several dancing teenagers had their feet come loose.

Gabriel helds secret dance lessons at his house in which Lori and Gabriel discover their feelings for each other. Lori decides to have a dance number after the decathlon to get the town to allow dancing back. So Gabriel decides to star in it with his girlfriend but she breaks her leg during practice, leading Gabriel and Lori to become partners.

Jealous, his girlfriend takes pictures of Lori and Gabriel kissing, then shows them to the school principal which fires Gabriel. Angry, thinking Lori told him, Gabriel decides to never see Lori again. But at the decathlon awards, Gabriel tells a speech about dance, love and passion and reveals to the audience that he and Lori "may" of had sex with then they all do their dance routine.

Cast

*Ben Stein as The Narrator
*Mikey Day as Charlie Gunderson
*Dominique Swain as Lori Gunderson
*Brittany Daniel as Kimberly
*James Hong as Mr. Yamagashi
*Nicki Clyne as Billie
*Chris Kattan as Gabriel
*Joey Kern as Kipp Vanderhoff
*Trevor Heins as Max Gunderson
*Teryl Rothery as Mrs. Gunderson
*Greg Kean as Mr. Gunderson
*Tracy Morgan as Darnell
*Tone Loc as Himself

Goofs

Miscellaneous: When Charlie and Billie are walking in the school there's a poster on the wall that reads, "DECATHALON TRYOUTS!! FRIDAY." The correct spelling is decathlon.

poofs

*"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" - The guy fantasizes about girl taking her top off (but in real life, she kicks him in the crotch)
*"The Karate Kid" - James Hong plays a Mr. Miyagi parody.
*"Revenge of the Nerds" - The "angry coach" is really happy.
*"Risky Business" - After he gets a million dollars, the little brother puts on similar sunglasses and smooth-talks everyone like Tom Cruise's character in the movie.
*"Secret Admirer" - The boy ends up with his best friend, who is in love with him all along.
*"Some Kind of Wonderful" - Almost the whole movie: the plot about guy falling in love with popular girl while his best friend is in love with him. loving astronomy, friend as chauffeur
*"Footloose" - Dancing banned in town because kids danced and their feet became loose and now the school has "standarounds" instead
*"Soul Man" - When Charlie puts on tanning cream and a Jeri curl wig to meet Kimberly
*"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" - Sneaking out of bed fully dressed and some of the bad dancing scenes
*"Teen Wolf" - A kid at school is a werewolf and he attacks people that no one likes and becomes a hero
*"Can't Buy Me Love" - Makes fun of the way that a nerdy guy becomes popular, abandons old friends and pays the price.
*"Dirty Dancing" - Parody of scene where Patrick Swayze accidentally tickles Jennifer Grey's armpit while they practice dancing
*"My Chauffeur" - The couple kiss as they ride away in the Bentley at the end.
*"Better Off Dead..." - the Decathlon bet and the whiz kid little brother.
*"My Science Project" - The government wants the little brother's science project (and offers him a million dollars for it which he gladly takes)
*"Weird Science" - The main character is stripped to his underwear in front of everyone

External links

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