GREASE 2

CAPSULE REVIEW –– This is one of those horrible movies that I'm compelled to watch over and over again. There's really nothing to recommend it unless you're a HUGE Pfeiffer fan and yet...it sucks me in every time. The songs are just as sexual and silly as the original film, but they just don't the have catchiness and edge that make flimsy melodies like "Summer Lovin'" a classic. Plus, Maxwell Caulfield just doesn't have the star power to carry the lead. Pfeiffer is pouty and sullen, which suits her and she can carry a tune, but you just don't believe that she'd be interested in such a milktoast like him. The basics of the plot have Michelle as a Pink Lady looking for a man with substance who's cool and sensitive to rev her engine. Caulfield is the Aussie outsider, Sandy's cousin or something, who makes himself over into her dream guy. The plot is so unimaginative, you beg for musical numbers...until about halfway through and you want them to stop. Everyone tries really hard, but they don't even come remotely close to capturing the original's magic. Plus, they seem too old to be high schoolers, more so than the original cast (even though Newton-John was 30 when she played Sandy). I'm sure this is one of those film ideas that sounded good at the time...and that everyone involved is trying to forget. Only diehard Pfeiffer fans should dare to watch.