House Party (1990 film)

House Party is a 1990 American comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Christopher "Kid" Reid and Christopher "Play" Martin of the hip hop duo Kid 'n Play in their film debut, Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou, and B-Fine of Full Force, and Robin Harris (who died of a heart attack nine days after the film was released, making House Party his penultimate acting role).

The film was written and directed by Reginald Hudlin, based on his award-winning Harvard University student film. The film grossed over $26 million in its run at the box office with its widest release being 700 theaters. Upon its initial release, the film garnered critical acclaim and has since become a cult classic.

The lead roles were originally written for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.

In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
At the very beginning of the movie, kids dance inside of a house, and the noise is so loud that it blows the roof off.

In his high-school cafeteria, Peter, also known as "Play," announces that he will be having a party at his house that night, as his parents are on vacation. The reluctant student Bilal is to be the DJ. Their friend Christopher "Kid" Robinson Jr. gets involved in an altercation with school bully Stab and his brothers, Pee-Wee and Zilla. At home, Kid tries to convince his father Christopher "Pop" Robinson Sr. to let him go to the party. Pop relents at first. After getting a call from school about Kid's fight with Stab, Pop changes his mind and grounds Kid for his actions.

Rather than miss the party of the year, Kid sneaks out while Pop is sleeping. However, the door closing behind Kid awakens Pop. On his way to the party, Kid is stopped by the neighborhood police and runs into Stab and his brothers, jumps over a fence where a fat man named Roughouse is having sex. Kid, along with Stab, Zilla, and Pee-Wee, are shot at by Roughouse. Kid ducks into a nearby Alpha Delta Sigma reunion to escape them.

Crashing the reunion, Kid has the DJ scratch and mix a few of his old doo wop records so that he can liven the party with a rap, until Stab and the others arrive. Trying to escape, Kid accidentally knocks down an older man. Kid and the bullies are caught by the neighborhood police, who humiliate the teenagers before letting them go. Kid's father is stopped and harassed by the police while trying to find him.

The party is in full swing when Kid arrives. During the party, Chill bumps the DJ table, which angers Bilal and other guests, and it nearly results in a fight between the two. Kid and Play get into a dance contest with attractive girls Sydney and Sharane (originally it was Kid and Groove against Sydney and Sharane, but after Groove gets drunk and passes out, Play takes his place), then have a freestyle battle. Stab and his friends attempt to crash the party but are arrested a second time for attempting to burn the house down. The policemen take delight in the prospect of beating them up. Eventually, Pop reaches the party. After failing to find him, Pop vows to wait for Kid at home.

Play stops the party after his bathroom toilet is broken. Although Kid and Sydney have eyes for each other, Sharane decides to flirt with Kid openly, much to Sydney's disgust. Soon, the three leave the party, but when Kid tries to make advances on Sharane, she rebuffs him. Kid walks Sydney back home, and, after some argument, the pair calm down.

Sydney allows Kid to sneak into her house. The two are about to have sex there when she stops him, wanting to know if she is simply his second choice. Kid admits that Sydney was his first choice all along. However, they do not do anything after realizing that Kid's only condom is too old to be used. When Sydney's parents come home – now revealed as one of the couples at the high-school reunion, including the man Kid ran into – Sydney helps Kid sneak out of the house.

He manages to get out of another scrape with Stab and his brothers, and they all end up in a jail cell. Kid entertains the rest of the men in the cell by rapping, distracting them long enough for Play, Sharane, Bilal, and Sydney to arrive and bail him out. Later, the five friends say their good nights. Kid and Sydney share a passionate kiss. After Play and Bilal drop him off, Kid sneaks in the house and gets undressed. As he is about to get into bed, he looks up to find Pop holding a belt as he prepares to spank him. As the credits roll, Pop is heard hitting Kid with the belt.

During the credit roll, the roof that was blown off earlier lands on top of the police officers.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on March 9, 1990, by Motown Records. It peaked at 104 on the Billboard 200 and 20 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 1990, where it won the Cinematography Award for Peter Deming and a Filmmakers Trophy for Reginald Hudlin.

On March 9, 1990, the film opened in 520 theaters and grossed $4,611,024. It became a sleeper hit, making over $26 million on a $2.5 million budget.

Reception
House Party was met with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% approval rating based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "House Party is a light, entertaining teen comedy with an infectious energy." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three out of four stars and commended its "energy and exuberance". He called the film "wall-to-wall with exuberant song and dance" and stated, "the musical is a canvas used by the director, Reginald Hudlin, to show us black teenagers with a freshness and originality that's rare in modern movies".

The film received seven nominations at the 1991 Independent Spirit Awards. Film director Reginald Hudlin was nominated for Best Director), Christopher "Kid" Reid was nominated for Best Male Lead), Tisha Campbell and A.J. Johnson were both nominated for Best Supporting Female), Robin Harris was nominated for Best Supporting Male), and the film's cinematographer Peter Deming was nominated for the Best Cinematography. The film was also nominated for Best First Feature.

Sequels
The film was a popular success, and two sequels were made: House Party 2 in 1991; and House Party 3 in 1994. House Party 2 features Lawrence and Campbell reprising their roles from the first film; the two would begin starring in the TV sitcom Martin the following year. House Party 3 features hip hop/R&B groups TLC and Immature in supporting roles. In 2001, Immature (now going by IMx) starred in a direct-to-video sequel, House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute, which does not feature any of the original cast from the other three films. A fifth installment and direct follow-up to the third film, titled House Party: Tonight's the Night was filmed in 2012 with Tequan Richmond, Zac Goodman, Tristin Mays, Alex McGregor, Rolonda Watts and Gary Anthony Williams. The film was a direct to DVD release in 2013, and also marked the return of Kid 'n Play to the series.

In 2018, it was announced that basketball star LeBron James, along with his SpringHill Entertainment partner Maverick Carter would be producing a new House Party film with Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori writing the screenplay. "This is definitely not a reboot. It’s an entirely new look for a classic movie. Everyone I grew up with loved House Party. To partner with this creative team to bring a new House Party to a new generation is unbelievable. Listen, it's fun, it's an honor when I got the opportunity to produce it, reboot the whole movie, man, I had so much fun as a kid watching that movie," James said. "We’re trying out some ideas for musicians to be cast in and to be a part of the project," Carter said. Los Angeles filmmaker Calmatic, known for directing "Old Town Road", was tapped to direct in 2019. In April 2021, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and Tosin Cole were cast in the lead roles. This would be SpringHill's last feature film. On July 28, 2021, Jacob Latimore was cast to replace Lendeborg, who dropped out of the film due to his mental well-being. Kid and Play both made cameo appearances in the 2023 film, as did producer James.

In 2022, the original film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".