Kickin’ It Old Skool

“I just put my feet in the air and move them around.”
-- Fred Astaire

He may have worn hi-tops and parachute pants instead of a top hat and tails, but 12-year old Justin “Rocket Shoe” Schumaker and his killer moves could dance his way into just about any girl’s heart. That was in 1985, when Justin and his break dance posse -- the Funky Fresh Boyz -- were competing in the school talent show. But after doing a super cool coffee grind, a spectacular head spin and a ferocious freeze, Justin decides to go for broke and pops into a bodacious back flip that sends him flying off stage. Luckily, the Rocket Shoe didn’t break his neck, but he did break his parents’ bank account when he landed in the hospital for the next 20 years.

Fast-forward through the ’90s, the new millennium and right into modern day -- the poor Rocket Shoe is still lying in a hospital bed one lace short of knowing how to tie his own shoes. His parents are about to give up and pull the plug, flushing Justin’s minimal brainwaves down the proverbial drain forever, when suddenly Mr. and Mrs. Schumaker’s 30-something year old boy actually opens his eyes.

Awakening a grown man with a child’s spirit when he hears ’80s retro music blasting from the hospital janitor’s radio, Justin (Jamie Kennedy) might have suddenly regained consciousness, but he’s still way out of it. Lost in a high-tech time warp where hip hop and Gangsta Rap rule, the former Rocket Shoe is determined to prove that kickin’ it old skool can reign again when he finds out that D-Zone Videos is having a $10,000 dance off.

Rounding up his old crew – Darnell “Prince Def Rock” Jackson (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), Aki “Chilly Chill” Terasaki (Bobby Lee) and Hector “Popcorn” Jimenez (Aris Alvarado) – Justin quickly finds out that his Funky Fresh Boyz have grown a little stale. Darnell doesn’t have time to think about dancing now that he and his wife Roxanne (Vivica A. Fox) are up to their ears in diapers. Former robot wizard Aki is so stiff he dances like CP3O with R2D2 up his – uh . . . well, you get the picture. And Hector has put on so much weight he looks like some dude who ate Hector.

But Justin, who’s really just learning to put one foot in front of the other without falling down, is not gonna give up. Not only does he want to win the prize money for his parents’ medical bills, but he also wants to win back his grade school sweetheart Jennifer Stone (Maria Menounos). She’s engaged to current scumbag and former grade school nemesis Kip Unger (Michael Rosenbaum), who now heads D-Zone Videos. Sleazier than ever, Kip is also hosting the dance contest . . . or should we say, rigging it so a group of his homeboys can win.

So . . . how can the Funky Fresh Boyz compete against kool krumping, hot hiphopping, busta-new-move-a-minute groups like The MisFitz, The Mung-sters, Pink Sushi and Ice Cole Krew – especially when Kip is going to do everything he can to sway the audience? How can the Rocket Shoe tie up the $100,000 prize money plus a 1 year contract and nip Kip and Jennifer’s romance in the bud? Easy! By doggin’ it on the dance floor and kickin’ it old skool!

Featuring clever cameos from ’80s TV icons David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider), Eric Estrada (CHiPS), John Ratzenberger (Cheers) and Emmanuelle Lewis (Webster), and directed by award-winning music video director Harvey Glazer (Luv Me, Luv Me by Shaggy), Kickin’ It Old Skool will put a hip in your hop and a krump in your style. A hilarious fish-out-of-water story, this wickedly comic culture clash between the ’80s and today will have you break dancing out of the theater and laughing all the way home.

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A BLAST FROM THE PAST
Ah! The 1980s! A decade where big hair and bigger shoulder pads were . . . well, big. Fabio, Charlie’s Angels and CHiPS, chiseled action heroes and talking cars, it all wasn’t just mindless kitsch to multi-faceted actor, comedian, producer and rapper Jamie Kennedy – it was an era he remembers with a great deal of fondness.