Movie Review: Feel the Noise

Feel the Noise (2007)

Directed by Alejandro Chomski 

Written by Albert Leon 

Starring Omarion, Malik Yoba, Victor Rasuk, Jennifer Lopez, Zulay Henao 

Release Date October 5th, 2007

Published October 5th 2007 

There is a reason some films aren't screened for critics and the most prominent reason is, the filmmakers know the film stinks. That must have been the case for the new rap drama Feel The Noise which was held from critics despite the quality assuring imprimatur of producer Jennifer Lopez. The career freefall of the once hot Ms. Lopez already consumed the Hector Lavoe biography El Cantante earlier this year.

Now Lopez throws some cold water on the burgeoning career of rapper/dancer Omarion. Casting the You Got Served star as an aspiring Puerto Rican hip hop star, Omarion is just one of the many failures of the terrifically awful Feel The Noise.

Rob (Omarion) can't stay out of trouble. When he tries to steal the hubcaps of a well known gang member, his mother sends him to Puerto Rico to live with his estranged father (Giancarlo Esposito). Grumpy about having to leave the bright lights of New York City, Rob makes things miserable in Puerto Rico until he meets his half brother Javi (Victor Rasuk) who introduces him to Puerto Rico's version of hip hop called Raggaeton.

Soon Rob and Javi are recording their own Puerto Rican hip hop tracks and are getting discovered by a shady New York producer who likes their music but really has his eyes on Rob's new girlfriend C.C (Zulay Henao). The producer takes all three back to New York where stardom awaits. Or not, who knows.

The title Feel The Noise has absolutely nothing to do with the story being told in Feel The Noise. There is a night club in Puerto Rico called The Noise, but other than that, I can't figure where this title came from. If only this nonsense title were this films biggest problem. Unfortunately, Feel The Noise features supremely dull characters, cinematography that looks as if it were captured on a cellphone and one of the worst scripts this side of Mariah Carey's Glitter.

I mention Glitter because Feel The Noise mimics that films rags to riches in the music biz story but without the so bad it's kind of entertaining vibe. Feel The Noise is just bad, bad, bad.

The script for Feel The Noise, written by Albert Leon, is singularly brutal. How's this for a rousing, compelling exhange:

C.C: Come have a cigarette with me

Rob: OK

CC: I don't actually smoke

Rob: Me neither

Woody Allen eat your heart out. With ear popping dialogue like that it's no wonder Feel The Noise is so darn compelling. The dialogue is aided by a performance by Omarion that could not be more bored distracted. Though he wasn't half bad in the dance drama You Got Served, Omarion is not much of an actor. Saddled with a script as god awful as Feel The Noise, Omarion's many faults are highlighted and exposed.  

Worse yet is the music of Omarion in Feel The Noise. His attempts at typical hip hop in the first act and Raggaeton in the second and third act are all just awful. The star of the movie is shown up badly by Raggaeton pro's like Julio Voltio Ramos who captures what I'm sure everyone involved with Feel The Noise wanted to capture with Omarion's character, the rich, vibrant, hip shaking sound of Raggaeton which matches the lyricism and  flow of hip hop with the rhythm and speed of latin music.

It's likely that for the money it took to make Feel The Noise there could have been a documentary on Voltio Ramos. His Raggaeton raps are, all too briefly, the only entertaining moments in the otherwise drab and dull melodramatic morass that is Feel The Noise.