Honey

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Honey brings out the wholesome, affirmative side of the hip-hop aesthetic without being overly preachy, and it offers a winningly utopian view of show-business success without real costs or compromises.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Honey doesn't have a shred of originality (except for the high-energy choreography), but there's something fundamentally reassuring about a movie that respects ancient formulas; it's like a landmark preservation program.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

It's a hokey heart-warmer that works.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

A decidedly upbeat number, centered on a good-hearted character.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Neither hot nor square, it's as simple and earnest as any after-school special and as cameo-laden as any rap video.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

First-time director Billie Woodruff, a music video veteran, busts his moves in the dance scenes while the movie throbs to the beat of the wall-to-wall soundtrack.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The last thing I want is this: Yet another instance of black culture diluting itself by imitating a white model. Hell, Honey is hip-hop by way of Andy Hardy.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A by-the-numbers, let's-put-on-a-show quasi-musical that has absolutely nothing going for it, except Alba.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

If you're in the mood for a hip-hop film with more happy faces than "The Partridge Family," Honey will divert you.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

By no means is this a good movie, but it's warmed by the solar energy of its star, who surely deserves better than this formula empowerment flick.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Despite some sizzle with love interest Mekhi Phifer, the alluring Alba ends up a desexualized mouthpiece.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Has the shelf life of a dented milk carton. Pop-culture movies in general age rapidly due to ever-changing slang and fashions.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The story's sweet, however stale, and many performers have energy. But screenwriters Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson drain the reality out of it.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Certainly it exists solely to sell a soundtrack; the movie, like most made for teens, is well beside the point.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Alba, constantly sporting off-the-shoulder tops a la "Flashdance," brings no depth of feeling to her character, and her average -- often wooden -- moves make it hard to believe she's a uniquely talented hoofer and sought-after choreographer.

Variety David Rooney

With less than five minutes of screen time but with more humor and sassy attitude than the remaining cast combined, Missy Elliott separates hip-hop royalty from riff raff in the otherwise lackluster Honey.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

There's an entertainingly ludicrous movie lurking somewhere inside of the ludicrous, mediocre one this actually is.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Cotton-candy filmmaking, all spun sugar and hot air.

Empire Olly Richards

With its hackneyed storyline and critical derision in the US, whispers were that Honey was to be the new "Glitter." It's not nearly that bad, which is a shame since it just skims the embarrassingly blind enthusiasm of which camp classics are made -- instead bouncing along the path of bland and forgettable.

Premiere Sara Brady

Sticky, saccharine, bordering on diabetic, Honey overindulges.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The dancing, while reasonably entertaining, isn't anything you haven't seen before on MTV or BET, although the soundtrack might be a worthwhile investment for hip-hop fans.

USA Today Mike Clark

Hip-hoppish Honey is in the harmlessly junky "let's put on a show" tradition of "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo," minus electricity but with a budget for supporting-cast navel rings that 1984's break-dance sequel certainly didn't have.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Honey's a little too darling for reality but, obviously, that's not what this candy-cane vehicle of a movie is all about. It's about the way Alba moves and how good she looks when she's backlighted and smiling.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Honey's a little too darling for reality but, obviously, that's not what this candy-cane vehicle of a movie is all about. It's about the way Alba moves and how good she looks when she's backlighted and smiling.

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

Hinges almost completely on the taut body and delectable beauty of Jessica Alba, but is otherwise so riddled with limp clichés that it doesn't even qualify as a guilty pleasure.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

It evokes a warmed-over Fox TV special.

Village Voice Ed Park

If you doubt whether Honey can scrape together the dough, this is probably the movie for you.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

There's no point complaining that Honey is a tired reworking of an old formula, because it's intended for a young audience that doesn't know the formula.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

It's relentlessly dumb and relentlessly humorous, and those aren't the adverbs it was after.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Lacks even a trace of imagination. Its by-the-numbers plot is depressingly familiar, and each line of dialogue is so predictable that the script... could have been generated by a computer.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Amid the endless stream of catch-a-rising-star movie clichés that Honey screenwriters Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson throw up and out are a few new ones, notably "skinny girls always win out in the end" and "hootchie bad, faux hootchie good."