Spelling is the new football. Or so it would seem from a spate of high-profile movies whose drama is based on the explosive, nonstop action of spelling bees. We’ve traded “The Longest Yard” for “The Longest Suffix,” and “Remember the Titans” for “Remember the Teutonic Roots of Common Nouns.”
We even have to think spelling at Starbucks these days.
As if choosing between a decaf skinny fair-trade caramel macchiato and a double-shot chai frappuccino wasn’t enough, we now have to spell prestidigitation too. Because your universal coffee shop is one of the producers of today’s movie entry, “Akeelah and the Bee,” and has promoted the genial feature film on everything from coasters to posters.
“Akeelah and the Bee” carefully diagrams every cliché we’ve absorbed from sports movies, urban dramas, mentor flicks and precocious-children portraits. Yet it works. Largely on the edgy spunk of young Keke Palmer, “Akeelah and the Bee” escapes the smarmy clutches of its own stereotypes and becomes a terrific family movie.
As Akeelah, Palmer plays a smart girl in gritty South Central Los Angeles, frequently ridiculed for being a “brainiac.” This tension, between minorities who want to rise above and those who would rather just fit in, is the movie’s most consistent theme. It’s tough to concentrate at a spelling bee in the gym when two tough girls heckle with profanities from the back.
Akeelah’s dad was shot in a drive-by – the requisite missing parent for so many family movies – and her mother works double shifts at the hospital. Older sister is a baby-mama, and one older brother is a gang-banger.
Despite the clichés, there’s something about Akeelah. She is smart, pretty, sarcastic and a survivor. She’ll spell if it will get her somewhere. Scoffing at the idea of bringing honor to her shabby junior high, she asks her principal, “Why would anyone represent a school where they can’t even put doors on the toilet stalls?”
Enter Laurence Fishburne as a reclusive former UCLA professor who seems more interested in taunting Akeelah than coaching her. Of course the professor has pain of his own, and Akeelah will eventually sound it out. But these old Hollywood saws are handled adeptly by someone as dignified and talented as Fishburne, who clearly delights in playing opposite the lively Palmer.
“I’m naturally inquisitive,” Akeelah says.
“Also often confused with being naturally obnoxious,” the professor retorts.
To get to the national finals she sees on ESPN, Akeelah must first run the gantlet of preening spellbinders from nearby Beverly Hills. One is a cruel Asian kid (Sean Michael Afable) with a heartless father. But another boy of privilege, Javier (JR Villarreal), is a true gentleman whose budding romance with Akeelah escapes triteness and offers true charm.
There’s at least one more spelling movie to be done. I’m thinking a Farrelly brothers parody involving gambling and strip clubs. Until then, “Akeelah and the Bee” should satisfy your cravings for America’s Cinderella sport.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
“Akeelah and the Bee” | *** RATING
PG for some language|1 hour, 52 minutes|FAMILY DRAMA|Written and directed by Doug Atchison; starring Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer, Angela Bassett and Curtis Armstrong|Opens today at area theaters.
