I’ll admit my favorite part of this movie was watching a young man yell, “Why are you such an a - - hole?” at Chris Brown at close range. But there are also a handful of moments to enjoy if you’re a break dance fan — or a Brown fan, as many in my audience seemed to be.
“Battle of the Year” won’t win any awards for plot originality. And I really couldn’t tell you too much about the first half-hour, as this 3-D movie was initially projected wrong.
From what I could gather, Josh Holloway’s former basketball coach, Jason, is pulled from grief-stricken early retirement by his friend Dante (Laz Alonso), who sponsors a b-boy team he hopes to send to the world’s biggest competition, France’s Battle of the Year. And he thinks Jason — a surly alcoholic — is just the man to make it happen.
Benson Lee is the director of the well-received 2007 documentary “Planet B-Boy,” and his direction here reflects his knowledge and love of the art form. Unfortunately, he’s hamstrung by this tired screenplay, with its motley band of misfits learning to function as a team under a coach who’s working out his own personal demons.
The icing on that cake is Brown as Rooster, the most obnoxious recruit in the b-boy “dream team” Jason’s assembling.
I can’t imagine it was too much of a stretch for the singer and domestic abuser to play an arrogant, narcissistic jerk, but I will give him props: He’s an excellent dancer, and has a star quality that keeps you watching (or hate-watching) him.
A friendlier face is Josh Peck as Holloway’s assistant, Franklyn. Peck charmed as a stoner in 2008’s “The Wackness” but has remained largely under the radar since. He doesn’t have too much to do here other than be self-deprecating and stand around on the sidelines, but he does it quite likably.
The rest of the cast was clearly recruited for their dance skills and not their acting chops, which is as it should be. The film suffers when they’re called upon to emote — one well-intentioned story line has a gay b-boy and a homophobic one learning to understand one another, stiffly — but the footwork is first-rate.
Too many training montages and inspirational coach speeches later, we reach the Battle of the Year, which is where Lee’s direction briefly shines. His footage of the other teams in competition — particularly the crowd favorite, Korea — is electric, and the US team’s performance is equally tight.
At the risk of sounding 100, I think it’s regrettable this film had to be shot in digital 3-D. Both those formats actually do a frustrating disservice to the depiction of the action, making it look choppier, more flickery and occasionally blurrier than it would otherwise. (There’s a 2-D version you can see, which might help.) Me, I guess I’ll Netflix 1984’s “Breakin’ 2” and reminisce about the less headachy old days.