House Party (1990) Online

If you want to have a party in your mind, where just drift far far away. Than look no further, because writer/director Reginald Hudlin has made not only one of the best Afro-Americans based film. But also one of the most copied haircuts in recent history.

Play(Christopher Martin) is having this banging HOUSE PARTY with buddy Bilal(Martin Lawrence) DJing. But their best friend Kid(Christopher Reid) can't go because he's Pops(Robin Harris in a terrific performance) grounded him. So he sneaks out to join the party, but face neighborhood bullies(Full Force) and the fact that two girls(Tisha Campbell & A.J. Johnson) like him and wants him to choose between them.

The dance scenes are amazing and the songs are still hype. The acting is great, especially by the late Robin Harris, who will have you laughing at every scene he's in. And George Clinton's cameo is absolutely funny as hell. So enjoy the movie that gave birth to HOW HIGH, SOUL PLANE, and of course CLASS ACT in some ways.

House Party was an unexpected low budget hit upon release in 1990, something about the bright colours and an 'urban movie' without a single drive by tapped directly into the consciousness of a teen market wanting desperately to embrace hip-hop culture without getting a gold tooth.

Kid 'n' Play host their own mega (to them) party. The be-all and end-all of House Parties. Where they can let their personal freak flags fly. Where a good time will most certainly be had by all.

And they basically do.

In a lurid blur of motion and colour these attractive teens set about enjoying themselves in the most PG 13 ways imaginable.

For a 15 year old this was like opening a window to another world: the outlandish gravity defying haircuts that I envied but would never dare attempt. The stoopid (in a good way) rhymes and dumb (in a hopelessly dated now) phrases spouted by these fly guys and home girls were new and dangerously addictive, if terribly out of place in the small town I grew up.

Shennanigans were plentiful, but amounted to little more than messin' playfully with the man in blue, freaking the establishment and clearly exposing the gaping generation gap by juxtaposing these carefully manicured teens against the pompous and staid older types.

Characters are broad and never less than frenetic and loud, dialogue makes little sense but sure sounds fresh and exciting.

And boy are these kids budding model citizens.

Overindulgence of alcohol is frowned upon, but with a supportive message of limitation rather than abhorrence. Violence is for punks and drugs aren't even mentioned. Sex is OK but only when 'safe' and amenable to both parties, no 'c'mon baby, you know you want it' here.

And there is an anti-prison sex rap. Finally someone stands up against it!

Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. House Party spawned several sequels, none of which I even vaguely recall. But this 90 minutes is always likable and elicits warm memories of my teens (not that I acted like this, but I watched a lot of movies where characters did).

The kid'n'play dance was the thing back in the late 80s early 90s. The new jack swing was at its peak and this movie sums it up. It became a break-through for then young actors Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell. This reminds me of the time when I was a teenager who wanted to sneak out to go to a party and later got caught. I was in the 10th grade when this movie was released and I had a lot of fun during that time with not too much fighting at parties. The bullies played by the R&B group Full Force made the movie more funny with its slapstick humor and the memorable Robin Harris with his witty punchlines. It's sad to see him leave this earth at an early age,and comedian Bernie Mac reminds me of him. I remember he died the weekend of this movie and this was a shock. He could have been one of the funniest comedians in the 90s but his life was put to a halt and made way for several comedians who are now today's superstars (namely from Def Comedy Jam). House Party also remind me of how fun hip-hop was,and back then hip-hop was political,educational,radical,and uplifting. This movie can go down in history as how African-Americans can enjoy themselves with no use of drugs and unprotected sex.

Oddly serving as the thesis film for director Reginald Hudlin while a student at Harvard, 'House Party' is one of my favorite teen comedies. Although, clearly most of the cast (especially Martin Lawrence and the members of Full Force) who were clearly somewhere in their late 20s, if not early 30s. However, this is one all-black teen comedy which did things with just the right amount of spunk, and the characters were not so obnoxious and not so stereotypical that you couldn't enjoy their (mis)adventures.

Old school rappers, Kid and Play, are two high school friends. Play is hosting a house party when his folks go out of town and his number one mate, Kid, plans on making an appearance. But, after getting into a scuffle with one of the bullies (aka, the biggest muscles from Full Force), he gets suspended. Like Les Anderson hoping his parents won't find out that he flunked his driver exam in 'License to Drive,' Kid prays that his father won't find out about his getting in trouble at school because he desperately wants to go that party.

But, more importantly, there is a great mix of subplots interacting which make this movie quite entertaining, especially the idiotic white cops that seem to appear at the most inconvenient moments (and not appear at the convenient ones) to harass the neighborhood and Kid's father (stand-up comedian, Robin Harris) making his way to the house party to bring his son home. And get a load of those clothes and dancing!

For fans of old school rap and hip-hop: the nostalgia trip alone should be reason enough to watch it. And, though several House Party sequels would follow, the first two are really the only ones worth watching.

House Party is sort of like a urban take on Risky Business in the sense that boy has party when parents go out of town for the weekend but the comparison end there. Kid and Play make one of the first hip hop films of the nineties which had a plot. Many young black comedic actors got their start in this film like Martin Lawerence and AJ Johnson. But the true comedic talent in the film is the late Robin Harris. The world only knows what Harris could have done. The script is smart and the direction by Regiland Hudlin is good.

I saw this movie when I was like 6 years old and still am in love with this movie its great and very funny.It stars rappers Kid 'N' Play who were very famous back in the late 80's and 90's.This story is actually about Kid he lives with his Father who he calls "Pops".One Day Kid asks can he go to his friends Play's house for a party(since Play's parents is gone out of town but Pops doesn't know that).He let's him go until he gets a letter from school that Kid was involved in a fight so he reconsiders and grounds him.Kid then decides to sneak out the house since the party was going to be big and his friends were going to be there.But what he doesn't know is what dangers he's going to find when he gets back home.This Movie is rated R but this is more like a Teenager movie since the setting of the movie finds all the charcacters in this story in High School.It's a excellent movie and great storyline and very Hilarious.This Movie gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Released in 99% white Australia at the height of the warehouse dance party wave, this hilarious all black hip hop indie rang true to us neon shirted whities who could have our own moment of 'rock around the clock style new wave dance madness' by actually dancing in the aisles of the cinema. And what a crummy cinema it was....the Mandolin in Sydney was the mangy red velvet 60s beatnik cinema that was a converted 1930s radio theater. Perfect! I think that night we went to the movies and saw Kid'n'Play's HOUSE PARTY and appropriately went to an all night dance party in a warehouse nearby with 5000 others who secretly knew it was on (yes 5000 others) and like in HOUSE PARTY, you had to know it was on in there.... so we got to see the movie and cross/culture/shift and relive the experience to the same music. HOUSE PARTY like that night is a moment in time, part of the hilarious reckless nights we have all had in the late 80s (see the great tiny1982 indie Oz pic GOING DOWN for proof) ... to new music with hilarious friends and dance tracks that allowed you to dance with 15 different people. I know there were sequels but by then the time had gone and the dance parties were full of bad drugs and bonehead behavior. HOUSE PARTY is the bookend to PARTY MONSTER.. the incredible lavish and absolutely bullseye moment of the 90s captured on film in 2003 with Macauley Culkin and Seth Green. It would be horrifying fun to see these films together in one sitting to identify the night it started and the night it stopped. I suppose it is the same idea wondering how we got from "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" to "When I Think Of You I Touch Myself". Yes HOUSE PARTY is the innocent side of the coke chopping razor and PARTY MONSTER is the harsh sunlight of next morning.

very funny, energetic film with a great dance sequence and a really funny song in the prison. Kid and Play are a great double act and the writing is high quality. I saw a bit of this other Kid and Play film called Class Act and it wasn't half as good because all the jokes were predictable. You can't help but be cheered up by seeing House Party: the ancient, unused condom- how true.

This is a wacky little flick that I saw during 7th grade in class. Lots of forced comedy and wild dialog, but entertaining at certain points. Plenty of my classmates loved it, but I thought it was pretty average though.

Grade C

Play is having a party with his parents out of town joined by his friends Kid and Bilal (Martin Lawrence). School bullies Stab and his brothers Pee-Wee and Zilla have it in for Kid. Kid's father Pop allows him to go to the party until he reads the school letter about Kid's fight with Stab. The boys like Sidney (Tisha Campbell) and Sharane.

This takes the harder edged black culture material and adds a light playful charm. Kid 'n Play are not exactly heavy hitters in the acting department. Play is not much cinematically but Kid does have a fun comedic energy. Play does better when he's rapping. Once the party starts, the movie finds its grove. It's a party and everybody can have fun.

I saw this film last night it was so funny. A teenager named Kid has been invited to a house party but when a bully gives him a hard time at School he gets sent to the principal's office. Well his father finds out about the fight and Kid is grounded but when his father falls asleep he sneaks out of the house and goes to the house party but 3 bullies crash the party and kidnap Kid well all 4 of them get caught by the police and are ordered to go home but once the police are gone Kid goes back to the party to do some rapping and 2 women vie for his attention. And soon the song Always and Forever is played at the house party by disc jockey Bilal. Then Kid does some more rapping. Later Kid's father shows up at the party looking for him. Then after the party Kid and Sharane wind up having sexual intercourse and then Sharane's parents come home. But when Kid is on the streets he is arrested and sent to jail and has to have his friends bail him out well he is soon home again and in double big trouble with his father for being out late.

Ten Stars

I will never forget the first time I saw this movie. BOOM - this is a real party movie and the sounds are so great. Then there are the haircuts. You gotta check out the haircuts! And the wicked funny script. Boys and girls..... This is entertainment.

Fresh off the success of their 1988 debut album 2 Hype, Kid N Play was seen as marketable to mainstream America while hip hop was also burgeoning into mainstream. The former back up dancers turned hip hop superstars was casted as leads for two then unknown directors going by the name The Hudlin Bros. The rest is history. 1990's hip hop teen comedy House Party was an indie success and left footprints forever in the evolution of hip hop. Kid is still trying to get over the death of his mom and lives with his widower father (Robin Harris). He gets into a scuffle at school with bullies (Full Force) and when his father finds out, he is grounded. Being that he was grounded, it was preventing him from going to the "party of the year" being held by his friend Play. He decides to sneak out and go to the party. These events will lead to one crazy night. House Party is hilarious. Like one of the greatest comedies you'll ever see hilarious. Not only is it hilarious, but it captures the essence of early 90s hip hop culture. Positive lyrics, the flat top, jheri curls, the door knocker earrings, loud colors, Air Jordans, and who could ever forget the Kid N Play toe tap dance? House Party is the ultimate hip hop film that offer laughs even almost 20 years into its existence. House Party would go on to create a career for a unknown comedian named Martin Lawrence, spawn 2 sequels, a Kid N Play cartoon and its one liners are forever remembered by hip hop enthusiasts worldwide. House Party is definitely one of the greatest comedies I've seen and one of my favorite films of all time.

House Party - ***1/2 out of ****

Kid, of the now-defunct rap duo "Kid-N-Play", is the protagonist in this fun movie about African-American teens trying to throw a party in face of many obstacles.

I saw this movie at the theater wholly expecting a dumb teen flick, but I was surprised at how fresh and entertaining it really is. It's also funny as hell!

A cult film in the making, "House Party" showcases the questionable hairdos, fashions, and rap music of the early '90's. Along with the good performances from the leads, this film also features up-and-comers Tisha Campbell, comedian Martin Lawrence, and dearly departed Robin Harris, the genius behind the HILARIOUS "Bebe's Kids."

This one has very wholesome premise for a party film, that is if you look past all the swearing, an instance of somebody being beaten up, a brief no-nudity sex scene. There's no depiction of drug use, there's only a single instance of teenage drinking which was admonished by other teens, the house party is just full of salacious teenagers who are too busy with their dancing and mating rituals (everyone is too exhausted in between song numbers for them to explore the lustier side of teenage life). They are far too consumed with groping and grinding together with their dance partners, and even those who couldn't find one. The dance contests and freestyle rap battles are superb and energetic.

There is that subversive humor bubbling underneath. The filmmakers' grievances and frustrations with the "authority" they loathe ever present, but not without empathy. They have a smile plastered in their faces as they bare their heart and soul to the audience.

The film starts with an unembellished, mesmerizing, hypnotic crowd dance sequence that serves as a teaser to encapsulate all of the character's innermost desires. Full blown escapism that is straight-forward and spot on.

Peter "Play" Martin decides to take advantage of his parent's absence and host a party for his friends at his home and they have enlisted Bilal (pre-superstardom Martin Lawrence, hysterical as always) to DJ using those bulky turntables and gigantic speakers.

But unfortunately for Chris "Kid" Harris who got in trouble at the school cafeteria, his father received a note from the school principal detailing the incident which automatically grounded him, but Kid still manages to sneak out determined not to miss the party of the year. The father, upon realization that his son snuck out on him, furiously goes after him. Both of their journey to the said party are filled with zany and madcap adventures.

Robin Harris shows that earnestness and fondness for his on-screen son with that seldom-seen understated tenderness in a father-son relationship. Very capable performances also from Christopher Reid , Christopher Martin, Tisha C Martin and the ensemble of actors that they assembled for this film, quite a riot. Special mention to the uproarious comedic performances from Play Martin's grumbling neighbor John Witherspoon, and to Daryl Mitchell's Chill whose intense dancing just keeps on bumping the DJ table much to Bilal's dismay.

I had the chance of watching this as a kid during the '90s and I thought it was just a "funny ha-ha" decent comedy. But now 2010+, having the luxury of hindsight (knowledge of African-American history from the '60s to the '90s, background that I never had back then) and in re-watching this, I was bowled over because now I have a more mature regard for this kind of work. For me, I consider it now as a "whoa-ho-ho-ho hilarious" slice-of-life snapshot of the late-'80s-early-'90s contemporary African-American experience.

My rating: B-plus.

Good comedy right here boys and girls! The year is 1990. Kid n Play decide to make a movie: House Party! They sit around and party in a house, but they do a good job doing it. This ain't no House Party 4 where a bunch of black punks that we haven't heard of are running around trying to be cool by throwing a party at their uncle's house when he goes on a plane to Africa or something like that. There are actually a few mildly funny parts, and House Party 4 had no funny moments whatsoever. Blah blah blah, that movie sucks, and this don't. So if you want to laugh and stuff, watch this. Mkay? House Party is like the first Mario Party. It was fresher.

I remember when I was in second grade and saw the preview in the theater when I was eight years old but I was too young to watch this flick but I can now rent it since I'm over 18.It was sad to see legendary comedic Robin Harris die after the release of this movie because he had a great sense of humor and was hilarious in this picture.I think all but the fourth movie were great.The fourth one didn't have Kid'n'Play at all and only had the stupid group IMX formerly known as Immature in it who appeared in House Party 3. This will always be a comedy classic for me in the comedy style of Barbershop.

This truly is a hilarious movie. I loved the characters, especially KID, and POPs. Pops made me laugh every time he spoke. He would mumble to himself all sorts of things, even if they had nothing to do with what was going on. I don't know if I like this movie more because I'm black or if anyone would like it. I know it made me laugh. I give this film a 9 out of 10.

I like 90's and I watched a lot of movies of this era , so when I decided to watch this movie, I thought it was supposed to be comedy , but it's not ! I watched it until the end ,the whole 1 hour 40 minutes, nothing funny in this garbage . the only thing I found it amusing is the scene when they were dancing but rest of it was so boring .

i will give it 2/10 (just for the dancing scene) , although it deserve zero .

Rated R for Language and Some Sexuality

House Party is a teen comedy film starring early 90's rappers "Kid N Play" and the rap group "Full Force".Now outside of these movies I've never heard of these rappers and I am pretty big on early 90's rap music.But they should have been bigger.They rap in this film and there raps are pretty funny and catchy.Anyway I saw this film when I was 10 or 11 and I enjoyed it then.Now Im 15 and I re-watched it today and it is even funnier now.Probably because I am now a teenager and I can relate to the characters.The film is about a teen who gets into a fight at school after a bully insults his dead mother.Because of this, his father will not let him go to the party Play is throwing.He really wants to go, so he sneaks out of the house and gets to the party trying to avoid the bullies that he fought earlier.The plot's pretty simple but the film is very funny and has catchy rap songs.If you want to watch a fun comedy film, watch House Party.I haven't seen House Party 2 or 3 but I will fairly soon.

This had to be one of the funnier comedies of the early 1990's. It helped to create more positive images of young black teens rather than showing the more negative aspects. Most of the films about young blacks up until then had been about them either being in gangs or on drugs. At least in this film you see the kids getting into mischief without getting into any real trouble. However, the only negative thing I have to say about the film is not about the film itself, but about the seemingly endless series of sequels that seemed to follow. To me the only the first film should be seen and not the sequels because they pretty much undermined the quality of the first film. Also, the series almost seemed to become an African-American version of the "Beach Party" films, where there pretty much was no plot and just gave the actors an excuse to party. Other than that, this is still a good film.

Another note about this film. The thing that really stood out about the film was the performance of comedian Robin Harris as Kid's father. His performance pretty much helped to sell the film for me. Unfortunately, a few months after the film was released Harris died from an apparent heart attack at the much too young age of 36 and just as he was about to achieve stardom. So, this film, while enjoyable, is also a very bittersweet experience.

Kid and Play. I used to love watching their movies. This has got to be one of their best that was made. This being one of Martin Lawrence's first is great also. He is as funny as he is now.

The guy who plays Pops is also hilarious. This movie is just plain fun and funny. If you have a night where you could use some laughs then you might want to rent this. They do stress the Bad Cops thing alot, but you know, that was funny too. Check it out when you get a chance.

This film is so good, it actually gets better upon repeat viewings. You always notice something funny that you didn't see before. Case in point: Robin Harris tour de force performance as Kid's father. The music was excellent, and the battle scene between Kid and Play was outstanding. The safe sex message was well integrated within the fabric of the story without seeming forced. Most importantly, Kid and Play did a very credible acting job. Along with Tupac, Ice Cube and sometimes Ice T, they make actor/rappers look very good.