Any Genre June (Nick Flicks🧡💚🎬): Ray J's Review - "Rags"

What's up everyone?!! Who's ready for another review of a Nickelodeon classic? As you all know, or in case you don't know, this year's "Any Genre June" is "Nick Flicks", and this week I am taking a look at the 2012 Nickelodeon Original TV movie musical "Rags".

"Rags" is somewhat of a gender swapped Cinderella story set in the music scene of New York City🗽🎶 It revolves around Charlie (played by singer Max Schneider or MAX), an extremely talented young man who dreams of "Someday" making it big so that he can escape the reigns of his grease ball stepfather, Arthur (played by Robert Moloney) and embarrassing stepbrothers, Lloyd (played by Burkely Duffield), and and Andrew (played by Keenan Tracy). One day while out busking in the streets of NYC, a recording engineer named Shawn (played by Drake Bell) who works for a big local record company, notices that Charlie has some incredible talent, and says that the next time he sees him it better be on the front of an album cover. Well, when an opportunity arises, Charlie gets his foot in the door (after dropping off his stepbrother's TERRIBLE demo) he notices that the record company is hiring for a janitor's position that actually pays decent money. Charlie eventually has a run in with pop music superstar Kadee Worth (played by Keke Palmer), and they begin to discover that they have quite a bit in common. Kadee is sick of feeling like she has to be fake every time she goes out in public with her publicity stunt of a boyfriend, Finn (played by Avan Jogia) and just wants her fans to know the real her, however her father (played by Isaiah Mustafah), also her manager, makes that for a bit of a hassle to confess. Unaware of his talent (only knowing that he is a janitor at the record company) Kadee and Charlie begin to spend some time together, bonding over the fact they both lost one of their parent's. Going in the direction any Cinderella story would, Kadee invites Charlie to a huge Masquerade party that her Dad is throwing (where the winner of the contest is set to be announced)..only to have get his hopes up when Arthur, Lloyd, and Andrew snatch the invite for their own greedy plans. As you would expect, Charlie sneaks out, and into the party (since he was without an invitation now) when another opportunity rises, after there is a hiccup with the winner of the contest. Charlie had some time to secretly work with Shawn on a couple demos, and now that they are looking for a runner up ASAP he rushes to the stage to perform a catchy jam called "Not That Different At All" (under the stage name "Rags") and Kadee is into it! Only problem....Kadee has no idea who this "Rags" dude is? And this ladies and gentlemen is where Nickelodeon's Cinderella story begins to unfold😄🧡💚🎶🎬

Nickelodeon doesn't air many original television movies to begin with (at least not compared to the amount that Disney Channel has produced over the years), and usually they are of a much smaller scale production wise with a super silly premises. While you can certainly compare "Rags" to other Cinderella stories of the new millennium, this gender-swap take has a certain charm to it that sets it apart from the rest. It's a lot of fun, plus Max Schneider and Keke Palmer are a perfect pair of singing voices.

Rags (produced by Nick Cannon...who also makes a cameo) can for sure be cheesy, and a lil cringe here and there, but this is by far the most enjoyable original TV movie Nickelodeon has ever put out (which still isn't saying much since there's hardly any😂)

The music and soundtrack of this flick is such a delight and really puts you in a good mood! All songs are extremely catchy, even the slower tracks, and the best way for me to describe the music is that it truly embodies the music of the early 2010's😄🎶 My personal favorite tracks are "Someday" (which I guess you could call the theme of the movie), "Nothing Gets Better Than This", "Hands Up" (omg this one is so freaking catchy), "Look At Me Now", "Not So Different At All", and "Me and You Against The World" (which is the energetic finale song)!

Consensus: Nothing but good vibes here! Even though you know how it will end from the moment you hit play, Max Schneider and Keke Palmer's committed performances, and awesome sounding vocals, make "Nickelodeon's Rag's" an immediate mood booster"☺️🧡💚🎬🎶

The Ray J's Reviews Rating is:

5 out of 5 Nickelodeon Slime Green and Orange Hearts

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