Saturday, July 25, 2009

My eyes and ears are offended

Last night, I was willing to put my skepticism aside to watch Katie Holmes do Judy Garland's classic "Get Happy" routine for the 100th episode of "So You Think You Can Dance." After all, I knew KH as nothing other than Tom Cruise's beardwife who used to be on "Dawson's Creek."

For those unfamiliar with it, "Get Happy" is from the 1950 film, Summer Stock.

From all the hype leading up to KH's appearance on the show, you'd think she was legend-worthy, like Judy. Supposedly, she trained for months to be in the routine. Also, it was implied that she would perform live, and why wouldn't she, when SYTYCD is based on live dance?

What happened was a tape was played with KH in a white retro blazer and skirt, going into a studio. At this point, I thought maybe it was just an intro to her live performance, but nope, the tape just kept playing, to reveal a routine on par with Britney Spears' "Gimme More"' routine at MTV's video music awards in 2007. I should give more credit to BS, though, cuz at least she performed live, despite looking a mess and possibly drugged. Another comparison: they both lip-synched -- that's to be expected in a recording, but I was still so disappointed that it wasn't LIVE.
I will say that KH is looking pretty great, especially given the fact that she's always in her husband's shadow and praising Xenu or thethans or whatever they are. But her singing was horrendous, not to mention autotuned, and her dancing was nonexistent. I mean, utterly pathetic. If she did anything remotely dance related, let me know, because it looks like nothing more than some flashy poses and getting raised over the heads of the back up dancers. I'm curious what those months of training consisted of, exactly...

Ugh, I have nothing else to say, just watch this ridiculous tripe, already:


Let's see a side-by-side comparison, shall we?

Original version....


Granted, there wasn't much to the dancing in the original version (back up dancers aside), which makes me wonder why they even picked this particular routine, to begin with, if the goal was 1) promoting a dancing scholarship foundation, or 2) to air on a DANCE competition. Even so, Judy Garland clearly has rhythm and training. She had been dancing and singing since she was a little kid, though, it just wasn't as prominent in this song. If they wanted a flashy Judy dancing number, they should've pulled something she did with Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly. As for the singing - comparing KH and Judy's singing is a joke, so I won't even go there. Points go to KH for flashing her undies, I guess, and for having better legs. That's about all I got. But that smug smile at the end makes me want to punch her in the teeth.

Here's some clips of real dancing from Judy:

With Gene Kelly in For Me and My Gal


Meet Me in St. Louis


With Fred Astaire in Easter Parade


With Gene Kelly, again, in Summer Stock (wait until 1:45 for the impressive stuff -- and yes, Judy was way heavier at this point of filming since she was on some major uppers and downers all the time)



In A Star is Born

Also, listen to 12 year old Judy, it's simply incredible --