House Party

"If they get caught, it's all over. If they don't, it's just the beginning!"

1990 1h 44m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 281

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior.

“If they get caught, it's all over. If they don't, it's just the beginning!”

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Cast

Christopher Reid
Kid
Christopher Martin
Play
Paul Anthony
Stab
Bowlegged Lou
Pee-Wee
B-Fine
Zilla
Tisha Campbell
Sidney
A.J. Johnson
Sharane
Martin Lawrence
Bilal

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Reginald Hudlin
Writers: Reginald Hudlin, Peter Ramsey
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $26M — a 10.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "House Party Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Reginald Hudlin, shot by Peter Deming. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marcus Miller. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Earl Watson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin and Paul Anthony carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Reginald Hudlin directs. Peter Deming behind the camera. Marcus Miller scores. Earl Watson cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $26M — a 10.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
336 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "House Party Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Reginald Hudlin, shot by Peter Deming. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Marcus Miller. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Earl Watson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin and Paul Anthony carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "If they get caught, it's all over. If they don't, it's just the beginning!".
10IMDB entry: tt0099800 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter Deming
Original score: Marcus Miller
Editing: Earl Watson
Production design: Bryan Jones
Makeup / hair: Laini Thompson
Sound: Wayne Heitman
Stunt coordinator: Eddie Smith
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,500,000
Box office: $26,385,628
Return: 1055% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: House Party (1990)

Awards

Sundance Filmmaker Trophy Dramatic

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

House Party Collection

House Party is a film franchise based on Reginald Hudlin's award-winning Harvard University student film. Initially conceived as a trilogy, the first three films star Kid and Play of the popular hip hop duo Kid 'n Play. The first two movies also starred Martin Lawrence, while the third installment marks Chris Tucker's debut on film. Upon its initial release, the first film garnered critical acclaim and has since become a cult classic. The lead roles were originally written for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The franchise was later continued in a series of direct-to-video installments that had little to do with the original three films.

Also by

Reginald Hudlin

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dan_Tebasco2017-05-19
★ 4/10
I never watched these films (from what I remember at least) in the 90's, I did used to watch CLASS ACT with Kid N Play over and over though so not sure why... Perhaps the title made it sound lame, not much for parties so a whole movie about just that didn't seem that intriguing maybe. Anyhows I did decide to watch it today and I must say I wasn't really impressed, it simply wasn't very funny. Not even Martin Lawrence who I usually find hilar is funny. Some scenes were okay (the battle rap scene stood out the most, the only scene I thoroughly enjoyed) but overall nah. A pretty tame comedy, and too much focus came to thinking about how Kid's eraser head hair do looked for me. Watch 'HANGIN WITH THE HOMEBOYS' with Doug E Doug and John Leguizamo instead, or 'FRIDAY' with Cube or yeah why not 'CLASS ACT'.

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