House Party is a 1990 American comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Christopher "Kid" Reid and Christopher "Play" Martin of the hip hop duo Kid 'n Play, Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou, and B-Fine of Full Force, and Robin Harris (who died of a heart attack nine days after the film was released, making House Party his final acting role) with supporting roles by Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, A.J. Johnson, Daryl "Chill" Mitchell and Gene "Groove" Allen (of Groove B. Chill), Kelly Jo Minter, John Witherspoon, with a cameo by funk musician George Clinton.
The film was written and directed by Reginald Hudlin, based on his award-winning Harvard University student film. The film grossed over $26 million in its run at the box office with its widest release being 700 theaters. Upon its initial release, the film garnered critical acclaim and has since become a cult classic.
The lead roles were originally written for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
At the very beginning of the movie, kids dance inside of a house, and the noise is so loud that it blows the roof off.
In his high-school cafeteria, Peter, also known as "Play," announces that he will be having a party at his house that night, as his parents are on vacation. The reluctant student Bilal is to be the DJ. Their friend Christopher "Kid" Robinson Jr. gets involved in an altercation with school bully Stab and his brothers, Pee-Wee and Zilla. At home, Kid tries to convince his father Christopher "Pop" Robinson Sr. to let him go to the party. Pop relents at first. After getting a call from school about Kid's fight with Stab, Pop changes his mind and grounds Kid for his actions.
Rather than miss the party of the year, Kid sneaks out while Pop is sleeping. However, the door closing behind Kid awakens Pop. On his way to the party, Kid is stopped by the neighborhood police and runs into Stab and his brothers, jumps over a fence where a fat man named Roughouse is having sex. Kid, along with Stab, Zilla, and Pee-Wee, are shot at by Roughouse. Kid ducks into a nearby Alpha Delta Sigma reunion to escape them.
Crashing the reunion, Kid has the DJ scratch and mix a few of his old doo wop records so that he can liven the party with a rap, until Stab and the others arrive. Trying to escape, Kid accidentally knocks down an older man. Kid and the bullies are caught by the neighborhood police, who humiliate the teenagers before letting them go. Kid's father is stopped and harassed by the police while trying to find him.
The party is in full swing when Kid arrives. During the party, Chill bumps the DJ table, which angers Bilal and other guests, and it nearly results in a fight between the two. Kid and Play get into a dance contest with attractive girls Sydney and Sharane (originally it was Kid and Groove against Sydney and Sharane, but after Groove gets drunk and passes out, Play takes his place), then have a freestyle battle. Stab and his friends attempt to crash the party but are arrested a second time for attempting to burn the house down. The policemen take delight in the prospect of beating them up. Eventually, Pop reaches the party. After failing to find him, Pop vows to wait for Kid at home.
Play stops the party after his bathroom toilet gets broken. Although Kid and Sydney have eyes for each other, Sharane decides to flirt with Kid openly, much to Sydney's disgust. Soon, the three leave the party, but when Kid tries to make advances on Sharane, she rebuffs him. Kid walks Sydney back home, and, after some argument, the pair calm down.
Sydney allows Kid to sneak into her house. The two are about to have sex there when she stops him, wanting to know if she is simply his second choice. Kid admits that Sydney was his first choice all along. However, they do not do anything after realizing that Kid's only condom is too old to be used. When Sydney's parents come home – now revealed as one of the couples at the high-school reunion, including the man Kid ran into – Sydney helps Kid sneak out of the house.