Only now does it occur to me... GLITTER (2001)

Only now does it occur to me... that Mariah Carey's much-reviled 2001 film GLITTER contains an obscure reference to the seminal '80s trashterpiece BODY ROCK. This brings me much joy––a joy of the sort that GLITTER mostly deprived this viewer: it's just not as much cheesy fun as it should be.

Technically a period piece set in 1983, the plot revolves around Mariah Carey's character, "Billie," attempting to claw her way to the top of the music industry so she may reign as queen of the pop idols. After one of her concerts, she meets a potential manager (note his shirt patterned with CD-ROMS––er, I mean, '80s gold records) and the following exchange takes place:

He just signed Chilly-D!  That would be Lorenzo Lamas' character from BODY ROCK––a man who is similarly attempting a frantic claw to stardom. Chilly elucidates the triumph of being signed by a record label in one of the finest and most notorious monologues in film history (beginning at 4:07 in the video below):

Truly, who could forget lines like, "All you need is management," "Yo, this cut? Very big in Europe this season," "It's a live ride!," and "Manager says next step––def cut a record!" And in this BODY ROCK homage, GLITTER flirts with the film that it perhaps wanted to be––(or at least the film that I wanted it to be), and then resumes business as usual: as the worst kind of vanity project. In any event, I don't think I've been this proud about spotting an obscure paracinematic reference in a moderately obscure paracinematic movie since they paid a roundabout homage to HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH in CHILD'S PLAY 3.