Jessica Alba has a fresh flava, but 'Honey' doesn't

Honey, a hip-hop Flashdance with a dash of social conscience, stars the snake-hipped Jessica Alba, lately of television's Dark Angel.

The too-cute actress plays Honey Daniels, a Harlem gal who by day teaches in a community center, moonlights as a bartender, and swing-shifts as the hottest club dancer in all five boroughs. By no means is this a good movie, but it's warmed by the solar energy of its star, who surely deserves better than this formula empowerment flick.

Whether in the community center or on the club floor, Honey is a teacher who learns from her students, in the process improving their moves - and her own.

When music-video producer Michael Ellis (David Moscow) spots Honey on the club floor, he taps her to dance in the next promo for R&B star Ginuwine. So fresh is her flava, as they say in the business, that Michael fires his choreographer and replaces her with Honey.

For a gal whose threads leave little to the imagination, Honey is so innocent that she doesn't notice that Michael, like every man and boy she meets (including Benny, played by Li'l Romeo) make beelines for her.

But Honey, the hottie-next-door, has eyes only for the soulful Chaz (Mekhi Phifer), proprietor of the neighborhood barbershop who, like her, is more dedicated to keeping kids like Benny out of trouble than to making money.

So when Michael demands that Honey sleep with him or be blacklisted across the music-video industry, this prompts enormous conflict. Honey needs the cash from the videos to keep the underfunded community center open. But she also needs the fulfillment that dance-making gives her. Can the choreographer who keeps it real do so in her love life?

Unlike Showgirls, which also involves such a sexual ultimatum, Honey has a heroine who puts community before career - and reaps the rewards of both.

Contact movie critic Carrie Rickey at 215-854-5627 or crickey@phillynews.com.

Honey ** (out of four stars)

Produced by Andre Harrell and Marc E. Platt, directed by Bille Woodruff, written by Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson, photography by John R. Leonetti, music by Rodney Jerkins and Mervyn Warren, distributed by Universal Pictures.

Running time: 1 hour, 35 mins.

Honey Daniels. . . Jessica Alba

Benny. . . Li'l Romeo

Chaz. . . Mekhi Phifer

Michael Ellis. . . David Moscow

Mrs. Daniels. . . Lonette McKee

Parent's guide: PG-13 (drugs, sexual candor)

Playing at: area theaters