Grease 2 is Basically Grease Fanfiction—And I Love It

I have a very clear memory in my mind of flipping through CD stacks at my local library back in elementary school, and coming across the soundtrack for Grease 2. Admittedly, I was curious about it, but I didn’t think I would ever watch it.

Well, for some reason, I’ve been seeing a lot of references to it on social media lately, so I decided to give it a go. And you know what? I had a lot of fun.

Grease 2 is basically a gender-bent version of Grease: Sandy’s cousin, wholesome Michael Carrington, enrolls at Rydell and falls in love with Stephanie Zinone, the leader of the Pink Ladies. Several cast members from the first film reprise their roles; most notably Didi Conn as Frenchy, Eve Arden and Cody Goodman as Rydell’s principal and secretary, respectively; and Sid Caesar as Coach Calhoun. It was also neat to see Tab Hunter and Connie Stevens make appearances.

I actually liked the storyline better in this one. Much as I love the original, I was always bothered by the message at the end: You should change yourself completely to get the one that you want! Grease 2’s plotline is similar, but at the end, there’s more of an acknowledgment that Stephanie accepts both sides of Michael, not just his mysterious motorcycle-dude persona. Arguably, we can imagine on our own that Sandy later feels content being her sweet-girl self with Danny after making a big show of it in front of the high school, but it was nice to have that stated openly in the second one. It brought some much-needed closure to the story.

Elsewhere, the songs left a lot to be desired. I bounced back and forth between “hey, I’m really digging this,” and — every time a musical number started — “What on earth is going on?!” (I skipped over the "Reproduction" number entirely. Sorry, Tab.) Partially to blame were the awkward transitions into the songs, as well as the choreography (another element that caused me to exclaim “seriously, what is going on??”). There were also some moments which I felt naturally lent themselves to some nice song opportunities, but were not taken advantage of. For instance, it would have been sweet to have a song during one of Michael’s bonding moments with Dolores Rebchuck, the little sister of Pink Lady Paulette. Conversely, there were times when the songs were completely unnecessary, even straight-up ruining some moments that could have been very touching.

That’s not to say all the songs were lemons. There were a few numbers that were both catchy and well-executed (or at least, decently executed), and I’ve listened to them a lot over the last couple weeks. Personal favorites include "Cool Rider," "Girl For All Seasons," and, yes, "Do it For Our Country." I think I'd like the rest of the songs better out of context of the film, without the bad transitions. Will keep you posted about this on my Instagram page!

I also enjoyed the side plot of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies competing in the talent show. In the original, they probably wouldn’t have been caught dead participating in something like that, but what the heck — you just gotta go with it. I mean, come on — the T-Birds being so eager to win some Roy Orbison records that they sabotage the Preptones’ backstage rehearsal of "Mr. Sandman" right before their performance? Total campy goodness. (Side note: I would have loved to hear a full version of "Mr. Sandman," but it’s sadly not included in the soundtrack.)

I know the purists say the original is better, and I’m not disagreeing with them. But Grease 2 isn’t necessarily anathema either. I think the key to enjoying the second film is not taking it too seriously as a Grease sequel/spin-off. It doesn’t try to be a carbon-copy of its predecessor; nor should it be viewed as such. It feels more like a fanfiction of Grease, and therein lies its charm. If you’re willing to put aside what you know of the first one, and treat Grease 2 like its own thing, you may have more fun with it. It’s got just enough throwbacks to respect the source material, but goes off in slightly different directions that make it interesting and worthy of existence.

Personally, the version I watch the most often is Grease: Live! with Aaron Tveit. (And as another side note, I much prefer Tveit’s Danny Zuko, and Maxwell Caulfield’s Michael, to Travolta’s Zuko.) But between that, the original film, and Grease 2, we have a Grease trifecta that checks all the boxes.

Grease 2 has become a cult classic, and for good reason. I’m really glad I gave it a chance. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure movie, but one I’m proud to say I watched and enjoyed.